Jerome Pathon (born December 16, 1975) is a South African-born Canadian

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team wi ...

coach and former wide receiver who played eight seasons in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

(NFL). He later was a position coach for both the

University of South Florida The University of South Florida (USF) is a public research university with its main campus located in Tampa, Florida, and other campuses in St. Petersburg and Sarasota. It is one of 12 members of the State University System of Florida. USF i ...

and University of San Diego football teams.

Early years

Pathon was a student of

Carson Graham Secondary School Carson Graham Secondary is a public high school in the city of North Vancouver, British Columbia and part of School District 44 North Vancouver. History The school opened September 15, 1965, and is named after Dr. Carson Graham. In 2009, Car ...

in North Vancouver, Canada from 1987 to 1992 and attended

Acadia University Acadia University is a public, predominantly undergraduate university located in Wolfville, Nova Scotia, Canada, with some graduate programs at the master's level and one at the doctoral level. The enabling legislation consists of the Acadia ...

Wolfville, Nova Scotia Wolfville is a Canadian town in the Annapolis Valley, Kings County, Nova Scotia, located about northwest of the provincial capital, Halifax. The town is home to Acadia University and Landmark East School. The town is a tourist destination due ...

for one year (1993–94), where he had 44 receptions and 868 receiving yards and was named

Atlantic University Sport Atlantic University Sport (AUS; french: Sport universitaire de l'Atlantique) is a regional membership association for universities in Atlantic Canada which assists in co-ordinating competition between their university level athletic programs and pr ...

(AUS) and

Canadian Interuniversity Athletics Union U Sports (stylized as U SPORTS) is the national sport governing body of university sport in Canada, comprising the majority of degree-granting universities in the country. Its equivalent body for organized sports at colleges in Canada is the Can ...

(CIAU) Football Rookie of the Year.

University of Washington

Pathon was a standout wide receiver for the University of Washington Huskies, playing three seasons from 1995 to 1997. His 73 receptions his senior year still ranks fifth all-time on the Huskies' single season record book. He gained 1,299 yards receiving that year, an average of 108.3 yards per game, including 4 receptions for 54 yards in the Huskies' 51-23 victory over Michigan State in the

1997 Aloha Bowl The 1997 Aloha Bowl was a college football bowl game played December 25, 1997, in Honolulu, Hawaii. It was part of the 1997 NCAA Division I-A football season. It featured the Washington Huskies of the Pac-10 and the Michigan State Spartans of the ...

NFL playing career

Pathon was originally drafted 32nd overall in the second round of the

1998 NFL Draft The 1998 NFL draft was the procedure by which National Football League teams selected amateur college football players. It is officially known as the NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting. The draft was held April 18–19, 1998, at the Theater at M ...

by the Indianapolis Colts. He was also selected by the

Montreal Alouettes The Montreal Alouettes (French: Les Alouettes de Montréal) are a professional Canadian football team based in Montreal, Quebec. Founded in 1946, the team has folded and been revived twice. The Alouettes compete in the East Division of the Canad ...

in the second round (11th overall) of the 1997

Canadian College Draft The CFL Draft (also known as the CFL Canadian Draft, CFL College Draft or the Canadian College Draft) is an annual sports draft in which the teams of the Canadian Football League (CFL) select eligible Canadian/non-import players, typically from ...

. Pathon played 46 regular-season games for Indianapolis (1998–2001) and 45 games for the

New Orleans Saints The New Orleans Saints are a professional American football team based in New Orleans. The Saints compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) South division. Since 1975, the te ...

from 2002-2004. On December 21, 2003 during his time with the Saints, he scored the touchdown in the famous play known as The River City Relay, which could have led to a tie game, but only for the extra point to be missed by John Carney. He also played for the Atlanta Falcons in 2005. He finished with 260 career receptions for 3,350 yards and 15 touchdowns in 99 NFL games played as well as 36 kickoff returns for 773 yards.

Coaching career

Pathon became the wide receivers coach at the University of San Diego in July 2009. Pathon became the wide receivers coach at South Florida in February 2012.

Lawsuit against the NFL

In December 2011, Pathon announced that he and a group of 11 other professional players had filed a lawsuit against the NFL. Pathon and his attorneys allege that the League failed to properly treat head injuries in spite of prevailing medical evidence, leading the players to develop effects of brain injury ranging from chronic headaches to depression.

References

External links

San Diego profile

USF profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pathon, Jerome 1975 births Living people South African players of American football Canadian players of American football American football wide receivers Canadian football wide receivers Acadia Axemen football players Atlanta Falcons players Indianapolis Colts players New Orleans Saints players San Diego Toreros football coaches Seattle Seahawks players Washington Huskies football players Acadia University alumni Sportspeople from Cape Town People from North Vancouver Players of Canadian football from British Columbia South African emigrants to Canada