By Terry Boehmker
NKyTribune sports reporter
Patrick Towles made it home for the holidays Monday after an 11-hour drive from Louisiana State University with his dog, Lily, along for the Yuletide ride.
The former Highlands High School and University of Kentucky quarterback tackled the 800-mile trip to be with his family on Christmas Day. Together, they will celebrate the birth of Jesus, the cornerstone of the Catholic faith that Towles’ life revolves around.
For the last five years, Towles has been working in Catholic ministry on college campuses. He’s now the full-time development director at Christ the King Parish and Student Center at LSU, where his religious mission started in 2018.
His primary responsibility now is raising money the campus parish needs to spread the gospel and bring college students closer to Jesus.
“If I ever talk to anybody, it’s please, please spend the time to get to know our Lord,” Towles said. “He’s a living person who desires a relationship with you and will transform your life to be the man and the saint the Lord created you to be.”
Towels was named Mr. Kentucky Football and ranked among the top high school quarterbacks in the country after his senior season at Highlands in 2011. The Bluebirds won three consecutive state championships and compiled a 41-1 record with him running the offense. His career passing totals were 7,431 yards and 73 touchdowns. He also rushed for 1,718 yards and 38 TDs.
As the grandson of the Bluegrass State’s former U.S. Senator Jim Bunning, no one was surprised when Towels accepted a scholarship from the University of Kentucky. He passed for 4,866 yards and 23 touchdowns during his sophomore and junior seasons with the Wildcats. He then transferred to Boston College and concluded his college career passing for 1,730 yards and 12 TDs.
While he was a college student, Towels said he was active in the Catholic ministries on both campuses, but his main focus was football at that time.
“I was a Christian in so far as it was convenient,” he said “Until the Lord demanded something of my life, it was easy for me to just kind of push things off. Now, I’m a guy who only wants to live for him, and that’s what I’ve been trying to do these last few years.”
Towles was not selected in the 2017 NFL draft. He was invited to the Houston Texans rookie minicamp, but the team released him after three days. He was working for a bank in Lexington when he decided to take a different path in life.
He began working for the Fellowship of Catholic University Students in 2018. He spent one year at LSU and four years at Ohio State University with that organization before returning to LSU last August to become development director at Christ the King Parish on campus.
“Jesus Christ has radically transformed my life, so I get to share him and his gospel, which I think is true, with students who need to hear him,” Towels said. “And now I get to give the church the means to do what the Lord has asked me to do, which is spread the gospel on this college campus.”
Football is still very much on Towles’ mind. A few years ago, he applied for the head coaching position at Lexington Catholic High School. He didn’t get the job, but he said there’s still a possibility he could become a football coach.
His strong desire to return to the game stems from the positive experience he had playing for former Highlands coach Dale Mueller.
“He always kept things in the proper perspective,” Towles said of Mueller. “Thankfully, we didn’t lose a lot, but when we did it was, ‘OK, I’m not defined by who I am as a high school football player. I’m defined by the one who created me, who is God.’”
Towles will be spending the holy holiday with his parents, Terry and Amy, who now live in Paris near Lexington. He said the rest of his family who still live in the Northern Kentucky area will come there on Christmas Day.
On Christmas Eve, he planned to attend Mass at the Church of the Annunciation in Paris with his parents and grandmother.
“Christmas is a time to celebrate the incarnation when God became man,” he said. “That’s a cataclysmic event. So, it’s a beautiful time when we’re keeping Christ at the center of our lives and that can remind you of how much the Lord loves us.”
Towles said he visited his girlfriend’s parents in Texas before making the long drive back to Kentucky. On New Year’s Eve, he’ll get an early start for the return trip to LSU. He’ll be back on campus when students return for the 2025 spring semester.
“I don’t have two commas in my paycheck, but I’m so happy,” he said. “I have such a great group of men to work with. We’re in the same Bible study and meet every Friday morning at 6 a.m to read scripture and talk about our lives. It’s just the best possible place I could be.