When Pat Ryan was growing up in Niles, Ohio, he was youngster whose aspiration was to be a well-rounded football player.
When you live in Niles, and the knowledgeable football fan mentions Niles McKinley High School, you think of a school that was tradition rich on the gridiron. Playing for the Red Dragons and Head Coach Glen Stennett, he played for a program that was one of the most respected in the state. In fact, many have said that the great Niles teams of the 1960's could have beaten some collegiate squads.
Helping the Red Dragons maintain their tradition, he chose to further his academic/athletic career by enrolling at Youngstown State University in the fall of 1967 to play for Head Coach Dike Beede.
A four-year starter at defensive end, he earned four letters as one of the hardest hitting defenders the Penguins ever recruited. He weighed barely 180 pounds, but was very quick which prompted Beede to comment that pound for pound he was one of the toughest and quickest Penguins that he had ever coached. He was earned Honorable-Mention Little All-America honors as a junior, and served as the co-captain of the squad as a senior.
The Penguins in the latter portion of the decade struggled to a 9-26 overall mark, but Ryan was a bright spot on a team that was struggling to return to the glory days that it had enjoyed in previous seasons. The team was 4-5 during his freshman year in 1967, followed that up with a 3-6 ledger the following season when he was a sophomore, went 2-6 in 1969 as a junior and was a member of the only team at YSU that failed to win a game, that coming in 1970 when they struggled to an 0-9 mark.
He is currently employed by the Packard Electric Company in Warren, Ohio.
Defensive statistics were not kept in those days, but after research in the school's athletics archives, it is believed that he was one of the top tacklers all four seasons that he wore the Red and White.
