[3] Following graduation, Partin enrolled at the University of Mississippi where he was an offensive lineman on the football team from 1979 to 1982, earning two varsity letters.
He achieved Academic All-SEC honors and received the National Football Foundation UM Chapter Scholar-Athlete Award.
The tables originally did not include the Gleason score and were based only on prostate-specific antigen (PSA) and tumor, node, and metastases.
[7] In 2000, Partin co-led a research team to reveal the differing prostate predication cancer risks amongst African American men and Caucasians.
[9] While serving in this role, he co-led a study with Stephen J. Freedland which demonstrated that men with high PSA levels prior to prostate removal surgery were significantly more likely to have advanced clinical stages of cancer.