PinDox Presents: How Pat Downey III Got Wrestling Down Pat

To start, Patrick will be wrestling in the main event at the Stalemates Street League meet which will be held next Friday, August 13th at 7p at the Forte Event Center in Des Moines, IA. His opponent will be former teammate and NCAA Champion, Kyven Gadson out of Waterloo East HS/Iowa State. 

You can purchase tickets at this link:

https://flashtix.cc/thursday–aug–13th-7pm-21142839

You can stream the event by going to this link:

https://www.patreon.com/stalemates

Patrick Downey III AKA PD3; North County HS/Loch Raven HS/Iowa Central Community College/Nebraska/Iowa State

Patrick Downey the 3rd aka PD3 is the son of Tia and Patrick Downey Jr. He also has two sisters named Jasmine and Marissa. It’s reasonable to assume that PD3 was born to compete and become successful in a combat sport of some sort. His grandfather, Patrick Downey Sr. and father, Patrick Downey Jr. were competitive in the Baltimore boxing scene. Both of them boxed at the amateur and semi-pro levels and both did well at it.  So when PD3 began wrestling at a young age, he likely had the unique situation of being trained as a wrestler, but with elements of physical and mental boxing tactics in his game, given the influence of his family’s extensive boxing background. Not to mention, he was raised in East Baltimore. People from East Baltimore have been known to say that if you grow up in East Baltimore, you have no choice, but to learn to use your hands to fight or box, for if you don’t, you will inevitably find yourself on the receiving end of constant beat-downs at the hands of other kids in the neighborhood. With that said, PD3’s extensive familial boxing background as well as the importance of learning how to fight in the area he lived in to avoid being taken advantage of, likely influenced his wrestling style and added an element of fun to it.

PD3 started wrestling when he was 6 years old and the sport has been his favorite thing to do ever since. He has excelled on the wrestling mat since very early on in his career. Ever since he was a little kid, he routinely won a plethora of prestigious youth wrestling tournaments on the state and National scenes.

Along with immediately loving the sport of wrestling, he also caught on to it pretty quickly. His ability to catch on so quickly was presumably a result of a few factors, most notably the way he was raised as well as the fact that he possesses an extraordinary amount of natural athleticism. I believe his entire family tends to be naturally athletic. And the fact that his father and grandfather were accomplished athletes in a combat sport themselves, provided PD3 with at-home coaching/tutelage from a source (his father) who knew from experience how to work hard to accomplish goals and how to prepare mentally and physically to be able to compete at the highest level you can.  Another thing that Pat had going for him was the fact that from Day 1, it was always made clear to him by his family that no matter what the situation or circumstances, his family would always love him, his family would always be proud of him, his family would always be loyal to him, his family would always be there to protect him, his family would always have his back and his family would always be dedicated to helping him accomplish his goals. In PD3’s own words:

PATRICK DOWNEY III: They love their PD3 and I love them. Loyalty and loving our family is all the Downey’s know.”

PD3 was so good at wrestling from a young age that he even ended up on the cover of Takedown Magazine in 1998 for some of his youth wrestling accolades.

Since the beginning, PD3 was successful at pretty much every level of wrestling that he has competed at and at every style; youth, JH, HS, JUCO, D1, International, folkstyle, freco, etc.  In fact, he has been successful at multiple sports, for he operated at a high level in football and lacrosse when he was in HS.  In football, he was one of the most dynamic high school quarterbacks of his grade in all of Maryland. In fact, when he was a Senior, he was one of only 3 total Maryland High School QB’s to be selected for their prestigious Super 22 team. He even set a school record for total offensive yards in a game with 420 yards (315 yards passing, 105 yards rushing).

From an athletic talent standpoint, there just really doesn’t seem to be much that PD3 is, was or will ever be incapable of accomplishing. He has the competitive drive, stubbornness, lack of fear, mental toughness, hatred of losing and oftentimes criminally overlooked intelligence to pair with his gift of natural athleticism and the end result is a man who usually always wins at whatever he competes in, just as long as he doesn’t inadvertently get in his own way and end up defeating himself…which has happened from time-to-time throughout his career.

In HS, PD3 was a 3X state champion out of Baltimore, Maryland. He also placed 4th as a Freshman in HS. His Sophomore year, he became Loch Raven’s first ever state champion, compiling a 35-0 record with 28 pins. The next season, he recorded another unblemished record at 34-0 with 25 pins en route to his second state title and did the same thing a 3rd time as a Senior. He didn’t lose one single match in his final 3 years of HS wrestling. That’s insane.  He broke and still holds quite a few school records including career wins, fastest fall (:08) and career falls.

PD3 was accomplished at the National/World level as well as the state level in HS and that’s what really started getting him noticed by college recruiters across the map. In 2011, PD3 was the NHSCA Senior Nationals champion. That same year he was also the USAW Junior Nationals champion. In 2012, he was a silver medalist at the Junior World Championships in Thailand.

If you haven’t been presented with enough evidence by now to be convinced that PD3 has been one of the best wrestlers in the world for over a decade, then I’m assuming your hatred for the man may be clouding your judgment or you just haven’t been paying attention. There seemed to be no stage that was too big for him. In fact, a more applicable question for him may be, was there a stage that was big enough for PD3? His on-mat accolades in high school catapulted him to “blue chip recruit status with some off the mat concerns” We will get to the off-mat stuff in a little bit.”

In college, PD3 was initially a member of the D1 Nebraska Cornhuskers wrestling team, but was weighed down by the temptation to party as well as other social distractions that go hand-in-hand in situations like these. In Pat’s case, it was basically, “a young guy with an impulsive and wild streak coming out of the tough area of East Baltimore who found himself in a geographically and culturally different region than what he was used to and as a result, he felt different than everyone else, misunderstandings ensued, mouths ran and eventually fights erupted because of it.”  PD3’s “off the mat” concerns in high school were mostly affiliated with his tendency to either party or get into fights with people. As mentioned, PD3 grew up in East Baltimore. He was raised into a different lifestyle than most of us in the Midwest were raised with. East Baltimore can be a tough place to live. People who live there have to prioritize self-defense and social assertiveness much more than we do in the Midwest, just to maintain their ongoing ability to survive, protect themselves or establish themselves as someone to not be threatened, crossed or taken advantage of. And with “survival” arguably being our most prominent innate instinct as human beings, PD3 developed a different code to live by than than most of us in the Midwest because the means to survive were different for him growing up. The lifestyle he grew up with as well as the code he lived by did not always translate well with the people he encountered at Nebraska and because of where and how he grew up, he was different than almost everyone there and he wasn’t easily understood by many of the people he crossed paths with. And to be fair, PD3 probably had a difficult time understanding most of the Nebraska people that he met as well. With constant, ongoing misunderstandings that were inevitably going to occur as well as PD3’s inclination to indulge in the party life, his lack of fear and his willingness to fight anyone that he may have clashed with, it just seemed like the combination of PD3 and Nebraska was a potential recipe for disaster from the start, unless he had a like-minded mentor there to help him get through it…someone who actually understood his background and way of life. In which, I don’t think he had someone like that there, but I don’t know that for sure. With all that said, his first year at Nebraska was derailed by some regrettable decisions he made that conflicted with the the good behavior policy or “code” the staff had in place that the members of the team were required to follow in order to ensure the program’s ongoing survival.  PD3 was eventually kicked off the Nebraska team. The behavior that led to his departure from the team was, as expected, his inclination to party and get into fights. Here is what PD3 had to say to teamusa.org about what went down, a year or two after the fact:

PATRICK DOWNEY III: I got sidetracked in my time at Nebraska. I wasn’t doing what I was there to do. I was caught up in other things like partying. I was really under a strict lifestyle at the OTC and getting thrown into that college environment kind of caught me by surprise. I started to get back on track but then I had a real bad injury, getting into an altercation and broke my thumb. Ultimately, Coach Manning had to let me go. They had to do what was right for them and the program and I have no grudges against anybody there.  Coach Manning just told me ‘Go start your MMA career. You like fighting.’ It made me appreciate wrestling a lot more and lit a fire under me because I wasn’t ready to start fighting. I have a lot of goals in wrestling. I’m not an NCAA champ. I’m not a World champ. I’m not an Olympic champ. So when I feel like I’ve accomplished what I can, then I’m ready to go fight. That time at Nebraska, despite what went down, will always be a motivator in my life.”

The following year, Iowa Central Community College coaches, Troy Bennett and Luke Moffitt reached out to PD3 and brought him aboard their squad. It was there where he found what has been to date, the best fit for him from a team/community perspective both on and off the mat. As a redshirt freshman competing at 197 pounds, he compiled an undefeated record and became the 2015 NJCAA champion. He also went 10–1 against NCAA Division 1 competition, recording notable victories over opponents from Iowa, Penn, Nebraska, Arizona State, etc. Here is what PD3 said to teamusa.org about his time at Iowa:

PATRICK DOWNEY III: For me, even bigger than winning the individual title was winning the team title. I can’t explain it, but the camaraderie and the bonds that were made will last forever. Our whole team got matching tattoos after winning, even Coach. There are some things that happened at Iowa Central and some connections that are really special. That’s what I appreciate most about my time at Iowa Central. As a team, we really bonded and we accomplished a huge goal, bringing a national title to Iowa Central.

 

When Downey made the leap from JUCO back to D1, the rumor was that he was given two options, the Iowa State Cyclones or the Iowa Hawkeyes. Patrick ended up deciding to wear the Cyclones’ cardinal and gold. He placed third at the Big 12 championships and entered the NCAA championships unseeded. He performed greatly, taking out multiple high-seeded wrestlers to place fifth, earning D1 All American. The next season, as a Junior, he was finding success at 184 pounds during the regular season, posting seven wins and no losses. On February 23, 2017, it was announced that Downey had been kicked off the team by Kevin Jackson due to “repeated violations of team rules” as quoted by head coach Kevin Jackson. Despite some talks about a potential run as an Iowa Hawkeye, this finished Downey’s collegiate career and he earned his degree from ISU via online courses.

After his collegiate career was finished, he competed on the international scene and continued to perform at an elite level. In 2017, PD3 was Fifth at the U.S. Open and third at the Dave Schultz Memorial International. In 2018, PD3 was the Final X True Third runner-up. He was also 3rd at the World Team Trials Challenge Tournament and Seventh at the U.S. Open. In 2019, PD3 became a World Team member. He was also Final X champion and U.S. Open champion. He won bronze at the Pan American Games as well as the Dave Schultz Memorial International champion… He was fifth at Yasar Dogu (Turkey), seventh at Cerro Pelado International and Ninth at Senior World Championships.

Downey, as of semi-recent times, has been trying his hand at MMA and submission grappling.

 

Now, it’d be like ignoring an elephant in the room if I were to not mention the extreme effects he has had on wrestling fans for a decade now. Due to some of the trouble PD3 has gotten into in the past as well as the unfiltered, “no BS” manner in which he chooses to publicly portray himself on social media platforms, he tends to have an effect on people in which all grey area is disintegrated. Some people love him and consider him one of their favorite wrestlers because they love how willing he is to speak his mind, regardless of where he is or who he is talking to. Many fans respect that, for it’s admirable when someone is able to be so unapologetically true to themselves. PD3 and his siblings were raised by their father with a primary emphasis placed on valuing family and loyalty. Now, with that in mind, how loyal can a person actually be to other people if they are unwilling to be true or loyal to themselves? Fans do pick up on that and they love PD3 for it.

And then of course, some fans, despite not knowing PD3 personally, hate him with a passion to the point where they would be happy if something bad happened to him. Some fans have even publicly expressed this…have gone as far as wished ill upon him. He has a way of cutting pretty deep on both sides of the coin. FWIW, I have had a few interactions with PD3 and he has always treated me with the utmost respect…and I’m not always the easiest person to deal with myself. It is very unlikely that PD3 even remotely cares whether fans hate him or not, unless their extreme hatred for him became so strong that they started crossing boundaries. However, if you do decide that you feel PD3 is disgraceful to the point where you feel your time and energy is best spent by hating him, please consider the possibility that there is a lot about this man that you may not fully perceive correctly due to the significant cultural differences between someone like Pat who is from a tough boxing family out of East Baltimore and someone who is from Iowa or wherever it is that you may reside. I personally think there are more productive ways to spend your time and energy, but that’s just me. You don’t have to approve of what PD3 does or says. You don’t have to root for him. You don’t have to like the guy, but before you start literally hating him to the point where you wish ill upon him, don’t lose sight of the fact that there is very likely a spectrum of factors that you know nothing about that may have a direct influence on the way he is… and that can be applied to anyone.

I asked PD3 if he had any advice for any upcoming wrestlers who have to deal with fans who genuinely hate them, this is the advice PD3 had for them:

PATRICK DOWNEY III: Don’t ever give up on yourself and never listen to the opinions of people who you would never listen to any advice they had to give about anything.

I’ll say this, some of the shenanigans that have gone on in the past with PD3 has led him to a point where he has seemingly become a convenient scapegoat for those who welcome turmoil with open arms, but avoid accountability at all costs. That has got to annoy the hell out of him.

I am excited to watch PD3 compete. It’s always refreshing  to see when someone literally seems to be at their absolute peak of happiness when they are out on a mat imposing their wills on the opposition, competing relentlessly and simultaneously having fun like Patrick Downey the 3rd. The wrestling mat is truly his happy place.

When I asked PD3 how much of an impact wrestling has had on the person he is today and where he would be today without it, he replied with this:

PATRICK DOWNEY III: Wrestling saved my life. Without it, I would either be dead or in jail today.

If you see him somewhere like maybe the Stalemates Street League event, don’t be afraid to say “hi” to him. Despite the impression you may have of him, he’s not some monster to be scared of. I wouldn’t steer you wrong, for I mean it when I say that he has been 100% nice and respectful to me in every exchange I’ve ever had with him. And I can be more annoying than the Donkey from the Shrek movies, so that is probably a testament of his patience.

PD3 and Kyven Gadson are going to put on a show for fans next week. It should be fun.