Charles Patterson planned to play football at the Naval Academy. The Hawaii native had been a versatile performer at McKinley High on Honolulu before enlisting in the United States Navy and serving three years as an intelligence specialist.
Patterson, who was accepted to the Naval Academy as a prior enlisted candidate, did not make the Navy football team.
“I tried to walk on and wasn’t good enough,” he said.
Patterson remembered attending a boxing orientation meeting during plebe summer and decided to channel his athletic energy in that direction. So the youngster made his way up to the top floor of venerable MacDonough Hall where the boxing gymnasium is located.