Never in Cape Breton’s sport history has one man had a more influential impact than Darius (Pat) Patterson had on basketball in Sydney during the 1940s and ‘50s. A genial American who came to Cape Breton to open a business, Patterson took on the task of supervising the basketball program at Sydney Academy.

During his years at the Academy, Patterson achieved a coaching record that stood as one of the most amazing at the high school level. Between 1942 and 1956, his Academy teams won 12 consecutive Cape Breton championships and claimed seven straight Nova Scotia and Maritime basketball titles.

Many of the players who graduated from Patterson’s program went on to bigger and better things. Numerous players went to St. Francis Xavier University, where the X-Men were sending some of their best-ever teams to the floor.