Oberlin College Athletics

Patric L. Cavanaugh was born in Detroit, Michigan, in 1922. He received a contract to play professional baseball with the Cleveland Indians following his graduation from high school in 1941. With the start of World War II, he joined the Marine Corps and enrolled in the V-12 program from 1942-43 at the University of Detroit, and from 1943-44 at Oberlin College. Cavanaugh then served on active duty in Okinawa, Japan, and in China. He returned to Oberlin after the war and received a bachelor of arts degree in 1948. While at Oberlin, Cavanaugh earned three letters in baseball, two letters in basketball, and one in football. He was co-captain of the 1948 baseball team , batted .413, registered a win/loss record of 5-2 and received the A.G. Comings Award for his play as an outfielder and pitcher. From 1953 to 1965 Cavanaugh was the chairman of the physical education department at the University of Detroit, where from 1957 to 1961 he also served as assistant baseball coach and associate athletic director. He received his master's degree in 1950 and his doctoral degree in 1964 from the University of Michigan. An avid sports enthusiast, he worked as sports broadcaster for Channel 56 in Detroit, Michigan, from 1958-61. Cavanaugh has been a professor of health, physical education, recreation , and dance (HPERD) at Eastern Michigan University since 1968. He has dedicated his life to physical education and has served in a variety of HPERD offices including president of the Michigan HPERD association.