Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, February 24, 1994 TAG: 9402240047
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-3 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: RAY COX STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NARROWS LENGTH: Medium
Being the grandson of former Green Wave coach Bill Patteson had its privileges, and little Patrick played all the angles.
"I was managing the team when I was 4 or 5 years old," he said.
In other words, he was one of those little kids who entertain halftime audiences with their strained attempts to launch an oversize basketball to hoop level.
"I was always out there," he said.
When time came to work on his shot, rain or shine, he had a place to do it.
"Grandad would come up here to run the halls of the school for exercise, and I'd stay in the gym and shoot baskets," he said.
Even across two generations, the family resemblance is unmistakable. The shared passion for hoops also is beyond dispute.
"That's always been my favorite game," Bailey said.
When the weather was pretty, Bailey always could travel a full-court pass and a couple of dribbles down the street to shoot at his grandfather's hoop. Not far beyond that is the park.
"During the summer, I'd go down there in the morning, come back to eat and go back out again," he said.
Lunch was an afterthought. Bailey's real diet was basketball.
Since then, you might say he's fed his rivals a steady diet of grief and misery.
Surprising to nobody, Bailey grew up to be a member of the same Green Wave that Bill Patteson used to coach. Bailey, the son of Patteson's daughter Jane, started as a sophomore. As a junior, he's far from finished.
The bottom line is that the boy can bomb it.
Bailey averages more than 18 points per game and was Timesland's leading 3-point marksman, with a 49.6 percent average. Only two players in all of Timesland have more total 3-pointers than Bailey's 60: Donnie Costigan of Covington Boys Home (75), and Mark Byington of Salem (67).
An indication of Bailey's touch was the work he did last week. In five games (all of which Narrows won, passing three teams in the Mountain Empire District standings in the process), Bailey sank an astounding 20 3-pointers. Twice, he scored 31 points.
No doubt about it, Bailey's a fearless (and shameless) gunner. While giving the nod to the virtues of sound team play, Narrows coach Todd Lusk has a straightforward policy with Bailey.
"When you have a weapon like that, you have to use it," he said. "I know he's only a junior, but as far as I'm concerned, he's the leader of this team. He doesn't get up in people's faces or anything like that, but he leads by example. He always comes ready to play hard."
With endorsements like that for the 5-foot-11 guard, you might be concerned whether Bailey could squeeze his hat on, his flattop haircut notwithstanding. Arrogance isn't a problem with him, though.
"I know that I could score 40 or 50 points, and Grandad and Bryan would always tell me there is something I could do better," Bailey said.
"Bryan" is Bryan Patteson, Patrick's uncle and something of a second coach for him.
"Bryan calls me after every game and tells me how I did," Bailey said.
Bryan Patteson often doesn't need to call, because he's around the gym coaching junior varsity players.
"Patrick's helped himself out, because he knows what he can and can't do," Patteson said.
Other lessons in humility come from the veterans of the basketball battles down at the park. Not to say that the older guys are particularly mean-hearted, but they aren't averse to hip-checking the kid into the basket pole or victimizing him with any number of time-honored playground dirty tricks.
"They're just older guys who are already done playing, and they just want to see him fail," Lusk said.
All of that amounts to some hard lessons.
"That's good, because once he decides he's where he wants to be, then that's when he's going to stop working," Lusk said.
Not a lot of chance of that.
"It's just part of the game," Bailey said. "You play intense, and you play to win."
by CNB