Former Redskin is now a Restauranteur

By: Justin Creech
For 13 years, Marvcus Patton made a living terrorizing running backs and quarterbacks in the National Football League. The former Buffalo Bill, Washington Redskin and Kansas City Chief forged a well earned reputation as one of the leagues’ most disciplined and consistent linebackers.
Now eight years after retiring from the NFL, Patton, like many former professional athletes, is applying the same discipline he used during his playing career to running restaurants. Patton is the owner of Lucky’s Sports Theatre and Grill, which opened in August of 2007 off of Manchester Boulevard in Franconia, Springfield. Patton also owns The All American Steakhouses in Woodbridge and Ashburn, Virginia.
In a little under three years, Lucky’s has become one of Franconia’s favorite hang outs largely due to its diverse setting, which is what Patton envisioned when he decided to enter the restaurant business.
“We wanted to create a nice atmosphere where we could have a nice dining room area, but we wanted it to have a sports bar type feel -- a little more upscale than a regular sports bar,” said Patton. “That’s why we have the added entertainment with the games on the bar side. With the big TV’s and the flat screen TV’s we can show any and every game but have quality food and service and that was the big thing.”
The games Patton referenced are a wide variety of arcade games ranging from the Fast and the Furious, the Golden Tee and the four electronic Texas Hold’Em tables in the middle of the bar.
Although open for only two and a half years, Patton is pleased with the progress that Lucky’s has made and his prospects for the future. “The basic thought is to grow the brand and grow the business,” said Patton. “What I would like to do is create a place that everyone wants to come to and then try to duplicate that. Create a franchise that at some point I can say, hey, I can duplicate the same atmosphere and do it wherever I want, whether it’s franchising or opening up more company owned stores.”
Patton admitted he didn’t know what he was going to do when he initially retired but became interested in owning a restaurant upon receiving a phone call from a former teammate.
Chester McGlockton, whom Patton played with for the Chiefs during the 1999 and 2000 seasons, called and asked Patton if he was interested in getting involved with a local hamburger franchise in Los Angeles, California called Fat Burger.
“It’s how Five Guys was [in Virginia] when it first blew up. It was a local favorite that people knew about,” said Patton. “I talked to the President of the company and told him I would like to bring one out here so I flew out to LA probably no more than a couple of weeks later. I was going to bring that franchise here but after I did more investigating and had a study and looked at everything I thought maybe it wasn’t as good of an idea, because the support system wasn’t here, because they are on the West Coast.”
Though he ultimately decided to venture into the restaurant business, Patton, unlike other former professional athletes, did not want to associate his name with his business.
“My thing was, yea I want to open a restaurant, but I want restaurant people to run it. That’s why you don’t see my name on it,” said Patton. “It seems like you see those kinds of places fail if it’s all about a name.”
Playing in the NFL, let alone owning restaurants, was far from Patton’s career vision while growing up in Los Angeles. Patton envisioned himself becoming a lawyer after hearing his father, who was killed when Patton was just nine years old, speak of becoming one as well.
“My father was a narcotics officer and he did undercover work, but he was going to night school,” said Patton. “That’s one of the things he said he wanted to do, so hearing my father say that is probably what made me want to do that.”
Patton added, “I argue a lot; I can debate. My mother and sister always tell me I should’ve been a lawyer because I can debate a point and even if I don’t believe it, I can debate the other side, too. I don’t know if that’s true, but I’ve always been attracted to that.”
Patton was also wise enough to not allow himself to get involved in gang life. Growing up in an area were Crypt and Blood gang activity was prevalent, Patton focused his attention on sports and scholastics, though he did say if Crypt or Blood members knew a local kid was excelling in sports and school they made sure that person did not get involved in gang activities.
After receiving an academic scholarship to the University of California, Los Angeles, Patton walked on to the football team as a freshman. Patton enjoyed four successful years at UCLA, becoming a starter his senior year, before being selected by the Buffalo Bills in the 8th round of the 1990 NFL draft.
After five seasons in Buffalo in which the Bills made four straight appearances in the Super Bowl (1990-1993), Patton decided to sign as a free agent with the Redskins prior to the 1995 season. With Norv Turner having just finished his first season as the Redskins head coach, Patton felt Turner’s experience of having coached under Jimmy Johnson on back-to-back Super Bowl winning teams with the Dallas Cowboys would have the Redskins challenging for a Super Bowl in two to three seasons.
“We had some pretty talented teams here and we missed the playoffs twice by one game in 1996 and 1997,” said Patton. “I think at that time Norv wasn’t the coach he is now. I think somebody else could’ve molded us into a playoff team those two years.”
Patton signed with the Kansas City Chiefs after the 1998 season, playing four seasons there before retiring after the 2002 season. Patton said his decision to retire wasn’t a very hard one.
“I think it was time for me to go. I probably could have played a couple of more years, but at some point it gets harder and harder when you get up in the morning. Your body is stiff and after a game your recovery from the game gets slower,” said Patton. “I take pride that when I was playing I didn’t miss a whole lot of tackles, but towards the end I started to miss some tackles, or there were plays I didn’t make that I could’ve made. So, you kind of feel it.”
Patton said there are a lot of aspects of playing team sports that can be applied to running a restaurant.
“Trying to lead a team is the same thing here whether it’s yourself or the general manager, there’s always someone that leads the team like a quarterback or a middle linebacker,” said Patton. “You can possibly not serve a customer well because somebody doesn’t know what to do. If you have a situation where a customer hasn’t been served right, you have someone who knows how to come in and make them feel better and take care of the situation. That can make the customer want to come back and give the place another try.”
Recently, Patton has become more involved with the day to day operations at Lucky’s, a process he says he enjoys.
“I like stepping in and help run the place. It’s a learning experience, and I’m still learning,” said Patton. “It’s all about customer service and trying to make sure our customers are happy and make sure they have a good experience. No matter what happens, if the food is good or bad, if you give them great service they will come back.”