He recently passed at age 82 and UK athletes who trained under him remember him well. After leaving UK he became a trainer for some of the world’s best tennis players including Andre Agassi, Pete Sampras, Jim Courier, Justine Henin, Martina Hingis, Monica Seles and Jennifer Capriati. He also trained elite athletes in golf, football, basketball, hockey, baseball, auto racing, sumo wrestling and various Olympic sports, including 15 Olympic medalists.
“When (eventual All-American defensive end) Art (Still) and I got there (from New Jersey) we had never lifted weights. Pat just had a way to push you in the weight room. I was always grateful to him for that. He drove us and pushed us to be great,” said Ramsey. “When we got to be juniors, he knew and we knew we had a shot of playing in the NFL and he told us, ‘Do you want to eat hot dogs for the rest of your life or do you want steak?’
“I came to UK weighing about 195 . Art was like 205. He had a bench press and squat test when we got there. We were both naturally strong but not weightlifting strong. That first day I was watching guys doing 225 (pounds) but I didn’t know how much it was. It got to be my turn and I told them just to put what weight those other guys were going. The thing almost went through my chest. The same thing happened to Art. Everybody was laughing at us but by the time we left I could bench 300 and was in the 400 (pound) squat club due to Etch.
“He was so motivational. I knew he was a guy who cared for us and not a guy just using us. In my high school, college and professional career I was never around a more effective, gifted coach that I enjoyed working with like Etch. I could never thank him enough for what he did.”
All-American basketball player Kenny Walker remembers his freshman year when Etcheberry challenged some UK football players to see if they could lift more weight than basketball players Charles Hurt and Derrick Hord — and they couldn’t.
“As a freshman I was maybe 190 pounds, at most 195. By the time I was a senior I was up to 218 from working with him. He was very good at what he did. He was ahead of the time with his techniques,” Walker, who played in the NBA from 1986-1995, said. “He worked with basketball players on developing long, lean muscles and not as much bulk.
“I always got along with Etch because I had a good work ethic. He expected you to work and I did that.”
Etcheberry normally worked with the UK bigs in the weight room and Walker remembers once when guards James Blackmon, Ed Davender and Roger Harden were “taking it easy” thinking he was not watching.
“He caught them and told them he was training them that day and he really got into them,” Walker said. “He had a unique approach to his job and was very good at what he did.”
Offensive lineman Tommy Dornbrook was not picked in the 1978 NFL draft but played two years for the Pittsburgh Steelers and won a Super Bowl in 1979. He also played one year with Miami and won a United States Football League (USFL) championship in 1983 with Michigan.
“Pat Etcheberry worked well with all players,” Dornbrook said. “He took a bunch of us out to the lake he lived on and sat in his sailboat while we — the football players — pulled the boat swimming for a couple hours. I liked Pat.”
WTVQ-TV sports anchor Jeff Piecoro has also been the radio color analyst for the UK Sports Network since 2002. The Lexington native walked on the UK football team in 1980 and earned a scholarship his senior season. HIs best Etcheberry memory does not involve football.
“I was on my honeymoon in Las Vegas and my wife and I went to a show at the MGM. We got great seats because I worked for the Reds,” Piecoro said. “In walks Andre Agassi and Steffi Graf along with their coach Pat Etcheberry.”
Even though Etcheberry was with the tennis legends, who are married, Piecoro said he yelled, “You pencil neck mullet,” because that was what Etcheberry called players when he was mad.
“We didn’t know what it meant, only that it was bad. So he whips his head around and sees me so my wife and I go over and talk to him,” Piecoro said. “My wife is losing her mind because it’s Agassi and I just talked to Etch and he introduced us.”
One of Piecoro’s UK teammates was receiver Cisco Bryant, the father of current UK player Ty Bryant, remembered that as demanding as Etcheberry could be he also had a “great sense of humor” daily.
“He allowed you to say something to him. If you did something wrong, he would have you up and running at 3:30 a.m. the next day. I don’t think the man ever went home,” Bryant said. “I remember once I thought I got something over on him when I was supposed to be squatting. He turned his back and I said, ’Dang, this is heavy.’ I didn’t lift anything. He turned and said he would see me at 3:30 the next morning.
“He was funny and his favorite thing was to call everybody Mullet no matter who it was. But he also made you better and you respected him for that.”
