Joe Pace (born December 18, 1953) is an American former professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

player. He played in the

NBA The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United St ...

for the

Washington Bullets The Washington Wizards are an American professional basketball team based in Washington, D.C. The Wizards compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Southeast Division. The team plays ...

and in Italy.

College career

Pace played college basketball at

Maryland Eastern Shore The Eastern Shore of Maryland is a part of the U.S. state of Maryland that lies mostly on the east side of the Chesapeake Bay. Nine counties are normally included in the region. The Eastern Shore is part of the larger Delmarva Peninsula that ...

and

Coppin State Coppin State University (Coppin) is a public historically black university in Baltimore, Maryland. It is part of the University System of Maryland and a member of the Thurgood Marshall College Fund. In terms of demographics, the Coppin State stu ...

Professional career

Pace won a league championship with the

in 1977–78. On August 8, 1978, he signed as a free agent with the

Boston Celtics The Boston Celtics ( ) are an American professional basketball team based in Boston. The Celtics compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Atlantic Division. Founded in 1946 as one of t ...

, but walked out of pre-season training camp and was subsequently placed on waivers. In October 1978, he signed with the

Baltimore Metros The Baltimore Metros were an American basketball team based in Baltimore, Maryland that was a member of the Continental Basketball Association. The team was previously known as the Washington Metros. During the 1978/79 season, the team moved to ...

of the

Continental Basketball Association The Continental Basketball Association (CBA) (originally known as the Eastern Pennsylvania Basketball League, and later as the Eastern Professional Basketball League and the Eastern Basketball Association) was a men's professional basketball m ...

. He appeared in 12 games for Baltimore and averaged 17.6

points per game Points per game, often abbreviated PPG, is the average number of points scored by a player per game played in a sport, over the course of a series of games, a whole season, or a career. It is calculated by dividing the total number of points by nu ...

, 2.4 blocks and 8.4

rebounds 'Rebound' is a term used in sports to describe the ball (or puck or other object of play) becoming available for possession by either opponent after an attempt to put the ball or puck into the goal has been unsuccessful. Rebounds are generally ...

in 30.8 minutes.

Personal life

In May 2008, he resided at a homeless shelter in

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...

. Shortly after

The Seattle Post-Intelligencer The ''Seattle Post-Intelligencer'' (popularly known as the ''Seattle P-I'', the ''Post-Intelligencer'', or simply the ''P-I'') is an online newspaper and former print newspaper based in Seattle, Washington (state), Washington, United States. Th ...

documented his troubles, he received an outpouring of support from within the NBA community, and has now found a home.

References

External links

Career stats
1953 births Living people African-American basketball players American expatriate basketball people in Italy American men's basketball players Basketball players from New Jersey Centers (basketball) Coppin State Eagles men's basketball players Franklin High School (New Jersey) alumni Homeless people Lega Basket Serie A players Maryland Eastern Shore Hawks men's basketball players Phoenix Suns draft picks Sportspeople from Franklin Township, Somerset County, New Jersey Sportspeople from New Brunswick, New Jersey Washington Bullets draft picks Washington Bullets players 21st-century African-American people 20th-century African-American sportspeople {{1950s-US-basketball-bio-stub