Patrick Morrissey wrestled three years for Durango High School and had a career record of 62-10, including 26-0 as a senior in 1989 when he won the Colorado state wrestling championship for Durango High School as a senior after reaching the state finals as a junior. He was named to the Colorado All-State wrestling team in 1989 and earned All-America honors with a seventh-place finish in Greco-Roman at the 1988 Junior Nationals.

He continued his wrestling career at California Polytechnic State University and was a starter for four years. Morrissey finished second at the Las Vegas Hall of Fame Collegiate Wrestling Invitational in 1992 and third at the Pac-10 Conference tournament in 1994 to qualify for the NCAA Division I Championships. After winning his opening match at 142 pounds, Morrissey lost to eventual runner-up Gerry Abas of Fresno State, 5-2, in the second round. He won his first two matches in the consolation bracket and ultimately lost his last match to become All-American to Jon Hughes of Penn State, 9-5, and finished in the top 12.

After college, Morrissey moved back to Durango and began his engineering career. After 12 years as a consulting engineer, he made a change and became the engineering manager for a real estate investment company. Over the next 10 years, he worked his way up, and became President/COO in 2017.

Two years after taking on his new leadership role, Morrissey was diagnosed with early onset Parkinson’s disease at 48 years old. Parkinson’s is a progressive non-curable neurological disorder that affects movement. It is caused by the gradual loss of dopamine-producing cells in the brain.

Initially he kept his diagnosis private but a good friend, Brendan Cusick, who knew about the diagnosis asked Morrissey to be a spokesperson for Human Powered Potential (HPP). HPP was participating in The World’s Toughest Row – Pacific. HPP was a four-person team intent on rowing a 28-foot boat for 24 hours a day for 2,800 miles across the Pacific Ocean from California to Hawaii.

The journey would have two people rowing at a time and switching tandems every two hours. The row would be in partnership with the Michael J Fox Foundation (MJFF) to raise money for Parkinson’s research. Morrissey agreed, thinking this would be a great way to begin to share his diagnosis and bring awareness to Parkinson’s.

As the group was training in California in early 2023, the HPP team was still looking for a fourth rower. Remembering his wrestling training, Morrissey knew that he could do it. He spoke with Cusick and they decided that Morrissey would become the fourth member of Human Powered Potential.

Morrissey then began 18 months of rigorous training that included daily strength, stretching, aerobic and anaerobic conditioning and monthly training on the boat for team coordination. The row began on June 8, 2024 in Monterey, California. Facing 30+ foot waves and 40-50 mph winds, the four-man crew rowed 24 hours a day for 41 days, in two-man, two-hour shifts.

Despite his preparation, he still had trouble keeping medications down due to seasickness and the physical and mental strain worsened his tremors and coordination loss. Not to be denied, Morrissey and his team reached the finish line in Kauai, Hawaii on July 19, 2024.

Morrissey was the first person diagnosed with Parkinson’s to row the Mid Pacific. In addition to overcoming Parkinson’s-related obstacles, Morrissey and HPP raised over $41 million for Parkinson’s research, thanks to an anonymous donor who agreed to match all of the team’s more than 26,000 individual donations 3:1. In the end, Pat’s wrestling training and background proved critical to an incredibly courageous and enormously successful accomplishment.

In 2024, due to his Parkinson’s, Morrissey retired as the President/COO of GF Properties Group.

Morrissey has recently joined the MJFF Patient Council and is determined to continue the HPP mission to help find a cure for Parkinson’s Disease by performing or supporting adventure philanthropy.

He and his wife, Dena, have been married for 31 years and have two wonderful daughters, Lauran and Mara.