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Pat McClenahan

Senior Vice President

Fox Sports Net

Age: 38

There are those driven to excel in their field by a desire for fame or wealth, by personal demons, or by a devotion to their calling.

Patrick McClenahan does it for his family.

“They’re one of the key factors to the growth of my career,” says McClenahan, the 38-year-old senior vice president for production at Fox Sports Net.

Married for 16 years and the father of two, McClenahan oversees production of all programming for cable’s Fox Sports Net.

That includes nine regional sports networks around the country, national college programs, including basketball and football games and, starting in April, programming of Major League Baseball.

A 1980 graduate of USC, McClenahan worked as a freelance television producer after college, eventually starting his own production company. That led to his producing sports shows for USC and later for the sports cable channel Prime Ticket.

“It got to the point where 90 percent of everything we were doing was for Prime Ticket, so I got offered the position of senior producer on staff,” he says.

McClenahan worked his way up the ranks to executive producer and then vice president of programming and production. When Prime Ticket merged with Fox last year, McClenahan received his current position.

Hard work notwithstanding, McClenahan says, his career success can be largely traced back to his family.

McClenahan’s 10-year-old daughter was born with cerebral palsy, a neurological and physical disorder that requires her to use a walker or wheelchair, and has delayed her mental development. But if anything, the condition has caused McClenahan and his family to be tighter-knit than most.

“They’re my greatest supporters and encouragers,” says McClenahan, who serves on the board of the California Special Olympics.

He spends much of his free time attending his son’s high school football games. (McClenahan’s son is the starting quarterback at Loyola High School in Los Angeles.)

His family is “something he keeps very close to him,” says Gary Garcia, executive producer of Fox Sports West. “It gives him a sense of knowing that life is more important than one’s job. He seems to really know it’s about how you treat people and how people look at you.

“Even though someone might think good people might never rise to top, he’s one person we’re all fighting to keep there,” Garcia says.

Ben Sullivan