Notable Nu’s · Pro Sports
EP 1347 · UCLA Class of 1992
Born
1970, La Cañada Flintridge, CA
High School
Loyola High School, Los Angeles, CA
Pledged EP
1988
UCLA
Class of 1992
George Paton didn’t arrive in Denver by the conventional route. He got there via a borrowed couch in a Chicago basement, a series of low-paying jobs most ambitious young men would have passed on, and a relentless drive that his coaches, teammates, and fraternity brothers at 601 Gayley knew was something special long before the NFL did.
George Paton grew up in La Cañada Flintridge, California, the son of Tom Paton, a UCLA football letterman (1959–61) who went on to become a high school football coach. Football wasn’t just a hobby in the Paton household — it was the family language. George had two older brothers, John and Frank, who kept him perpetually chasing to compete.
Before his sophomore year he transferred to Loyola High School in Los Angeles, where he played for coach Steve Grady. As a senior, Paton beat out Chris Rising for the starting quarterback job. Loyola won nine games that year and finished 20th in the state rankings.
“I coached some pretty good quarterbacks in my day, including Matt Ware who obviously played in the NFL. But George was up there, too. He was a fierce competitor.”
— Steve Grady, Loyola Head Football Coach (34 years), Loyola Athletics Hall of Fame
Paton walked on at UCLA as a defensive back in 1988, fulfilling a lifelong dream of following his father to Westwood. “Maybe a one-star recruit,” Paton later joked. “UCLA wasn’t knocking on my door, but they did come to my school and offer me a chance to be a preferred walk-on and I jumped at the chance.”
At UCLA, Paton pledged Epsilon Pi, where he lived with his Loyola teammate and close friend John Winnek. Also among his fraternity brothers were Mike Pernecky and Jimmy Bonds — his roommate, fraternity brother, and teammate. The bonds forged at 601 Gayley would last a lifetime.
Paton lettered for the Bruins from 1988–91, working his way into the defensive backfield and starting on every special team. By his senior year he had earned a scholarship. He and Winnek were co-winners of the Bruins’ Senior Award upon graduation. He received a bachelor’s degree in history.
“He’s super intense. He’s one of those guys who does things 100 mph. He gives everything his all to whatever he’s doing.”
— John Winnek, UCLA roommate & Epsilon Pi fraternity brother
After UCLA, Paton spent three years playing professionally in Italy and Austria before returning to coach the sophomore football team at his alma mater, Loyola High. In the summer of 1997, he got a call from Bill Rees — a UCLA assistant during his playing days who had joined the Chicago Bears as scouting director. Paton took the leap.
He flew to Chicago and showed up on the doorstep of Thomas Bonds, whose brother Jimmy Bonds had been his roommate and fraternity brother at UCLA. “A couple days turned into two years,” Thomas Bonds recalled. Paton lived on the basement couch, working from 5 a.m. to midnight most days.
“When I knew that George was different than I was, he was sleeping on somebody’s couch and working 20 hours a day for the Bears. It wasn’t about making money, it was about how much he loved football.”
— Chris Rising, Loyola teammate
After Chicago, Paton joined the Miami Dolphins under Nick Saban before landing with the Minnesota Vikings in 2003, where he spent 14 years rising to Assistant General Manager. On January 13, 2021, he was named General Manager of the Denver Broncos — the culmination of a 24-year climb through the ranks of professional football.
Throughout his rise he never forgot where he came from. He still talks regularly with his Loyola and UCLA circle, visits them whenever he’s in Los Angeles, and has spoken to Loyola’s leadership class. The traits that made him a GM — intensity, loyalty, discipline, and an unshakeable belief that outworking everyone in the room is always an option — were present long before the NFL discovered them. His brothers at 601 Gayley saw them first.
“He has always done what it takes to be successful — from playing quarterback at Loyola, to walking on at UCLA, to coaching high school football, to sleeping on a friend’s couch in Chicago to work for the Bears.”
— Colorado Springs Gazette, January 14, 2021
Notable Nu’s is a series celebrating distinguished members of the Epsilon Pi Chapter of Sigma Nu at UCLA.
Love · Honor · Truth