Tiger Royalty

Patrick Schreiber was making his first-ever appearance on the Princeton campus when TigerBlog happened upon him.

As TB said hello, Patrick gave him a look that said "I don't know you and right now, I don't want to know you."

In fairness, Patrick was otherwise engaged in polishing off the last of his yogurt drink. Also, he was sitting in a car seat, facing the rear window of a car that had just pulled into the circle outside Caldwell Fieldhouse.

As such, TigerBlog was not offended at all. 

Patrick is a cute little guy. He is currently the youngest of two children, with an older sister Lillian. 

That will all change in the next few weeks, when he will move up one spot and become the middle child of three. It was certainly clear that his mother is not far away from giving birth, even while she sat in the driver's seat. 

His father was the one who said it was his first time on the campus. That was something that really resonated with TigerBlog, given who Patrick's parents are. 

His mother is Kat Sharkey, one of the greatest college field hockey players of all time. His father is Tom Schreiber, one of the greatest college lacrosse players of all time. They met as Princeton athletes, more than a decade again. 

TigerBlog was walking from the Stadium Garage parking lot yesterday when he saw the car pull up. At the time, TB was talking to BrotherBlog, until he noticed the two adults in the car were waving to him. Once he realized it was Sharkey and Schreiber, he immediately told BB he'd have to call him back and hung up quickly. 

Certain people will get you to do that. 

It was at that point that he got to meet Patrick. Will Patrick one day follow in their footsteps of being a Princeton student and Princeton athlete? Will Lillian? Will the little girl who is about to join the family? 

TB wouldn't want to put any kind of pressure on any little kids to have the kinds of successes their parents did. And of course that's all years and years away. 

There have been a lot of marriages between former Princeton athletes, as TB has been mentioning this summer. There aren't really too many that matched up athletes like Sharkey and Schreiber.

How about these facts: 

* Sharkey and Schreiber combined for eight first-team All-Ivy League selections. That's all you can get, right? 

* The two have six first-team All-American selections after both were third-team All-Americans as freshmen

* Sharkey is the all-time leading scorer at Princeton for field hockey with 107 career goals; no other player has more than 71. That's a huge gap. In reality, it's probably just as untouchable as Bill Bradley's 2,503 career points in men's basketball. 

* Schreiber had 106 goals, one fewer than his wife, but he did have a 94-31 edge in assists. 

* Sharkey was an NCAA champion and a U.S. Olympian.

* Schreiber has won three championships between Major League Lacrosse and the Premier Lacrosse League and  two World Championships with Team USA, including scoring the game-winning goal in the final second of the 2018 final and serving as team captain in 2023. He is a three-time Most Valuable Player in the professional leagues and a five-time PLL midfielder of the year. 

* They were ranked 13th (Sharkey) and 14th (Schreiber) on the Princeton Alumni Weekly's list of the top 25 athletes in Princeton history.  

So yeah, it's not unreasonable to think that there might be some athleticism in the family.

If the kids inherit that, hey, wouldn't that be awesome? The next generations of the Sharkey/Schreiber family at Princeton? 

Their parents, though, are more than just great athletes. There is no sportsmanship award that Schreiber hasn't won. They both long ago made their reputations as amazing teammates.  

Do not, though, ever confuse that for a lack of competitiveness or a lack of desire. They wouldn't have become the athletes they did without having that fury to win. 

They are both exactly the kind of people you want wearing the same gear that you are. You can't ask for more from your athletic program than to be able to claim people like this as your alums. 

It was great to see them. It always is. 

And good luck on the new addition when she arrives.