From Pocomoke to the NBA

It’s not often that a player that gets cut from his high school basketball team makes it to the NBA, of course there’s Michael Jordan’s story, but Patrick Doughty’s story is much different. 

Doughty, or “Big Pat” as he is also known as, got cut from the team after his sophomore year at Pocomoke High School in 1985, his former coach and now athletic director for the Warriors, Dave Byrd,  breaking the news to him heading into Doughty’s junior year.

As Byrd describes it, “I told Pat that I thought that he would be better off finding something else to do besides playing basketball.”

Doughty was caught off-guard at first, recalling what he told Byrd, “I said Dave why I’m trying? He said yeah, but number one I don’t need a 5’8 power forward.”

But Byrd wanted Doughty to stay with the team in some fashion, and Doughty wanted to stay as well. So Byrd suggested that since Doughty was always talking sports, that Doughty put his voice to use,  behind the microphone as the announcer for the basketball team. That switch is what would eventually land Doughty where his now, the public announcer for the Charlotte Hornets. 

Now Doughty can be found talking with Hornets owner Michael Jordan, former Hornet greats like Dell Curry, and assistant coaches such as NBA legend Patrick Ewing, but he never forgets where he came from. 

“Aw this is home, this is home. There’s no better place than the Eastern shore, no better place than Pocomoke City Maryland where I grew up on the mean streets of Laurel Street in Pocomoke City Maryland. This is the greatest place on earth,” Doughty said. 

That’s why Doughty continues to come home, when it fits his schedule, and use his talents at Pocomoke like he did just last month, serving as the announcer for his niece Shayla Jones and the girls basketball team in a sold out game versus Decatur.

Jones said Doughty is her biggest role model. 

“By him like working hard, getting here from a small town announcing just in high school, to being able to announce at the professional level in the NBA, it just makes me want to work harder and achieve my goals too,” Jones said.

Doughty said he plans to continue his mission to return  to Pocomoke and announce more games for the Warriors when his schedule allows.