Marvcus Raymond Patton (born May 1, 1967) is a former professional

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 with ...

player who was selected by the

Buffalo Bills The Buffalo Bills are a professional American football team based in the Buffalo metropolitan area. The Bills compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) East division. ...

in the 8th round of the

1990 NFL Draft The 1990 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 22–23, 1990, at the Marriott Marq ...

. A 6'2", 239-lb.

linebacker Linebacker (LB) is a playing position in gridiron football. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and line up three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage and the defensive linemen. They are the "middle ground" of defenders, p ...

from

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California St ...

, Patton played in 13 NFL seasons from 1990 to 2002 for the Bills, the

Washington Redskins The Washington Commanders are a professional American football team based in the Washington metropolitan area. The Commanders compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) N ...

, and the

Kansas City Chiefs The Kansas City Chiefs are a professional American football team based in Kansas City, Missouri. The Chiefs compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) West division. The tea ...

. Patton never missed a regular season game in his entire career. After earning a full-time starting role in his fourth season with the Bills, he started all but three games for the remainder of his career.

Early life

Patton was just 9-years-old when his father Raymond Hicks, an undercover detective in Los Angeles, was shot and killed in the line of duty. His mother, Barbara Patton, a former

National Women's Football League The National Women's Football League (NWFL) was a women's American football league that operated from 1974 to 1988. Background The first attempts to formalize women's gridiron football came about during the 1960s when Sid Friedman, an entrepren ...

player with the Los Angeles Dandelions,"Los Angeles Area Women's Professional Football Teams."
''www.angelfire.com.'' Retrieved June 18, 2013. taught Patton about football. Mother and son both played middle linebacker, with Barbara once breaking an opposing player's helmet. Price, Terry
"In His Mother's Footsteps."

Hartford Courant The ''Hartford Courant'' is the largest daily newspaper in the U.S. state of Connecticut, and is considered to be the oldest continuously published newspaper in the United States. A morning newspaper serving most of the state north of New Haven ...

, January 22, 1992. ''www.courant.com.'' Retrieved October 20, 2012. “I thought it was really cool to tell my friends that my mom was a linebacker,” Patton once shared.

Football career

Earning an academic scholarship, Patton was a walk-on at UCLA. Typically, students without an athletic scholarship are lucky to have a place on special teams. However, the astute Patton was a starter his senior year, gaining All-America honorable mention, and also was a three-time Pac-10 All-Academic honorable mention while earning a political science degree with academic honors. As a rookie in 1990, Patton was injured on the opening kickoff in the Bills 1990 playoff opener against the

Miami Dolphins The Miami Dolphins are a professional American football team based in the Miami metropolitan area. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member team of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) East division. The team pla ...

with a lower leg injury. He did not play in either of the Bills final two playoff games, but went on to play in every regular season game for the rest of his career.

Personal life

Currently, Patton resides in the

Washington D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, Na ...

area with his wife, Dr. Ina Patton, their two children, and their dog, Jack. Marvcus is a restaurateur and owns sports-themed restaurants in Northern Virginia, one of which is Lucky's Sports Theatre and Grill in

Springfield, Virginia Springfield is a census-designated place (CDP) in Fairfax County, Virginia, United States. The Springfield CDP is recognized by the U.S. Census Bureau with a population of 30,484 as of the 2010 census. Homes and businesses in bordering CDPs includ ...

. Patton and his wife also created a children's apparel and book company, Girls Like Math, that promotes positive images for girls and challenges

gender stereotypes A gender role, also known as a sex role, is a social role encompassing a range of behaviors and attitudes that are generally considered acceptable, appropriate, or desirable for a person based on that person's sex. Gender roles are usually cente ...

with fun, hip clothing and entertaining books and games.Patton, Ina
"Our Story."
''www.girlslikemath.com.'' Retrieved October 25, 2013.

References

External links

Marvcus Patton interview with Michael T. Brown on Blog Talk Radio (October 19, 2013).
{{DEFAULTSORT:Patton, Marvcus 1967 births Living people Buffalo Bills players Washington Redskins players Kansas City Chiefs players UCLA Bruins football players University of California, Los Angeles alumni