Patrick is the husband of Sandra Farmer-Patrick, who was also an elite 400 metres hurdler. The two had a history of success at the same meets, including the 1989 IAAF World Cup in Barcelona, Spain where both took the gold medal. It was the first time a husband and wife won a gold medal in the same event in international championship. Earlier in the year, they had become the first husband and wife to both win national championships at the same time since Hal Connolly and Olga Connolly did the same thing 29 years earlier. The couple were exorcising frustration at the 1988 U.S. Olympic Trials when both failed to qualify. He was the bronze medallist at the 1988 IAAF Grand Prix Final that year. David set his personal record in the 400 hurdles at 47.75 while finishing fourth behind eventual Olympic Champion Andre Phillips, the legend of the event Edwin Moses and future world record holder Kevin Young (with 1984 Silver Medalist Danny Harris, one one-hundredth of a second behind Patrick). Running in the difficult lane one, Patrick was behind off the final turn but made an impressive surge at the end of the race to miss making the team by 0.03. His time makes him still the 22nd best performer in the event. That year, wife Sandra was disqualified after winning her semi-final. David had also attempted to qualify in the 800 metres in 1988.