- This is about the network sports journalist. For other uses see Dan Patrick (disambiguation).
Daniel Patrick Pugh (born May 15, 1956), better known as Dan Patrick, is an American sportscaster from Mason, Ohio. He attended the University of Dayton in Dayton, Ohio. He is employed by ESPN. as an anchor on their SportsCenter program (1989-2006). He has also hosted The Dan Patrick Show on ESPN Radio since September 13, 1999. Starting on March 19, 2006 until the final game of the NBA Finals, he became the host of ABC's then-titled NBA Nation, a pregame show for the network's NBA telecasts.
Dan Patrick | |
|---|---|
| Born | May 15, 1956 |
| Occupation | Sportscaster |
| Spouse | Susan |
| Children | Grace, Georgina, Jack, Mollye |
| Website | Dan Patrick Show |
ESPN announced on July 9th, 2007 that he will be leaving the network in August. Patrick’s final radio broadcast will be on Friday, Aug. 17. The mutual agreement will allow Patrick to pursue new interests outside of ESPN, and will bring to an end his involvement with ESPN’s radio, television and magazine outlets.
For many years, he and Keith Olbermann were arguably ESPN's most recognizable faces. Patrick used the catch phrase "Welcome to the big show" when Olbermann worked with him on SportsCenter. When Olbermann left, Patrick said, "This isn't the big show anymore."[citation needed]
Early life
Patrick was a basketball player in high school, becoming an Ohio all-state selection his senior year. He attended Eastern Kentucky University on a basketball scholarship for two years before transferring to the University of Dayton, where he joined the Phi Sigma Kappa fraternity.
Prior to ESPN
Prior to working with ESPN, Patrick was known by his real name, Dan Pugh, as an on-air personality with the album rock-formatted WTUE in Dayton, OH (1979-1983). Patrick was then a reporter for CNN (1983-89), where his assignments included the World Series, NBA Finals and Winter Olympics.
Departure from ESPN/ABC/ESPN Radio
July 6, 2007 CO-ED Magazine Online broke the news that Dan Patrick was being fired from ESPN. Their source from ESPN radio in Southern Florida said, "Patrick is all but gone and the departure was not mutually agreed upon as it will be played off as in the news when the story breaks."
July 9, 2007 edition of his radio program, Patrick announced his departure from ESPN/ABC effective August 17, 2007, stating, "I am leaving ESPN August 17th to go out on my own and be a free agent." "I think I was starting to take it (ESPN) for granted," Patrick says. He says ESPN tried to talk him out of it. If there were any animosity, he says, "I wouldn't be sticking around until August."
ESPN's statement released to the media said that Patrick would be released from his contract August 31, 2007 exactly 1 year early from his deal that was to run until August 31, 2008. The statement also said this would be the final comment on Patrick's situation on ESPN airways. "ESPN contractually bans all employees from making specific announcements of their futures on their airways, but out of respect to Dan and all he's done for ESPN we allowed him an opportunity to end the speculation."
Movies
He participated in several television shows as well as the Brad Paisley music video "I'm Gonna Miss Her (The Fishing Song)". He also has made cameo appearances in many movies. Those include BASEketball, The Waterboy, the 2005 remake of The Longest Yard and Benchwarmers.
Commercial spokesperson
Patrick appears in ads for the Wisconsin sub shop chain, Cousins Subs, talking about their 'serious subs' and making fun of their ad agency's attempts at getting their selling message across, and voices radio ads for Consort, a men's hair product line.
Patrick was featured in over 30 SportsCenter commercials. In the wake of his firing from ESPN CO-ED Magazine Online counted down his Top Ten SportsCenter commercial moments #1 being “Rookie Hazing."
"En fuego"
Patrick told about the following at the ESPN25 Silver Anniversary Spectacular.
In 1994, when calling the highlights for a game in which Marv Albert described Sam Cassell as being "on fire", Dan Patrick said he was "el fuego", which he thought was Spanish for "on fire". A few months later, he received a letter from a Spanish teacher in Pennsylvania suggesting that he say that athletes are "en fuego" (on fire) rather than "el fuego" (the fire). Since then, Patrick has used "en fuego" on certain occasions when a player is said to be "on fire". Note that "en fuego" is an Anglicism in Spanish, since it is a literal translation from English, and other translations would be more fitting, e.g. prendido ("lit" or "fired up"). Patrick started using the "en fuego" phrase because he believed the standard "on fire" phrase had become cliché.
Dan Patrick has used this phrase twice in music videos:
- In the 1995 Hootie & the Blowfish song "Only Wanna Be With You", where he called the group, who was using their money to purchase several sports teams in the video, "Dare I say they're anything but 'en fuego'."
- In the 2002 Brad Paisley song "I'm Gonna Miss Her (The Fishin' Song)", with the quote "Brad Paisley, dare I say, 'en fuego'."
Most recently, Dan has appeared in a print advertisement for Swiss watchmaker, Raymond Weil Geneva.
Trivia
This article contains a list of miscellaneous information. (June 2007) |
- He passed up watching Villanova's legendary upset of Georgetown in the NCAA men's basketball title game for his first date with his future wife. (Playboy 20 Questions, January 2002)
- Was an Ohio All-State basketball selection as a high school senior.
- Patrick is in the Mason High School Athletic Hall of Fame.
- Reigning champion of the Butler County (Ohio) 4-H Fair Pig Wrestling contest.
- Patrick not only starred on the basketball court but was a highly thought-of baseball player and scouted by the Cincinnati Reds.
- Is a fan of Howard Stern and was in attendance at the roasting of Stern's longtime producer, Gary Dell'Abate on October 26, 2006.
- Was the on-air victim of Howard Stern show phone prankster Captain Janks when Janks impersonated infamous Chicago Cubs fan Steve Bartman. [1]
- He appeared in the opening cut scene of ESPN NFL 2K3 where he announced that 2K Sports has drafted ESPN to boost their franchises and gives a preview of the 2002 NFL season.
- His brother, Bill Pugh, is a longtime sports radio executive, and is currently the head of programming at Sporting News Radio.