Pat Dooley started his career in journalism at 19 years old when he covered WFL games for the St Augustine Record. He went on to work at the Gainesville Sun, Fort Lauderdale Sun Sentinel, Jacksonville Journal and Florida Times Union. He was sports editor of the Sun for seven years before becoming columnist in 1994. He retired from the newspaper business in December of 2020. He continues writing for WRUF and has been on radio at the station for 10 years.