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Former Campbell, YSU football star Shawn Patton dies
Ex-YSU running back
helped Penguins win
national title in 1994
Youngstown State’s athletic department confirmed Tuesday evening that former running back Shawn Patton has died at the age of 45.
No cause of death was reported.
Patton, a Campbell High School graduate, was a member of the YSU football team for the 1990 season and then again in 1994, when he helped the Penguins win a Division I-AA national championship in his final season.
His football career was interrupted after a melee at a campus-area bar led to charges against him.
Patton returned to the program in 1994 and became the Penguins’ top running back. He racked up 1,626 rushing yards, scored 17 touchdowns and averaged five yards per carry.
In the 1994 national championship game, Patton scored on a 55-yard touchdown run that put the game out of Boise State’s reach at 28-7. He amassed 140 yards on 27 carries against the Broncos.
Patton’s 1994 season was one of the best in YSU history. According to the most recent rankings available, Patton was first all time in single-season all-purpose yards (2,061) and second all time in single-season rushing attempts (322), rushing yards, (1,626) and 100-yard games (nine).
Despite playing only two seasons for the Penguins, Patton ranks 15th all time in rushing yards (2,297), 16th all time in rushing attempts (450) and 19th all time in all-purpose yards (2,913).
His best day came on Sept. 24, 1994 in a 52-17 win over Slippery Rock when he ran for a career-best 159 yards. His 55-yard touchdown run and three touchdowns in a single game are both playoff records for YSU.
Patton encountered further legal problems later in life.
The former football star served 37 months in prison for a drug conviction in 2004.
In 2011, Patton faced federal charges after being indicted in a drug conspiracy.
He was sentenced to 27 months in a federal prison after pleading guilty in 2012 to conspiring to distribute cocaine, crack cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine and marijuana between 2006 and 2010. He was one of 28 people charged in the federal indictment with participating in a drug ring with Mexican drug cartel ties.
Patton led Campbell to the state final in 1989 before committing to YSU.
He was preceded in death by his son, Darius Patton, a former Poland and University of Pittsburgh football player who committed suicide on Nov. 15, 2012.