Early Athletic Career
Ken Patera was genetically predisposed towards Olympic lifting from the start: he was strong and extraordinarily athletic. His brother Jack Patera played football for the Baltimore Colts and was the head coach for the Seattle Seahawks from 1976 until 1982. Ken played football at Cleveland High School in Portland, Oregon and wrestled weighing at 193 pounds. However, Track and Field was his first love and he ran the high hurdles and high jumped, but a serious ankle injury forced him to switch to the shot put and discus in high school. Ken grew to become one of the nation’s premier track and field weight throwers. Ken attended Brigham Young University on a scholarship and won a gold medal in the shot-put at the Pan American Games in 1967. After his disappointing 6th place finish in the shot-put at the 1968 Olympic trials, he turned his full and complete attention towards Olympic weightlifting.
Read more about this topic: Ken Patera
Famous quotes containing the words early, athletic and/or career:
“Franklin said once in one of his inspired flights of malignity
Early to bed and early to rise
Make a man healthy and wealth and wise.
As if it were any object to a boy to be healthy and wealthy and wise on such terms.”
—Mark Twain [Samuel Langhorne Clemens] (18351910)
“Being in a family is like being in a play. Each birth order position is like a different part in a play, with distinct and separate characteristics for each part. Therefore, if one sibling has already filled a part, such as the good child, other siblings may feel they have to find other parts to play, such as rebellious child, academic child, athletic child, social child, and so on.”
—Jane Nelson (20th century)
“In time your relatives will come to accept the idea that a career is as important to you as your family. Of course, in time the polar ice cap will melt.”
—Barbara Dale (b. 1940)