by Elliott Denman — posted on 12/23/2013

USA Track & Field's Board of Directors

Darvis "Doc" Patton has no intention of following Team USA sprinters Lolo Jones and Lauryn Williams to the frozen northlands.

No-no-no.

There's not an ounce of Winter Olympic Games ambition in the recently-retired three-time Olympic sprint star's body or his soul.

There's no chance in the world you'll see him pushing a bobsled down an icy chute in places datelined Lake Placid (New York), Park City (Utah), Koenigsee (Germany), Igls (Austria) or Sochi (Russia).

"Never-never-never," Patton said when asked if he ever nurtured thoughts of following a long line of track champions who've ventured to the bobsled tracks of the world — with varying degrees of success — over the years.

"I hate the cold, I hate the ice," he said, all smiles, in between official duties at USA Track and Field's recent Annual Meeting at Indianapolis' J.W. Marriott Hotel. "The sport they're (Jones and Williams) doing right now? It's fine for them, and I wish them well, but that sport is definitely not for me."

Fortunately, however, Patton does not hate winter. Some of his greatest races have come during the winter months. Undercover, of course. Last year's 106th Millrose Games at The Armory, for instance.

Patton dashed off to the NYH&RC 60-meter sprint championship at Millrose 2013 in the sizzling time of 6.50 seconds, which was a huge .06 improvement on the previous Armory best-ever shared by five predecessors.  He wasn't up to taking down the Millrose record — that's the 6.45 clocked by Maurice Greene at Madison Square Garden in 2000 — but he was utterly dominant just the same.

Left in his slipstream at Millrose were Zambia Olympian Gerald Phiri, out of Texas A&M (6.64); ex-Virginia Tech star Keith Ricks (6.67), and Hampton alumnus Reggie Dixon of Plainfield, N.J. (6.70).

Patton marked his 36th birthday on the fourth of December with a distinguished — but often underappreciated — portfolio of track and field honors to his credit in nearly two decades of running.

He sprinted off to gold medals as a member of the USA 4x100-meter relay team at the World Championships of 2003 (with John Capel, Bernard Williams and Joshua Johnson at Paris) and 2007 (with Wallace Spearmon, Tyson Gay and Leroy Dixon at Osaka).

He earned silver medals in the 4x100 at the Olympics in 2004 (qualifying for the medal with Shawn Crawford, Coby Miller and Greene in the semis at Athens) and 2012 (running with Jeff Demps, Trell Kimmons and Justin Gatlin in the semis at London). That 2012 team set the American record of 37.38 winning its London semi, and then saw the Kimmons-Gatlin-Gay-Ryan Bailey team take the AR down to 37.04 running second to Usain Bolt-anchored Jamaica's sensational, staggering, mind-blowing 36.84 world record.

But he's also been dogged by the coulda-woulda-shouldas of life in his sport's fastest lane.

What might it have been in those 4x100s of the 2008 Beijing Olympics, and the World Championships of 2009 (Berlin) and Daegu (2011) if his Team USA had gotten its exchanges down pat and brought the stick around the track without those heart-breaking red flags being raised?

Sure, Jamaica won all three of them. But might the results been different without the American mishaps?  Answer, of course.  Then again, we'll never know.

Racing individually, Patton's had an array of great moments, too.

His career-best "legal" 100 of 9.89 — set at the 2008 Olympic Trials — put him in the U.S. all-time top 10. He ran the 200 as fast as 20.03 (in the semifinals of the 2003 World Championships in Paris, where he then clocked a 20.04 in the final, taking the silver medal just .01 back of teammate John Capel's winning 20.30).

He's had a big-wind-aided 9.75 100 at 2013's Texas Relays. And, with another gust at his back, clocked a 19.98 half-lapper, achieved running second to Walter Dix's 19.95 in the 2011 Nationals.

He'd won the 200 at the USA Nationals of 2002 (running 20.31) and 2003 (20.15).

He even found time - back in the early days of his career — to long jump 26-7 3/4 and triple jump 53-0 3/4. A graduate of Dallas's Lake Highlands High School (where, amazingly, he wasn't fast enough to run the first-string 4x100), he went on to sprint fame at Garden City Community College (gaining eight All-America spots) and TCU (as a 10-time All-American).

But it's been sprints-only since 2002 and when all is said and done he'll be recognized as an all-timer.

One favorite venue has always been Philadelphia's Franklin Field, where he's run scorching relay legs for TCU as well as Team USA, facing the World. Third leg there has always been a home-away-from-home — no wonder it's often called "Patton's corner."

The 2013 outdoor season marked his finale in the sport and he went out in style with legal bests of 10.07 (at Kingston May 4) and 20.61 (at Shanghai May 18).

So what's the next "Doc" Patton chapter going to be?

One thing's for sure — he's not going to fade away from track and field. Fact is, he's already phased into a major administrative role in the sport, as one of the 15 members of the USATF Board of Directors.

Chaired by USATF President Stephanie Hightower, the Board leans in an obviously athlete-friendly direction.  Under the U.S. Olympic Committee-mandated restructuring of USATF's governing body, highest-level achievers were given major roles in the revamped Board.

So Patton sits in with Willie Banks, Jackie Joyner-Kersee, Deena Kastor and Hyleas  Fountain — and 10 others — helping to steer USATF in all the right directions. USATF CEO Max Siegel is a non-voting Board member.

"We've got a lot of work ahead of us to build our sport," said Patton. "I'm just glad to be part of the process now. I'll help out any way I can."

On reflection, Patton has blogged "I am proud of my journey. My whole career has given me the opportunity to see the world, meet some cool folks, and do what I love in the process."

He'll forever be grateful (to Team USA coaches and staffs) for all those relay opportunities — even the ones that had unfortunate endings.

"Thanks for your faith in me," he writes. "Thanks for your support and encouragement. Thanks for pushing me toward my dream."