Even with life’s ups and downs, Recreational Sports Director, Jason Pace, has found a home within ABAC. Pace said, “I get to be a big kid every day pretty much, I get to set up all these games for students to play.”
As an actual kid, he relished his life in sports and claims he was never without a ball or bat in his hand. “My parents tell me they had me at two out in the backyard hitting a ball, and while I have no recollection of that,” he chuckled, “I do remember it was always a ball in my hand, soccer ball at my feet playing some type of sport.”
Pace is from a small town in Virginia and went to Bradford University for his undergraduate, majoring in Media Studies with a concentration in journalism and a minor in sports administration. After his time at Bradford, Pace pursued his education further at Highpoint University, where he received his Master’s in Sports Studies. When he graduated in 2009, the economy was in turmoil and Pace spent the next three years looking for a full-time job.
Afterward, he became the Assistant Coordinator of Facility Services at Ferrum College for about six months. Then, he looked to his alma mater where he became the Coordinator for Facilities and Operations at Bradford University and spent four years there. On Aug. 1, 2017, Pace started his first day at ABAC.
When he started his education, Pace didn’t expect it to be the ride it’s been. “In high school, I thought ‘what better thing to do than to go cover games…’ I’d do college game sets for high school games with the group of people I hung out with.”
In 2007, Pace began to pay attention to the economy. “I don’t want to say journalism became a dying industry, but the jobs out there were not nearly as plentiful as when I started college in 2003.”
With the goal to still end up doing sports, Pace became extremely involved in his campus intramural teams. It led him to where he is today, and he attributes it to the lifelong connections he found on the field. “A lot of the guys I met in college, we met through intramural, and we’ve all gone to vacations together, been at each other’s weddings. Being able to see people make that connection is an awesome thing as well.”
