Patrick Abegg was a Division III guy, through and through. From his days as a student manager at Wash U to his last basketball season, when he was our featured bracketologist, the Division III equivalent of Joe Lunardi, Patrick loved Division III.
That’s why it’s so disappointing to have to tell you that Patrick died this past week of a staph infection. He was just 44.
I don’t know more details than that. Patrick’s brother sings in our church choir and he was not there this morning. When our director told us why he was absent, my heart sank.
I know Patrick left a lasting impression at Wash U. Mark Edwards, the men’s basketball coach, has talked more than once about Patrick as his student manager in the 1980s. Patrick was in Salem last year when the Bears brought home their first Division III men’s basketball national title.
But his lasting legacy to Division III basketball fans was his data, and his analysis over the past decade. Years before D3hoops.com was doing the same, Patrick was collecting schedules and results for every Division III basketball team, and calculating his own ranking out of this. Over the past year or so, it became clear his projections were pretty darn good, and worthy of whatever credence and prominence we could give them. His 2002-03 data got us started with publishing schedules and results for all team, a jump-start without which we might not have gotten started for several more years.
I still have his 2001-02 data on my hard drive, and one of my long list of items for this summer was to incorporate that into the site, then try to get more data from him for previous years.
Here’s some of the last data he analyzed for Division III fans:
Final regular-season Pool C rankings for men
Final regular-season Pool C rankings for women
And here’s an interesting post, in which Patrick discusses the effect one game can have on a team’s playoff chances.
We’ll miss you, Patrick, and Division III will miss you.
I’m saddened and shocked to learn of Patrick’s passing. When I first started reading his posts a couple years ago, I must confess a twinge of defensiveness. “Who is this guy with his rankings, pool projections and schedule result corrections?” I didn’t know about his historic relation to the site until I read this entry.
After my foolish resistance passed, I saw that he was thoughtful, careful and insightful about about his work. I enjoyed his in season projections and stopped trying to do my own since he was so good at them. I appreciated his careful review of hundreds of schedules which allowed us to provide a level of accuracy to the NCAA tournament selection process that the fans, coaches and hopefully the NCAA appreciate.
People who post on our message boards come and go, but Patrick quickly rose in my mind from “someone who has insight” to “one of us.” I cited him in a couple broadcasts and Hoopsville appearances and hoped one day to meet him.
I didn’t know Patrick outside of this small shared window, but I’ll miss him and his work. Thank you, Patrick, for your shared passion. May the Lord rest your soul.
My thoughts and prayers are with Patrick and his family. I never met him, but I feel like I knew him. No February day was complete until I checked Posting Up to see if Patrick had updated his latest projections. Your team wasn’t truly on the bubble, until Patrick said they were on the bubble.
Pat, when the time is appropriate it would be nice if there was a picture of Patrick that you could share on the site. I know I’d like to put a face with a name. Perhaps as a modest tribute we could rename the Pool C thread on the message board, where Patrick made his mark, to the ‘PAbegg Pool C thread’.
Thanks — I agree on the tribute and I’ve added a photo to the post above. It’s the only one I had, from his Facebook page.
Oh no!
When Patrick spoke, everybody listened!
He gave us more insight into the way that the numbers worked in his analyses than we heard is hours of interviews with NCAA committee members.
In the ramp-up to “Selection Sunday” and “Match-up Monday” next February and March, the silence will be deafening.
Thank you, Patrick. Our prayers are with his family.
My condolences go out to the family of Patrick Abegg on their loss. Patrick was a staple of the Wash U fan base in Massachusetts, and he regularly showed up at Brandeis whenever the Wash U Bears basketball teams were playing at the Auerbach Arena. I got to have a talk with him after the basketball doubleheader between Wash U and Brandeis a few months ago, and I found him to be a very interesting and pleasant person.
I enjoyed his analysis of the DIII basketball scene very much, and I will deeply miss him. Thank you, Patrick, for everything that you have done to promote DIII basketball.
This is Patrick’s brother Mike. It’s ironic that I only learned just a few weeks ago of our common link to Pat Coleman. I knew how SERIOUSLY Patrick took Division III basketball, or at least I thought I did….apparently I actually had no idea. It’s clear that he made an impact on a community that none of us (not even his wife) appreciated.
I will try to post a photo later, or perhaps I may have to email it to someone if I can’t figure it out.
Anyone who would like a bit more information can see the online notice and condolence book at http://www.grondinfuneralservices.com.
In the meantime, I ask most for your prayers for Patrick’s wife of 4 years Jane, and their son Tyler, who is a sophomore in high school. Tyler in particular grew up without a father, and when Jane and Patrick met, Patrick was so taken by Tyler that he tackled the role of becoming a father to a 12-year old with a zest that I didn’t know he had. So to have him ripped out of their lives after too short a time is really the toughest thing to have to face.
I appreciate all the many kind words as they truly are helpful in coping with his loss.
Mike Abegg
Mike – great to hear your words.
I was truely floored when I got Pat’s message (via Twitter) on my phone the other day. I, as Gordon, had at first wondered “who was this guy?” I quickly realized he was an incrediable assett to not only the work we all do on the website, but certainly on Hoopsville.
This season, I asked Pat if he could give me the most updated information before each of the shows he could, and he of course said yes. That info become the one thing I had closest to me on the show as I moved from January into February and finished up the season. It was such a valuable asset, as soon as I figured out how to read all the details he had included.
This year alone proved to me that he really had his predictions down to nearly perfect. I was looking forward to working next year with Mr. Abegg and his predictions.
His dedication to Division III basketball and all athletics should be applauded. I only hope I am able to continue my work and be as passionate as he was years from now.
Thanks Pat Abegg for being an invaluable asset to not only me, but Division III Basketball and D3hoops.com. My best to your wife and children – may they truely appreciatea what you did, but apparently didn’t brag about. They – and you – are in my prayers.
This is just a terrible loss. A loss to a woman and a young man. A loss to family and friends. A loss to his community. And a loss to Division III Basketball.
It’s amazing how many lives one person touches. Though i only met him one time, I was crushed Sunday when I learned of untimely passing.
There are few people I have met who are able to blend passion and intellect as Patrick did. That passion and intellect resulted in one of the most significant bodies of work on D3hoops.com.
While I will miss his insights statistics and projections, I mourn for his wife, son and family. My thoughts are with you in this terrible time.
May the road rise to meet you.
May the wind be always at your back.
May the sun shine warm upon your face.
And rains fall soft upon your fields.
And until we meet again,
May God hold you in the hollow of His hand.
Mike sent me a photo and I included it above, but in case it doesn’t display for you, here’s a link:
http://d3blogs.com/d3hoops/wp-content/blogs.dir/12/files/2009/04/abeggs-at-wedding.jpg
Wash U coach Mark Edwards had some nice things to say about him as well.
http://www.d3hoops.com/pressreleases.php?release=3123
This is Pat’s father, Gerald. I really appreciate all the comments. I knew Patrick was committed to Division III and in particular the Washington University teams. Since I also am an alum of WU I often went to the doubleheaders at Brandeis with Pat.
I thought it might be interesting to all to know that Pat developed his interest in Basketball and its statistics when his 6th grade teacher invited him to be the score keeper for the Lexington High School JV team. After keeping the books for three years the varsity coach asked him to be the statistician when he was in 9th grade at the high school.
He was recruited to do football as well and was the only individual to earn a varsity letter in two sports (basketball and football) at Lexington without ever putting on a uniform. It was natural for him to join the WU team when he received a four year scholarship for his talents in Mathematics. He was a dedicated analist and enjoyed the “gamesmanship” of analysis whether it was in sports, politics or economics.
We will all miss his soft spoken but accurate analytical views on the world.
Gerald Abegg
Requiscat in Pace