Never in the history of a sport in Cape Breton has one man had a more influential impact than D.W. “Pat” Patterson had on basketball in Sydney. That’s a concession one would readily receive from anyone who lived in the 1940s and ’50s at a time when Darius Whitman Patterson was Sydney Academy’s most successful coach for a stretch of 14 seasons. A genial American who came to Canada and Cape Breton to own and operate the local Coca-Cola franchise, Patterson took on the task of supervising the basketball program at Sydney Academy. And during his years, he put in place a coaching record that still stands as one of the most amazing ever at the high school level.

Between the years 1942 – 1956, his Blue and White teams won 12 consecutive Cape Breton championships and claimed seven straight Nova Scotia and Maritime basketball titles at the high school level. It’s a record that made him a marvel in local hoop circles. His help and influence is readily recalled by the hundreds of boys who directly benefitted from his teachings. “He was simply fantastic,” said Fred Mills, a member of the Sydney Academy team which won the 10th of 12 titles in 1954. “As a person, he was one who compelled you to do your best. And he was always there to give you whatever it was you needed to get your game to its highest personal level.”

Patterson’s influence reached well beyond Sydney Academy. Many of the players who graduated from his program went on to bigger and better things at the college level, with many of them landing at St. Francis Xavier University in Antigonish where the X-Men were sending some of their best-ever teams to the floor. It was an ill-kept secret that Patterson had a powerful influence on that program as well. Many even concede that he had daily input into the operations of the St. F. X. team via telephone conversations with the team coach. Patterson’s memory as an outstanding person, businessman and basketball coach lingers around Cape Breton’s industrial area, long after he was killed in a tragic automobile accident while returning to his native Indiana. The D. W. “Pat’ Patterson basketball tournament is played annually to honour the memory of the man who did so much to promote the basketball sport at the high school level in Cape Breton.

Bio Courtesy of Russ Doyle