Stu Levitan welcomes a Madison author with a remarkable life story, Dr. Patrick McBride. His book, written with his twin brother Dennis is, “The Luckiest Boy in the World.”

Dr. McBride earned a zoology degree from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee in 1976, a medical degree from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1980, and a master’s degree in public health from the University of South Carolina in 1982. Two years later he joined the faculty at the University of Wisconsin Medical School, and with a senior colleague started the first inpatient family practice service at the UW Hospital and Clinics while also serving as the director of a new UW clinic in DeForest. He would later serve as Associate Dean of Students, Associate Dean for Faculty and as Director of Alumni Relations for the renamed School of Medicine & Public Health (UW-SMPH). In his 37-year career, he published over 200 journal articles, abstracts, and book chapters, brought in millions of dollars in grants to fund medical research, received 16 teaching awards, and upon his retirement in 2017, was named professor emeritus. Among his many other honors, enshrinement on the Wauwatosa East High School’s “Wall of Inspiration.” He has been married to Kimberly Schappe McBride for forty-two years, and they have two adult children, Sean and Gabrielle.

His twin brother and co-author Dennis has an equally impressive resume. In 2020 he was elected to a four-year term as Mayor of their hometown of Wauwatosa, following ten years on the city’s common council. He earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism from UW-Milwaukee, a master’s degree in public administration from Princeton University, and a law degree from New York University, and spent the bulk of his professional career as Senior and Supervisory Trial Attorney for the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. A former track star and champion marathoner, he was inducted into the Athletic Halls of Fame at UW-Milwaukee and Wauwatosa East.

But before all of Pat’s accomplishments and honors, a unique entry on his resume that presaged all that was to come – he was, and remains, the youngest Equipment Manager and Assistant Trainer in professional sports history.

And all because of a 25-word answer he wrote in 1969 to the question – why would you like to be a bat boy for the Milwaukee Brewers? He got the gig when he was just 15, and from that opportunity came the chance to also work for the Green Bay Packers. Then he hit the trifecta, as a ball boy for the new Milwaukee Bucks.

But it was not an idyllic life growing up in Wauwatosa for Paddy and Dinty, and their five siblings. In fact, it was a living hell, because their parents – both of them successful and popular journalists – were alcoholics who fought constantly before finally separating.

“The Luckiest Boy in the World” tells the amazing and inspirational story of how Pat McBride not only survived but thrived, first in locker rooms and arenas, then in medical clinics and the halls of academia. It is a real pleasure to welcome him to Madison BookBeat.