Marvcus Patton

Marvcus Raymond Patton (born May 1, 1967 in Los Angeles, California) is a former professional American football player who was selected by the Buffalo Bills in the 8th round of the 1990 NFL Draft. A 6'2", 239-lb. linebacker from UCLA, Patton played in 13 NFL seasons from 1990 to 2002 for the Bills, the Washington Redskins, and the Kansas City Chiefs. Patton never missed a regular season game in his entire career. After earning a full-time starting role in his fourth season with the Bills, he started all but three games for the remainder of his career.

Early life

Patton was just 9-years-old when his father, an undercover detective in Los Angeles, was shot and killed in the line of duty. His mother, Barbara Patton, a former Women's National Football League player with the Los Angeles Dandelions,^[1] taught Patton about football. Mother and son both played middle linebacker, with Barbara once breaking an opposing player's helmet.^[2] “I thought it was really cool to tell my friends that my mom was a linebacker,” Patton once shared.

Football career

Earning an academic scholarship, Patton was a walk-on at UCLA. Typically, students without an athletic scholarship are lucky to have a place on special teams. However, the astute Patton was a starter his senior year, gaining All-America honorable mention, and also was a three-time Pac-10 All-Academic honorable mention while earning a political science degree with academic honors.

Personal life

Currently, Patton resides in the Washington D.C. area with his wife, Ina Patton, and their two children. Marvcus is a restaurateur and owns sports-themed restaurants in Northern Virginia, one of which is Lucky's Sports Theatre and Grill.^[3][4] in Springfield, Virginia. Patton and his wife also created a children's apparel and book company, Girls Like Math, that promotes positive images for girls and challenges gender stereotypes with fun, hip clothing and entertaining books and games.^[5]

References