I'm really glad for Allen Patrick, great performance almost a year after his daughter

[usmc-sooner]

passed away.

[Ash]

Absolutely USMC!

[insuranceman_22]

Last game in Norman, a great performance...a senior that put it all on the line. He had a great game, hope he's got two more left in him in.

[Flagstaffsooner]

The young man had a great game. I didnt know about his daughter.

[SoonerBOI]

He gave it all. Played his heart out. I hope he gets drafted in the NFL. AP, go get your money...

[All_Day_28]

what's the story about his daughter?

[meoveryouxinfinity]

what's the story about his daughter?
http://newsok.com/article/keyword/3172433/

[Newbomb Turk]

NORMAN — Allen Patrick will forever remember ****** 2006. Not because of his 163-yard performance.
Not because of his team's 27-21 victory.
The Oklahoma tailback thinks often of that Saturday last November because it was the day he became a daddy. Mya Elise Patrick came into the world while her father galloped into ****** lore. After his big game, Patrick learned the big news.

"On the way home after the game, I was letting everybody know,” Patrick said, his eyes twinkling. "I was just very happy.”
He was scared, too. The baby was born three months premature.
Watching his daughter fight and struggle for the next month changed Patrick forever. So did her sudden death.

"I have something more to play for,” Patrick said.
Perhaps that explains his resiliency. Patrick fumbled on the Sooners' first snap last week and carried the ball only once more. Essentially exiled from the offense, he made an impact instead on special teams with four tackles.
The Texas Tech game was another disappointment in what has been a difficult season. Patrick started the year on the cover of Sports Illustrated, but now he doesn't even lead the team in yards or touchdowns.

But with DeMarco Murray ailing, Patrick might just have a big ******. The disappointments of this football season have not crushed his spirit, not after enduring the loss of his baby girl.
"It just made me look at life a little different,” he said.

One proud papa
Allen Patrick was surprised when he found out he was going to be a father. But he was eager.
"I was ready to take on what I had to do, the responsibilities and everything,” Patrick said.

His father was never much a part of his life. Patrick's mother, Veronica Bromell, had to provide for three kids, working extra jobs and moving often. Still, she always tried to buy the newest shoes and the trendiest clothes.
She never wanted her kids to want.

Patrick wanted to be the kind of father he never had. He looked forward to girlfriend Laura Harlan's February due date.
Then in mid-November, toward the end of her second trimester, she started feeling weak. Doctors put her on bed rest, but then a couple of days before the ****** game, they decided to keep her in the hospital. Just to keep an eye on her. Just to be safe.

That Saturday, the baby could wait no longer.
Mya Elise was so small, so vulnerable that she needed an incubator to survive. Still, Allen and Laura could spend time with her.
Patrick held his daughter.
She fit in the palm of his hand.
"They'd sit her up on my shoulder,” Patrick said, glancing toward his bulked-up left shoulder. "Let her lay right there.”

Every time he went to the hospital, he marveled about Mya Elise.
"That was my daughter,” he said, "and it just uplifted me and brought up my spirits ... just to go in there and say, ‘That's my child right there.'”
Patrick was a proud papa.

Exactly a month after celebrating Mya's one-month birthday, Patrick left Norman for Phoenix and the Fiesta Bowl. He received daily telephone updates about Mya over the next week, and she was doing well enough that Patrick decided to fly home to South Carolina after the bowl.
The day after OU's wacky, wild loss to Boise State, Patrick went home, but not long after arriving, he received a call from the hospital in Norman.
Mya Elise, only five weeks old, was dead.

"I have no idea ... how it happened,” Patrick said. "It just happened.”
He boarded the first flight back to Oklahoma.
Six days later, he buried his little girl.
"I wasn't expecting nothing like that to happen to me,” Patrick said, "but things happen for a reason. You learn from it. You can't do nothing but keep on building.”

‘Stronger than I used to be'
Allen Patrick will always have Mya Elise in his heart. She'll always be on his bicep, too, memorialized in one of his 18 tattoos.
"Things didn't work out the way they were supposed to,” Patrick said.
This season hasn't been the dream it was supposed to be either.
"There was a point where he looked a little stiff and tight coming off the Texas game where he cramped up bad,” OU offensive coordinator Kevin Wilson said. "I don't think his body responded well.”

Wilson said Patrick had one of his best weeks of practice last week, but then came the fumble at Texas Tech. Not only did the Red Raiders recover, but Sam Bradford also was injured making the tackle on the play.
This week will need to be better. Patrick and Chris Brown will handle the bulk of the Sooner carries.

"They both need to play well,” Wilson said. "It'll be a good challenge for us.”
Tough circumstances are nothing new to Patrick. Neither fumbling nor fewer carries nor even a couple losses can bring him down.
None of it, after all, compares to losing Mya Elise.
Patrick said, "It's made me a whole lot stronger than what I used to be.”

[Newbomb Turk]

beat me to it.

I spent too much time trying to paste it and make it somewhat readable.

:D

[r5TPsooner]

Sad story. If I lost one of my kids I'd be grief stricken forever.

[Curly Bill]

Nice post USMC. :)

[StoopTroup]

Allen Patrick = Great Sooner

Another ONE of many greats.

Awesome thread 5 stars.

Boomer Sooner ! ! !

[goingoneight]

That just goes to show why people who choose to rip on a player because of his performance have no idea why or why not a player plays the way he plays.

Same could be said for all the people who ripped on Bobby Reid for his unspecified personal issues. You just never know.

[stoops the eternal pimp]

I noticed when the seniors and their parents were announced that he got very emotional. I cant remember who the teammate was, maybe Moore, came over and gave him a hug..

[tulsaoilerfan]

I just wonder if that pre-season ankle injury was worse than they let on? Yesterday was the first time he looked like the Allen Patrick from last season

[Sooner_Bob]

AP had a heck of a game . . .

[Jewstin]

I always felt that AP wouldn't have too much of a stand-out season sharing all the snaps. He was an every down back like AD ... had to give him the rock and get him rolling, kind of like last night. ;)

He'll go down as one of my favorite Sooner players ever, right up there w/ Paul Thompson. He had a huge hand in winning our Big XII championship last year. Gonna miss him.

[josh09]

I'm so happy for AP he definately deserved it

[okiediva]

Allen was very emotional before the game and shed a few tears. He has always been one of the best sooners with my son and I will always wish the best for him!!!!

[soonermeteor]

Oh my god. I'd never heard this before. Its such a sad story it almost brings me to tears. He missed the birth of his daughter to play for us, and she died a month later. :(


Losing a child is the worst thing that can ever happen to someone.

[zeke]

Sad story

Played like a Champion on Saturday and we will see him play on Sundays in the future.

[jwlynn64]

A true team player. Moved out of his confidence zone when the coaches asked and played second fiddle to one of the greatest running backs in college.

Nothing but respect for Allen.

[OU-HSV]

Wow, I didn't know about this. Thanks for posting guys. Sad stuff right there, props to AP for keeping his head up and playing a great last (home) game in Norman Saturday.

[stoops the eternal pimp]

Pic of AP right before he was introduced to the crowd in the pre game. Just shows how much emotion he was dealing with

http://img113.imageshack.us/img113/8845/showimageca6x286kps4.jpg
(http://profile.imageshack.us/camerabuy.php?model=Canon+EOS-1D+Mark+II+N&make=Canon)

[OU-HSV]

Damn, sad picture.
It sure seemed like he had an extra step Saturday...like the games he went off in last year.

[stoops the eternal pimp]

Last two...Not wanting to over do it but as I look at these, I see the drive and determination that pushed him not only Saturday but each and every week.
http://img444.imageshack.us/img444/9909/showimagecao2rjsard6.jpg
(http://profile.imageshack.us/camerabuy.php?model=Canon+EOS-1D+Mark+II+N&make=Canon)

http://img444.imageshack.us/img444/5166/showimageca5tf988zi1.jpg
(http://profile.imageshack.us/camerabuy.php?model=Canon+EOS-1D+Mark+II+N&make=Canon)

[Crucifax Autumn]

Thanks so much to everyone for sharing the story and the pictures...the pictures are amazing and show so much than cannot be expressed in words.

[goingoneight]

I'm definitely going to miss that guy. Nothing but a class act off the field, and a fireball on the field. Never hesitates to give credit where credit is due.

We've had a bunch of great guys. PT and AP mirror eachother 'in a great way.'

AP has the measurables to impress in the combine... but I don't see him going high in the draft because of the overall production this year. He runs IMHO, just ike Darren McFadden, he just doesn't play quarterback or split out wide as much. That's not a talent issue, it's just how the coaches choose to use him.

[stoops the eternal pimp]

A healthy AP will put up good numbers at the combine and history shows a good combine will take someone who necessarily hasnt produced a lot on the field and get him drafted. He has a good 40 time, bench press will be good, long jump is good, has NFL size and maybe the best gunner in college football.

He ll earn a paycheck, even if its starting out on a practice squad