My sports career in pictures

It all started in 1982 when I started doing Tae kwon Do with my older brother. Within a year I won some AAU State or Regional Title, and the athlete was born.

It was 1984 when I saw Carl Lewis dominate the Olympics in LA. That was when I started hunting out an Olympic Sport.

Fastforward 6 years and I'm one of the 10 juniors in the country and had a rare opportunity to train in Japan with the other top US players. My mother is so country that when I told her I can go to Japan if she let's me, her response was, "Are you going to be back before dinner"?


That training camp convince someone in the Olympic Development program that I had what it took to live at the Olympic Training Center in the Resident Program. So I moved to Colorado Springs to live with the top 15 other juniors in the country. I lived on the same floor as Archery, Team Handball, Wrestling, Tae Know Do, and Figure Skating. I spent 3 school years there learning every detail to being an Olympic Athelete.

Here is a picture from an ad we did for Rayban. Man what the hell was I thinking about with the blonde streak?

I also ran track for my local high school. Yeap! I did the 100 and 200 meters. My best time was 10.32sec for the 100, and 21.8 for the 200. I put down some ballin.

After leaving the Training Center I was off into the world learning how to win. Here is a picture of me being a photographer's nightmare. My movements were so notoriously explosive that I was always out of the frame when they took the picture

I found myself out in the jungle with seasoned table tennis athletes and often it left me frustrated when I couldn't get it together.

Some times those moments turned into moments of victory even though I had not totally learned my lesson.

In 1995 I took a trip back to Colorado, and it was very emotional to be back at the Olympic Training Center. It was the place that I really found myself, and laid the foundation for all my endeavors, athletic and personal. Here is a picture of the upgraded Olympic Rings.

In 1995 I went to Japan with 2 Americans and 1 Jamacian. 2 of the 4 would go on to represent their countries at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta.

I trained at a bunch of places, and got my ass handled to me by the best collegiate players, and most of these guys went on to be National Team members

If you go to Japan, you are going to sing Karaoke at the farewell party. You also have to give a speech.

The reason to learn Japanese is to talk to Mr. Tamasu, which is the owner of Butterfly. I don’t know how he did it, but they are responsible for 67% of all table tennis equipment sold in the world. No different than how Shimano has it locked down for components in Cycling. Betcha didn’t know that Shimano is a Japanese guy

After our training it’s always customary to be taken on a trip of Japan, and the nephew of your guide took a liking to me. So I found myself carrying around a Japanese kid for most of the day. That shit would look weird in American. His name was Yuki, and he was a sweet kid.


I soon took a job as a private coach to a rich kid in New Orleans. I worked 2 hrs a day, and made a salary that would make most Computer Engineers quite jealous. Downside, I had to move away from all my best friends that were in the sport, to coach a rich, spoiled brat. If you have every seen Richard Pryor in the movie called the “The Toy, then that was me. He was ranked no. 22 in the country when I started coaching him, and 1 year later when I left he was number 4, and had won the National Junior Championships for his age group. That is what solidified that I had the goods a top level coach. But I could not coach such a spoiled kid, and not living near in top level players around my level had me move up to Maryland, where I would not coach again for over 1 year.

After a year off I jumped back into the arena of coaching. So I moved to South Florida to coach a group of kids in Coral Springs. Again, within a short time I was at the National Championships in Las Vegas and both of my juniors were playing each other in the finals. The beauty of having both of your kids in the finals, is that you don’t have to watch or route for any of them. I gave them both a high five, and hit the blackjack table with one of the kids father.

I did have a short stint in Sweden to do some training and competing. I was in Halmstad, the training was tough, and weather was worst. Probably one of the best places to train for a Pro in Europe, because it’s very systemic. From this point, until the end of my career I would take all my International training trips “Solo”.

In the summer of 98, I took my first Solo Trip to Japan to train for the summer. It was the only time in my life that I was so lean that I could see the veins popping out of my chest and abs. At the Butterfly Dohjo was the Taiwan table tennis team, so I spent most of my time training with them, playing Nintendo 64, and speaking Chinese(Mainly, the bad words)
Kubo was an exchange student from Maryland that worked for Butterfly, and he was my guide.

It wouldn’t be right if you couldn’t make a bi-weekly detour to McDonalds to give something familiar to the stomach. I would fall in love with the Apple Pie on this trip.

This is a photo of Shinjuko Station in Downtown Tokyo. This is the center of Japan as far as parties, nightlife, and overall activity. I couldn’t get Kubo to smile, so as the picture was been taken I told him to say, “Big, Japanese Tah Tahs”. As you can see I got a smile out of him.

Now Yuki had a little brother named Keho, and he took a liking to me. He looks just like Yuki did 3 years before.

That same year, I would take one of the students back to win another 2 National Championships in Las Vegas.

I also was getting my groove on as a player as I won 7 Regional competitions, with the Florida State Title to boot.

1999 started out with me getting my own racket deal for the “Brian Pace” racket, and I since then it has been the number one selling racket in the country at the $45.00-$50.00 range. Mom, “I have my face on something, and it’s not a wanted ad”.

I kept the tradition going by winning the FL State Championships in Orlando.

I won one of the Elite Events at the US Open, which is our biggest competition every year.

I took my second ever trip to the Caribbean to compete in going to Haiti. I was the highlight of my year from a personal satisfaction point of view. The host flew me in, took me to a resort in Caphatian, and was treated like a King for the entire Trip.

I was in a meeting room like I was a President or something. I was stormed by journalist as I walked out of the Airport. That is when I realized that it is not a good idea to come to Haiti unless you have private security. I didn’t even know that Americans were getting kidnapped in Haiti. I was somehow able to slip under the radar.

On top of that, I won the competition.



I also won the National Collegiate Singles Championships in Houston Texas. I finished 2nd in the Doubles also.

The Olympic year of 2000 started out with me not making the Olympic Team, but I did win National Collegiate Doubles with my girlfriend at the time, and I was runner-up in the Singles.


I also took my yearly trip to Haiti, and it was a blast as usual. The staff there put on a great competition, and once again, I was treat like royalty.


I also won the competition, and took home another beautiful cup.



The Korean Olympic Team came through South Florida and trained at my club. Between those 9 athletes is 10 Olympic medals, now that is gangsta.

If you don’t make the Olympic Team your year is over, so I relaxed into another sport. Mountain biking! I won the 25-29 Beginner category. On top of that I was voted “Rider of the Year”. How in the hell can a beginner win that title. I can tell you the my first race was Hard Rock the following year, and I finished 20th, and I almost quit. The next year, I came back to win the entire division.



In 2001, I decided it was time to live global in table tennis. So I took a 3 week training camp to Constanta, Romania. I came back playing so good, and I qualify to try out for the World Cup Team.

I was so impressed with my performance, that I moved to Romania to play in the league, and play some Pro Tour events. So I put the mtn bike in a storage unit with the rest of my stuff and moved to Romania. I don’t have any pictures because my computer crashed. Here is picture from of me when I got back from Europe. I had lost a bet and had to blonde my hair for 6 months.

I also made the quarterfinals of Singles at the Nationals.

I finished runner in the Doubles, and semi-finalist in the Mixed Doubles. I was ballin that year.

In 2002, I went back to Romania to play in the League. My team did not make the playoffs, so I came back earlier than normal. I also spent some time in Sweden, China, and San Jose CA. I have to say it was really freaky to walk up and see a picture of yourself, it just humbles you.

I did make another trip to Haiti though, had another great trip, and took home another trophy


I also took a training trip to Shanghai where I was in the same place as the US Junior Team.

This is downtown Shanghai, the bikes dominate

I'm like freaking 5'10, but I was like a giant in China

This place has rolls, and rolls, and rolls of bikes. Single speeds, geared bike, but absolutely no suspension bikes at all.

In 2003 I stayed in Romania most of the year, and came home for good in November of that year. My only true highlight was finishing runner up in the Men’s Doubles at the Nationals in Las Vegas.

A nice cap off to the year was GQ did a story on table tennis. I guys came looking for me, I did my Hollywood thing, and a couple of month later I was getting a call from my brother that I had a full page as soon as you get to the article. It is the issue with Halle Berry on the cover, and the closest I got to her is 7 pages. I also got a cut off of the photographer selling the photo to Baskin Robbins. What the hell could Baskin Robbins do with this photo.


In 2004, I did not make the Olympic Team. I retired right there in center court, and have enjoyed the process of being a being a Pro Athlete. I got my Schwinn Rocket 88 out of storage and starting hitting the trails. So if you see me out hitting it hard, it’s just because I’m an adrenaline junkie.

Pacer Out!