Patricia Spratlen

{{short description|American rower}} {{Use mdy dates|date=October 2016}} '''Patricia Maria Spratlen-Etem''' (born March 14, 1956, in Columbus, Ohio) is an American former competitive rower. She rowed at the University of California, Berkeley.

== Early rowing career == Spratlen-Etem began her rowing career when she joined the team at UC Berkeley.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Pat Spratlen Etem Bio - The University of California Official Athletic Site |url=https://calbears.com/sports/2013/4/17/208193492.aspx |access-date=2023-03-26 |website=California Golden Bears Athletics |language=en}}</ref> She excelled and qualified for the Olympic Games twice.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Pat Spratlen Etem Bio - The University of California Official Athletic Site |url=https://calbears.com/sports/2013/4/17/208193492.aspx |access-date=2023-03-26 |website=California Golden Bears Athletics |language=en}}</ref> In 1977 she became the stroke of the varsity eight and was a vital part winning titles at the Bay Area Rowing Festival, the Western Collegiate, the NWRA Regional, and Pacific Coast Championships.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Pat Spratlen Etem Bio - The University of California Official Athletic Site |url=https://calbears.com/sports/2013/4/17/208193492.aspx |access-date=2023-03-26 |website=California Golden Bears Athletics |language=en}}</ref>

She took home a gold medal in Switzerland at the Lucerne International Regatta and in the 1979, 1981, and 1983 World Rowing Championships, she took home a bronze and two silver medals.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Pat Spratlen Etem Bio - The University of California Official Athletic Site |url=https://calbears.com/sports/2013/4/17/208193492.aspx |access-date=2023-03-26 |website=California Golden Bears Athletics |language=en}}</ref>

Etem, a member of the class of 1979, was inducted into the California Athletics Hall of Fame in 1990.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Pat Spratlen Etem Bio - The University of California Official Athletic Site |url=https://calbears.com/sports/2013/4/17/208193492.aspx |access-date=2023-03-26 |website=California Golden Bears Athletics |language=en}}</ref>

==Olympian== Spratlen-Etem qualified for the 1980 U.S. Olympic team but was unable to compete due to the 1980 Summer Olympics boycott. In 2007, she received one of 461 Congressional Gold Medals created especially for the spurned athletes.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Caroccioli|first1=Tom|last2=Caroccioli|first2=Jerry|title=Boycott: Stolen Dreams of the 1980 Moscow Olympic Games|year=2008|publisher=New Chapter Press|location=Highland Park, IL|isbn=978-0942257403|pages=243–253}}</ref> She was a member of the American women's coxed fours team that finished fourth at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.<ref>{{cite Sports-Reference |url=https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/sp/patricia-spratlen-1.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200417083428/https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/sp/patricia-spratlen-1.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=2020-04-17 |title=Patricia Spratlen}}</ref> She is the second Black woman to compete for the US Olympic Rowing team, after Anita DeFrantz.<ref>{{cite web |title=Patricia Maria Spratlen |url=https://olympics.com/en/athletes/patricia-maria-spratlen |access-date=2023-03-26 |website=Olympics}}</ref>

==Personal== Spratlen-Etem has three children, Martin, Elise, and Emerson. Martin became the first African-American on the US Rowing Under-23 National Team in 2008.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Lasting Impact - Patricia Spratlen Etem |url=https://usrowing.org/news/2019/2/28/23710_23710.aspx |access-date=2023-03-26 |website=USRowing |language=en}}</ref> Elise was initially recruited as a swimmer for UC Berkeley, and later switched to rowing. She eventually received a PAC-12 Athlete of the Year award, as well as earning CRCA All-American honors in her senior year.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Lasting Impact - Patricia Spratlen Etem |url=https://usrowing.org/news/2019/2/28/23710_23710.aspx |access-date=2023-03-26 |website=USRowing |language=en}}</ref> Her son, Emerson Etem, is a professional ice hockey player.

Spratlen-Etem has a master's degree in public health and behavioral sciences from the University of California, Berkeley.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Governor Brown Announces Appointments {{!}} Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr. |url=https://www.ca.gov/archive/gov39/2018/12/19/governor-brown-announces-appointments-91/index.html |access-date=2023-03-26 |website=www.ca.gov}}</ref>

==References== {{reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Spratlen, Patricia}} Category:1956 births Category:Living people Category:Sportspeople from Columbus, Ohio Category:American female rowers Category:Olympic rowers for the United States Category:Rowers at the 1984 Summer Olympics Category:Congressional Gold Medal recipients Category:20th-century American sportswomen