Ex-UK QB Patrick Towles is back on a college campus in a life he never imagined
Well before Patrick Towles turned 25, he had fulfilled one of his life’s ambitions by becoming starting quarterback for his boyhood-favorite team, the Kentucky Wildcats.
Towles had also accepted that the second part of his football dream — becoming an NFL QB — was not in the cards.
So the former Fort Thomas Highlands Bluebirds star, Kentucky’s 2011 Mr. Football, had “done the grownup thing” and launched a career in banking.
“I was in business development at Traditional Bank in downtown Lexington,” Towles recalled last week. “You know, I enjoyed it. But it wasn’t something that really got me out of bed in the morning.”
So the guy who made 22 starts at QB for UK in 2014 and 2015 began to take inventory of his passions.
The maternal grandson of Baseball Hall of Famer Jim Bunning had always been invested in sports.
During his final year at UK, Towles had also experienced an awakening in his Catholic faith.
“When I was a student there at UK, I met some (Catholic) missionaries, “ Towles says. “One of them helped me start a Bible study with my football team at UK. ... That experience kind of allowed me to understand there was something a lot more than winning football games to life.”
In realizing his heart wasn’t really in banking, Towles surprised even himself when he recognized what he was feeling led to do.
It was back onto a college campus, but in a very different role than starting quarterback.
“I knew Jesus was asking more of me,” Towles says.
‘Something more to life’
The full title of Towles’ role is Team Director for the Varsity Catholic Outreach program at Ohio State University.
Towles, 27, works in a mission program that focuses on college athletes that is affiliated with the Fellowship of Catholic University Students.
Although big-time college athletes at the level of an Ohio State live in a world of fame, glamour and — in the era of name, image and likeness — potential riches, Towles says it can be an emotionally disorienting life.
To illustrate how, Towles points to 2015, his final season as UK quarterback.
In a 14-9 loss to Florida, “I played horrible,” Towles says.
The following week, “walking to classes was awful,” Towles said. “I’m getting all these looks like, ‘Gosh, how could you? We were counting on you and you failed.’ People were even saying (derogatory) stuff to my family.”
Towles’ play in the ensuing game caused reactions to flip 180 degrees.
The QB completed 22 of 27 passes and threw for 249 yards and two touchdowns. He also ran for a score to lead UK to a 21-13 upset of No. 25 Missouri.
“I had, probably, the best game I ever had at Kentucky,” Towles says. “I went from, probably, the most-hated guy in Lexington to, probably, the most-loved guy. I was walking to the car with my dad (after the game) and people were yelling my statistics out of their car windows.”
Going from scorned to adored in a week’s time based solely on his performance in a game awakened something in Towles. He recognized the dangers of having his self worth fully dependent on his sports performance.
“If I find my identity in those things, as soon as (sports success) is gone, I am worthless,” he says.
Now, Towles says he draws on that experience to benefit the Ohio State athletes with whom he ministers.
“My role is to be able to help these athletes, be like, ‘Guys there is something more to life and Jesus wants to give you that,’” Towles says. “I think it’s freeing for a lot of guys up here to know that there is something more.”
Mass every day
Towles says he knows some of his friends do not understand the choice he made to leave private business for the far less-lucrative life of a Catholic campus missionary.
“A lot of people would say, ‘Patrick, you are making $35,000 a year. What are you doing? Get a job, man,’” Towles says. “I would just say all the tools I have are for the Greater Glory of the Lord. And I get to use them to introduce people to Jesus. It’s so much fun.”
On a normal day, Towles says he begins with an hour-and-a-half of prayer from 8:30 to 10 a.m.
Last Thursday, Towles says the prayer was then followed by an hour-and-a-half of fund-raising.
“As a missionary, we fund-raise our entire salaries,” he says.
In the afternoon, Towles said he works with individual OSU students and athletes.
Three nights a week, he hosts a Bible study.
“And I go to Mass every day,” he says.
Bunning, Towles’ grandfather, was known for his competitive fire both in his MLB career and during his two terms (1998 through 2010) representing Kentucky in the U.S. Senate.
Towles thinks his granddad, who died in 2017 at age 85, would be on board with his life choices.
“I think he would have been really proud,” Towles says. “Yes, he was very straightforward and known a lot for his staunch views, but he was a very Holy man.”
Towles’ Kentucky Wildcats playing career did not get a storybook ending. He was benched in the 11th game of 2015 in favor of Drew Barker.
Subsequently, Towles played his final season of eligibility at Boston College in 2016, quarterbacking the Eagles to a 7-6 season that ended with a win over Maryland in the Quick Lane Bowl in Detroit.
“I look fondly on it,” Towles says of his UK career. “Toward the end there, it was tough, just the circumstances, were tough. It was nobody’s fault.”
Long term, Towles is unsure what his future holds. He is intrigued by the idea of coaching football. Because of his grandfather, he gets asked about political aspirations.
“You never say never,” Towles says.
In the short term, Towles has a hard time seeing himself leaving the job ministering to college athletes he now has — a role he once never could have envisioned for himself.
“Unless Jesus is very clear about calling me to something else, I will be here for a while,” Patrick Towles says.
This story was originally published November 25, 2021 at 8:34 AM.
