Greenwich Historical Society will debut the documentary on Worthy Patterson
Ronnie Forchheimer’s documentary on the life of UConn men’s basketball icon Worthy Patterson was nearly complete when the film’s subject passed away two months ago.
Patterson, the Greenwich High graduate who died on Dec. 6, 2022 at age 91, was UConn’s first NBA player and the first Black athlete to captain a team at the school. Forchheimer was about 16 months into the documentary in early December, putting the final touches on the film that will premiere at the Greenwich Historical Society Thursday night.
“When he passed I was in the homestretch of editing and I had gathered everything and I had done the interviews with him and the family, so everything there was complete,” Forchheimer told CT Insider. “The sad part is, he didn’t get to see the finished product.”
The finished product of “Pushing Boundaries:
UConn’s First NBA Player” will have its public debut as the Historical Society kicks off Black History Month with a film that profiles one of Connecticut’s most prominent Black figures. Patterson was a student at Greenwich High in the 1940s and starred at UConn in the early 1950s before playing in the NBA and eventually building a career as an executive in the recording industry.
The film will be shown at 5 p.m. and the program will include a Q&A with Forchheimer. Patterson’s wife, Queen and son, Worthy Patterson III, will be part of the Q&A as members of the family join via Zoom from California.
There may be no one better to tell Patterson’s story than Forchheimer, a journalist who has worked at ESPN, CNN and NBC Boston. Forchheimer played basketball with Patterson’s son as a kid and was 10 years old when he first met Worthy Patterson.
Worthy Patterson was also Forchheimer’s basketball coach.
“I always knew him as my friend’s Dad, so I’ve been aware of Worthy’s story pretty much my en
UConn continues on B2