Pat Mathews (1976 - 2006)
                 
                                          Bishop Harrison, Buzz Buhl, Pat Mathews, Coach Buhl (1989)

In 1988 I accepted the varsity coaching position at Bishop Ludden to "give something back" to the game of golf and, selfishly, to keep the program alive for our son Buzz and his friend Pat. Buzz and Pat were friends all through their years at St. Cecilia's, St. Charles, and Bishop Ludden, where they entered the seventh grade in 1989. Together with Tim Osta, Jamie Byrne, Buzz Buhl, Christian Healy, and Craig Marcinkowski, Pat led Ludden Golf in becoming a dominant force starting in 1994, winning multiple Section III and OHSL Championships.

Patrick, as his late father (Dan) often called him, was an exceptional person. In spite of Pat's being the first Ludden golfer to qualify for the New York State High School Championship, since it became an individual competition, he recognized he was not "tour material". (This, even though he was tied for the lead at even par 72 after the first round of the State HS Championship.) He decided he wanted to be a doctor and a good amateur golfer. He did exactly that.

In 2003 Pat graduate from Upstate Medical University, married Jennifer, and (they) had their son Grant. In February of 2005 after I had spoken with him regarding choices surrounding my own surgery, tragically, Pat was diagnosed with an aggressive form of Cancer the week of my surgery. I spoke with Pat several times over the past year. Prior to last week, the last time we spoke was in October, 2005. He seemed to be doing OK. Two weeks ago I learned from former teammate and friend Jamie Byrne that Pat might be having a tough time. The week before he passed away (February 9, 2006), I called Pat to see how he was doing. Without going into specifics, I knew he was not doing well. A week later he was gone.

Truly, this is one of the saddest events in my life and, I am sure, the lives of his family and friends. I remember giving him awards at a couple of Ludden sports banquets and how proud his family was of him.

While not trying to pass myself off as a philosopher, we all expect to "be around" tomorrow and often do not repair relationships or do the right things with the thought we will correct things later. Had we known Pat was going to leave us, I know we all would have called him and said things to make him (and us) feel better or to make any "wrongs", "right". In our conversation last week we recalled his trip to the States, his mom and dad taking us to dinner at Joe's in Ithaca, accidentally stopping in on a rock concert, etc. I wish I had let him know how much I treasured knowing and coaching him, how proud I was of him, and how much I appreciated his being Buzz's close friend.