Hugh Patton enters his first year as Director of Athletic Communications and is in his 10th year overall in the Communications department, previously serving as the Associate Sports Information Director at Wingate. He was a student worker in the Sports Information Department during his four years as a student at Wingate.
At Wingate, Patton leads the gameday operations and sports information area of Wingate Athletics. He is the primary contact for football, volleyball, basketball, baseball, softball and tennis. In addition, he is the statistician for football, volleyball, baseball, softball, men’s and women’s tennis and men’s and women’s golf. Patton coordinates student staff for all press box and table areas and leads the athletic communications intern for game operations.
Patton is the primary editor for Wingate’s athletic website. His website duties include updating rosters and bios and schedules for each team, along with team pictures and player headshots. He also serves as an athletic staff photographer and has compiled and uploaded over 200 photo galleries to wingatebulldogs.com. Patton is also the producer of all publications, including media guides for all of Wingate’s sports. Patton has compiled media game notes for NCAA Tournament appearances for the Wingate football, baseball, softball, basketball and volleyball teams.
Patton is one of the primary administrators of Wingate’s social media. He launched the Wingate Athletics Twitter page and Facebook page. As of December 2018, Wingate Bulldogs has over 9,000 followers on Twitter & over 4,000 followers on Instagram which are the most-followed accounts in the conference and the region. Wingate Athletics on Facebook has over 5,000 likes.
In addition, Patton served six years as the league SID for the Deep South Conference, Wingate's former conference home for men's lacrosse. He ran the DSC website, while also coordinating Player of the Week and yearly awards and writing weekly press releases for the conference.
Patton has also served as a color commentator on the Wingate Sports Network. He has been the color analyst at men’s and women’s soccer games, along with baseball and softball. He has also served as a technical director on the Wingate Sports Network for baseball, softball, lacrosse and basketball.
Patton spent one year as an intern in the Media Relations office at UNC Charlotte in 2007-08. He was the primary contact for softball for the Charlotte 49ers, while also working with both soccer teams and both basketball teams.
He is a current member of CoSIDA and has served on multiple regional and national committees.
Patton lives in Wingate and graduated from Wingate University in May of 2006 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Communications.
