Not bad for a young bloke, born and bred in Tamworth, who is now one of the highest credentialed and respected basketball administrators in the world.

Pat is currently the president of the World Association of Basketball Coaches and has been appointed by FIBA (Federation of International Basketball Associations) to analyse playing, coaching and refereeing styles.

"We want to see what we should be coaching," he said of a 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. 

He will also sit on a FIBA judiciary panel to hear any cases during the two weeks of competition. Pat is also the chairman of the FIBA technical committee.

"My role is to look after the game," he said.

It is something he relishes. He is also prepared for another amazing first hand look at a fifth Olympic Games.

"It will be an exciting time," he said, as he laughs about how an ordinary young basketballer has graduated from the sometimes arctic conditions of the old "Thunderdome" in Anne Street, Tamworth, to the super domes around the world.

He loves telling the story to people who ask him how he came from a small regional town to become one of the most influential and respected basketball administrators on the planet.

"I left Tamworth when it was about 28,000," he said. "I played and coached there. It gave me a sense of good values. I will be flying the flag for Tamworth at the Olympics though, always so proud to represent Tamworth."

His first taste of Olympic competition was Barcelona in 1992 when he was the assistant coach to Adrian Hurley for Australian Boomers men's side. In Sydney 2000, he was on the Aussie scouting panel, and in Athens in 2004, he was commentating for ABC Television.

In 2012, he led a group of aspiring Australian coaches to London "to get them ready for Rio".

"We look back on London and see how valuable it was for those coaches now," he said.

Employed by the AIS in Canberra he works in their high performance area and has also become heavily involved in the Basketball Without Borders program, a program designed to bring the best players in the NBA to the youth of the world at various camps.

It's something he was taught early on when playing at the old Showground and in the Anne Street "ice block" that juniors must be promoted and helped as much as possible. He enjoys returning to Tamworth whenever he can and marvels at the new Sports Dome facility and hopes some young player might receive the chance he has to follow a basketball dream.

"Who'd have ever though it, a kid from Tamworth would get this far," he laughed. "It's been a great journey." And it isn't over yet.