Bryan Pata
Encyclopedia
| Bryan Pata | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Personal Info | |
| Date of Birth | August 12, 1984 |
| Place of Birth | Miami, Florida |
| Date of Death | |
| Place of Death | Miami, Florida |
| Height | 6'4" |
| Weight | 280 pounds |
| Player Information | |
| Position | Defensive Lineman |
| Number | 95 |
| School | University of Miami University of Miami The University of Miami is a private, non-sectarian university founded in 1925 with its main campus in Coral Gables, Florida, a medical campus in Miami city proper at Civic Center, and an oceanographic research facility on Virginia Key., the university currently enrolls 15,629 students in 12... |
| Teams Played For | |
| Miami Hurricanes Miami Hurricanes football The Miami Hurricanes football program competes in the Atlantic Coast Conference of the NCAA's Division I Football Bowl Subdivision for the University of Miami. The program began in 1926 and has won five AP national championships... |
|
Bryan Sidney Pata (August 12, 1984 - November 7, 2006) was an American football
American football
American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...
defensive lineman for the Miami Hurricanes
Miami Hurricanes football
The Miami Hurricanes football program competes in the Atlantic Coast Conference of the NCAA's Division I Football Bowl Subdivision for the University of Miami. The program began in 1926 and has won five AP national championships...
and was majoring in criminology
Criminology
Criminology is the scientific study of the nature, extent, causes, and control of criminal behavior in both the individual and in society...
.
Career
Pata played three seasons at North Miami High SchoolNorth Miami High School
North Miami Senior High School , is a secondary school located at 800 NE 137th St in the city of North Miami, Florida, USA.North Miami Senior High School opened as Edward L. Constans Junior-Senior High School in 1951, with 1,500 students in 7th, 8th and 9th grades. Another grade was added each year...
before moving on to Miami Central High School
Miami Central High School
Miami Central Senior High School, commonly referred to as Central Rockets, is a secondary school located at 1781 NW 95th Street in West Little River, unincorporated Miami-Dade County, Florida, USA. The school serves most of the northern fringes of the city of Miami as well as parts of North Miami,...
. He was named to SuperPrep's All-America team, and rated as the nation's 26th-best defensive lineman by that magazine. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution also named him as one of the top 100 players in the South.
He chose to attend the University of Miami
University of Miami
The University of Miami is a private, non-sectarian university founded in 1925 with its main campus in Coral Gables, Florida, a medical campus in Miami city proper at Civic Center, and an oceanographic research facility on Virginia Key., the university currently enrolls 15,629 students in 12...
after also considering Rutgers University
Rutgers University
Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey , is the largest institution for higher education in New Jersey, United States. It was originally chartered as Queen's College in 1766. It is the eighth-oldest college in the United States and one of the nine Colonial colleges founded before the American...
, the University of Florida
University of Florida
The University of Florida is an American public land-grant, sea-grant, and space-grant research university located on a campus in Gainesville, Florida. The university traces its historical origins to 1853, and has operated continuously on its present Gainesville campus since September 1906...
and the University of Oklahoma
University of Oklahoma
The University of Oklahoma is a coeducational public research university located in Norman, Oklahoma. Founded in 1890, it existed in Oklahoma Territory near Indian Territory for 17 years before the two became the state of Oklahoma. the university had 29,931 students enrolled, most located at its...
.
Pata was in his fourth year with the Hurricanes and was expected to be selected in the 2007 NFL Draft
2007 NFL Draft
The 2007 National Football League Draft took place at Radio City Music Hall in New York City on April 28 and April 29, 2007. The draft was televised for the 28th consecutive year on ESPN and ESPN2. The NFL Network also broadcast coverage of the event, its second year doing so...
. He appeared in 41 games, making 23 starts. Pata played primarily defensive tackle in his last season, totaling 13 tackles and two sacks. He had been placed on the watch list for the Hendricks Award
Ted Hendricks Award
The Ted Hendricks Award is given annually to college football's top defensive end. The award is named after Ted Hendricks, who is a member of both the College Football Hall of Fame as well as the Pro Football Hall of Fame and is presented by his own 501 foundation, called the Ted Hendricks...
, awarded to college football's top defensive end.
Death
On November 7, 2006 Pata was shot dead outside his apartment complex after leaving team practice earlier that day. The shooting was ruled by police to be a homicideHomicide
Homicide refers to the act of a human killing another human. Murder, for example, is a type of homicide. It can also describe a person who has committed such an act, though this use is rare in modern English...
. He was 22. http://www.presstelegram.com/sports/ci_4642244 The case remains unsolved.