Mike Wolanin | The Republic
Rick Patberg has gone to battle with his basketball teams hundreds of times as a player and in his 31-year coaching career, but he now is facing the biggest battle of his life.
Two months ago, the 53-year-old Patberg went to the doctor for a routine physical, and the bloodwork came back with elevated protein levels. His wife Julie, a former nurse, thought the numbers seemed especially high, so she contacted the doctor.
After some additional testing, Patberg was diagnosed with Multiple Myeloma, a form of blood cancer.
“It’s early stages, which is really good, and that’s why everyone should get physicals,” Patberg said. “Certainly with Myeloma, it’s going to be a challenge because it’s not a curable cancer at this point. But it certainly can go into remission for awhile.”
Patberg, who co-owns Tobar Inc., with Julie and another couple, is in his 11th year coaching the eighth-grade girls basketball team at St. Peter’s Lutheran School. He has only missed practices and games on the days that he has chemotherapy.
Currently, Patberg is about halfway through a four-month cycle where he has chemo three Tuesdays and then is off a week.
“The treatments are going well. I’ve been blessed, and God is looking after me,” Patberg said. “A little bit tired, but I’ve been back to work the days that I don’t have treatments. At the end of that, hopefully, it gets put in remission, and then we’ll see what happens from there.”
Monday evening, the team and staff at St. Peter’s surprised Patberg with a “Rally For Rick” night at its home game against Northside Middle School. About 30 of his former players showed up to support and pray for Patberg.
“I had invited players of Rick that were in high school, and we knew we’d have the seventh- and eighth-graders here,” said Cheryl Carothers, who organized the event. “But then word got out to his college and older girls who had played for him, so we have a lot of college kids who are on Christmas break who came to the event.”
Carothers has two daughters who now are playing at Columbus East who had played for Patberg at St. Peter’s.
“Both of my daughters had played for Rick, and if anybody has played for Rick, they have a great deal of love and respect for him,” Carothers said. “I just wanted to get people together tonight to show Rick how much he is loved and supported and to pray over him.”
About 180 people wore T-shirts that said, “Layups may win games, but God fights our battles! #RallyforRick”
“I was a little emotional before the game because I got to see all the former players up there that were wearing my shirt,” Patberg said. “It was a little overwhelming. But I felt love and blessed.”
Patberg, who was not told about the rally beforehand, was taken by surprise.
“As the seventh-grade game unfolded, I kept looking in the stands and I kept seeing more people than would normally show up for a normal middle school basketball game, and the stands were full,” Patberg said. “So, very much of a surprise. I went to the locker room and talked to the eighth-grade girls, and I broke down because this is truly love by everybody coming back and supporting me. I’m just blessed to be here at St. Peter’s.”
Following the eighth-grade game, which the Lions won 30-24, Patberg’s family, current and former players and other fans gathered around him to pray for him.
“We really played that game for him,” said Avery Johnson, a seventh-grader who plays on the eighth-grade team. “To win and then have a nice prayer for him at the end, that was really awesome.”
St. Peter’s improved to 10-0 with the win. Patberg led the Lions to Lutheran School state titles in 2012, 2013 and 2019, and a national Lutheran School runner-up finish in 2012.
In high school, Patberg, along with his twin brother Ron, helped lead Southridge to the back-to-back state final four appearances in the one-class system. The Patbergs went on to play at Hanover College before settling in Columbus and embarking on coaching careers that have lasted more than three decades at various levels.
This summer, the Patbergs were honored with the Jack Cramer Ideals of Athletic Competition Award.
“You can do a lot of things in life, and one of the things I really enjoy is teaching kids about life skills while you’re coaching basketball,” Rick said. “I love basketball, and being able to teach life skills is important to me. I’m trying to make a positive impact in more than just basketball, and as long as that’s still there and still fun and I’m doing it the right way, I’m going to keep coaching.”
