My dad didn’t save someone’s life. He didn’t rescue someone from a burning car. He isn’t a national hero. He isn’t a superstar, but he is a hero. His accomplishments haven’t been in the news, but they have affected him, and the people around him. My dad, a once rowdy young man from a lower middle class family of eight people whose past shaped his present is a hero by doing the simple things in an amazing way.
Patrick Murphy Jeffers was born on December 17, 1963, in Indianapolis. He was the second of what would be a family of six kids, two sisters and four brothers. He would share a room with the three other boys, and dad, being the most agreeable, said that he would share with the littlest one, Mike, who was eight years younger than him. This would be the beginning of some sleepless nights and waking up drenched because of his little brother wetting the bed. There was also a clash of personalities. The oldest, Tom, was a neat freak, but the other three were slobs. My dad and the next youngest, Tim, were the closest in age and would fight a lot, occasionally leaving holes in the walls. Another story of the fighting that would ensue between my dad and his brother happened on Christmas Eve. All the cub scouts were going to the zoo, and the brothers were waiting to be picked up. While waiting, Tim started a fight about something completely meaningless. The two started fighting, and my dad threw his brother into a wooden chest, and his head started bleeding. Tim was rushed to the emergency room, and neither got to go to the zoo.

He went to grade school at Little Flower Catholic School, on the east side of Indianapolis. He loved it there because all the kids “came from the same economic, cultural, and religious background.” He played football, basketball, and baseball, and he played them very well. Like Odysseus, he was a master of almost everything he did. He also had a bunch of friends, and he really loved it there. He went to High School at Cathedral, another Catholic school. He went to Cathedral because his brother went there, and he wanted to play for one of the best tennis programs in the state, and he did, playing on varsity all four years and winning the city championship his senior year. He didn’t like the people as much at Cathedral, but he still had a good time. Then he went to college at Notre Dame. It was the last place he got accepted into, and he was thrilled to go there.

My dad says that one of the best moments of his life was hearing that he was going to have triplets. He was surprised, and a little daunted by what was going to come with three new people in the house; nevertheless, he was very excited. In a way, my dad is a hero by the way he raised us. He’s given us everything we’ve needed, and he’s been supportive and encouraging the whole time.

Another thing that our dad does for us is that he coaches our basketball team, and has since we first started playing. He’s always been there to help us. He started coaching when his younger brother, Mike, was in third grade, and he was in high school. Ever since then he’s been coaching, and he loves doing it. He says, “Coaching is not about wining, it’s about sharing the game with other people and having fun.”

Like Odysseus, my father has flaws. One that he’s been working on all his life is his temper, which tends to be very short. He also used to have a huge fear of public speaking. When he was a kid he would hate having to talk in front of the class. He says that he’s gotten better as his life’s gone on, but he still doesn’t like doing it.

He has tried to live his life according to a saying that his uncle has told him many times. “You have to work, study, pray, and play.” If you do one of them too much the others suffer. And you can’t do one too little either. If you keep an even balance, then you’ll be pretty happy.

My dad looks like an average guy. He’s about six feet tall, and he’s not big and he’s not skinny; he has short, dark brown hair, and blue eyes. Nothing about him really stands out; however, he’s anything but average. He’s a hero to me, more than anyone else because he’s proved that you can do anything. He is a champion is his own way, and that almost makes it in more of a real way. He’s affected people’s lives and has changed them for the better. My dad is a hero in every sense of the word.