As a seventh-round draft pick in '85 (No. 188 overall), Pattison played for the Los Angeles Rams and Raiders before earning a roster spot with the New Orleans Saints in 1987-88, totaling 10 catches for 140 yards in his two-year career and becoming a member of the first team in franchise history to post a winning record, the 12-3 Saints of '87.

But as monumental as were those accomplishments, they resemble hills compared his literal scaling endeavors.

Namely, Pattison fulfilled his goal to be the first NFL player to climb the Seven Summits (the seven highest mountains on the seven continents). He has climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, Mt. Elbrus in Russia, Mt. Kosciuszko in Australia, Mt. Aconcagua near the Argentinean/Chilean border, Mt. Denali in Alaska, Mt. Vinson in Antarctica and Mt. Everest in Asia, the world's highest peak.

Pattison, who lives in Manhattan Beach, Calif., and works for Scouts.com, has become one of about 350 people to achieve the feat.

"I climbed Mt. Rainier (in Washington, the highest mountain on the Cascade Range) and I hit 50 (years old), I really started to get more reflective in my life and I wanted to do something significant," Pattison said. "So I was looking at what are those things that I can still do.

"Certainly, I can't play football any more. Since I was climbing all the time and I've got some buddies that have done the Seven Summits, I started researching it and looks like there's no NFL player who'd ever done the Seven Summits, I said, 'I'm going to go do this.'