Speaker/Topic: Dr. Patrick E. McBride, MD, MPH, FAHA, FACC, FNLA
Patrick's book, The Luckiest Boy in the World is a memoir about working as a young boy and the mentors who inspired him and helped shape his life. Books from the speaker were available for purchase and signed after the meeting.
Patrick shared some great stories with us. Here is a small sampling...
Patrick grew up in Milwaukee. His mother & father were both reporter for the Milwaukee Journal. He is one of seven kids and has a twin brother, Dennis. Because of their Mom's position, they were able to meet John F. Kennedy and see Richard Nixon from a distance at a rally (that he and his brother Dennis got kicked out because they were not supposed to be there).
His brother was a straight A student and he always felt like the "dumb twin". He described his home life as an everyday challenge due to his parent's alcoholism and frequent fighting.
He talked about the 25 words and a phone call that changed his life when he was 15 years old. He wrote an essay to the Milwaukee Brewers, that started, "I would like to be a bat boy....." He later received a call that his essay was chosen and he would be a bat boy for the Milwaukee Brewers. His first game was an exhibition game against the Chicago Cubs.
He reminisced about how the uniforms were hung in a line in the locker room; Banks, Santos, Jenkins, etc. He was responsible for lugging the giant bags of 50 bats down to the field before the game. He recalled how perfect the field was and his elation to rub the bench and drink from the same water fountain as some of baseball greats; Jackie Robinson, Sandy Kofax, Hank Aaron to name a few. As a kid this was a dream!
One special memory was hearing Ernie Banks say "Hey, son you wanna have a catch?" He was certainly nervous and Ernie reminded him to just relax, "It's just catch!"
In his teens, McBride worked for the Milwaukee Bucks, Green Bay Packers, and the Milwaukee Brewers from 1970-76. He worked inside the locker rooms of all 3 professional sports teams. He remembers sprinting every where he went. He gained a reputation as a hard worker. One coach even scolded his team, "If you would all hustle like this kid, we might look like a baseball team!"
Early on as a bat boy, he earned $5/game and the next year got a raise to $10/game. He would ride his bike or take the bus to the stadium. Most days he would arrive at the stadium around 2 pm and get home around 1 am and then have to do his homework. He was also allowed to travel with the team to away games and sometimes drive the players if they needed to go somewhere. I can imagine he had some great conversations with those players.
At the age of 18, became the youngest Equipment Manager and Assistant Trainer in professional sports history when he was named to those positions by the world champion Milwaukee Bucks in 1971.
He has also worked as a student Assistant Trainer for the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and University of Wisconsin-Waukesha.
Patrick is a great story teller. You will find stories in his book about Joe Dimaggio, Kareem Abdul Jabbar, Ted Williams, Bud Selig, and many more.
At some point he started recognize that he was smarter that he realized. He was required to turn in his report card to the Milwaukee Bucks office and need to maintain a 3.2 GPA or higher. One person in particular believed in Patrick and dared him to dream bigger than being an athletic trainer. He insisted that Patrick was going to medical school and was very persistent in remining and prodding him until he did.
It just takes one person to believe in a kid!
Dr. McBride received his medical degree from University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health (UW SMPH) and master's degree in public health from the University of South Carolina (USC), where he also completed a family practice residency.
McBride's experience encompasses the three broad areas of academic medicine: education, research and clinical care. His research focus is in preventive cardiology, cholesterol and hypertension treatment, and the quality of cardiovascular disease prevention. He served on many national guideline panels. Dr. McBride authored or co-authored more than 200 publications, over 25 book chapters, and 4 textbooks.
