Pat Holmes, AFL All-Star who later called Kerrville home, dies at 85

James Patrick “Pat” Holmes, a two-time American Football League All-Star and first-team All-Pro who anchored the Houston Oilers’ defensive line through the franchise’s most successful seasons, died June 16. He was 85.

Holmes spent his later years in Kerrville, where he was a member of Faith Christian Church — but his ties to the Hill Country reached back decades. As a young defensive lineman, he was part of the 1967 Oilers squad that held training camp at Schreiner Institute in Kerrville, the same season he was named first-team All-Pro.

Born Aug. 3, 1940, in Durant, Oklahoma, Holmes played defensive end at Texas Tech University, where he met his future wife, Cindy, in 1961. The Philadelphia Eagles drafted him in the third round in 1962, but Holmes instead began his pro career with the Canadian Football League’s Calgary Stampeders, earning CFL All-Star honors in 1965.

He returned to Texas in 1966 with the Oilers and quickly became a fixture. Holmes was named an AFL All-Star in 1967 and 1968 and first-team All-Pro in 1967, the year Houston won the AFL Eastern Division and reached the league championship game behind the stingiest scoring defense in the AFL. Durable as well as decorated, he started every game of his first five seasons and never missed a game in seven years with the Oilers, appearing in all 98 and starting 96.

His career also placed him alongside some of the era’s giants. In Houston, his teammates included Hall of Fame safety Ken Houston and Hall of Fame defensive end Elvin Bethea; in his final season, 1973, he joined a Kansas City Chiefs roster still stocked with Super Bowl IV champions, among them Hall of Famers Len Dawson, Buck Buchanan and Willie Lanier.

After football, Holmes owned a Kwik Kopy printing franchise in downtown Houston and later taught himself computer programming, which became his second profession until he retired.

Away from work, Holmes was a devoted golfer who loved to two-step with Cindy. An avid historian, he took particular pride in researching his family genealogy, work that led him to join the Sons of the American Revolution.

Holmes is survived by Cindy, his wife of 63 years; daughters Samantha and Lucinda; son Andrew; their spouses; nine grandchildren; and six great-grandchildren.

His ashes will be buried during a private gathering at Green’s Chapel in Arkansas, alongside his Texas Tech senior ring and a Sons of the American Revolution grave marker. In lieu of flowers, the family asks that memorial gifts be directed to Faith Christian Church in Kerrville, the Freeman-Fritts Animal Shelter, the Pregnancy Resource Center or a charity of the donor’s choice.