Slow Motion Replay: Remembering ‘Coach P’ from Fort Campbell @KyHighFootball, @khsaafootball, @minguabeefjerky, @bigassfans, @FC_FALCONS_FB, @NWvikingsFB

Coach Patterson was the biggest male influence in the life of many young men…

Marshall Patterson served Fort Campbell High School as its head football coach for 32-years. He won 227-games, lost 120 for a winning percentage of .652, and won championships in 1976, 1978, and 1979. Patterson’s Falcons would be runners-up in 1980 and would win a state wrestling championship in 1971. This guy gained admission into the KHSAA Hall of Fame in his last year of eligibility. He clearly had a HOF career and should have been a cinch. Enjoy this look back at a coaching superstar who made a difference in a ton of lives.

HB Lyon, Scouting Director, “KPGFootball”

Oak Grove, KY: He was known as “Coach P” and was immortalized within the pages of a book entitled, Father of the Falcons, Coach P’s Military Brats & ‘The Game of Life.’ The book was written by Rob Dollar, a retired journalist who played football for Coach Patterson at Fort Campbell High for three seasons prior to Dollar’s graduating in 1975.

Mr. Dollar retired to Hopkinsville, Kentucky. The two of us are Facebook “Friends.” I think highly of him.

I also think highly of Marshall Patterson. Patterson was Fort Campbell’s first football coach who had started the Falcon’s program in 1962. Prior to that, Coach Patterson had been the head football coach at Fort Campbell’s middle school.

We have seen middle school coaches successfully make the jump to the high school level and succeed. Johnny Miller did it jumping from middle school (Greenwood Junior High) to take the Clarksville High job and become its legendary coach. Todd Adler jumped from middle school to the Logan County job and has led them to unparalleled, program success.

Obviously, Marshall Patterson would be on the list. Darrel Keith left a middle school job to successfully run two programs, 2A Todd County, and 5A (TN) Clinton High, the later he took to the semifinals just a few years ago.

Patterson would grow the Falcons into a high school program the envy of many at its level of competition. Patterson built the program on characteristics like grit, determination, discipline, and toughness.

Patterson graduated from Tennessee Tech in 1957 and got his Masters in Education from George Peabody College for Teachers in 1959. Peabody College is now part of Vanderbilt University.

Patterson served in the US Army, at Fort Gordon, in Augusta, Georgia. Patterson was commissioned a 2nd Lieutenant, rose to the rank of 1st Lieutenant, left active duty, and obtained the rank of Captain in the US Army Reserves.

Patterson was Fort Campbell’s first head football coach when it began fielding a team in 1962. He also served as the school’s AD and head wrestling coach. Patterson won football championships in 1976 and 1978 in 1A and in 1979 in 2A. The team would be 2A runners-up in 1980, losing to Corbin and Archie Powers, 16-7.

The wrestling program, under his stewardship, would win a title in 1971. In 33-years as the AD at Fort Campbell High its sports teams would win a combined 27 Kentucky championships. Patterson would also be the Fellowship of Christian Athletes sponsor for those same 33-years.

Patterson was brought to Fort Campbell to build its football program. To borrow from military vernacular, Patterson more than accomplished the mission.

Patterson amassed a 227-120 record over 32-years. Patterson retired in 1993 (the first time) only to return to coaching in 1996 taking the Northwest High “Vikings” job in Clarksville, Tennessee. Patterson led the Vikings to two playoff appearances.

When Patterson retired from coaching in Kentucky in 1993, he was the commonwealth’s 10th winningest coach. Patterson is 31st in all-time victories presently.

There is more to coaching success than mere numbers, though numbers are certainly important. Patterson coached a group of “military brats” who were often denied access to their consanguine fathers owing to overseas deployment. Patterson was the father to kids who were being denied access to their literal fathers.

Fathers entrusted their sons to Marshall Patterson. Patterson honored that implicit compact by making these sons better men, more productive men, and men society would be proud to claim; men like journalist, Rob Dollar.

That is Hall of Fame all the way around in my book. Then again, what the heck do I know?

This is Friday Night Fletch, reporting for KPGFootball, reminding you to PLAY THROUGH THE WHISTLE!

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