Retired Washington Wizards (formerly called the Washington Bullets) basketball center Joe Pace finds himself down on his luck and living in a homeless shelter in Seattle, Washington.

Following the NBA championship 1977-1978 win, Pace was traded from the Bullets to the Boston Celtics but ended up leaving the NBA for Europe to play basketball there.

Unhappy with his lack of playing time and $35,000 yearly salary, Pace left the NBA to play ball in Mexico, Panama Spain, Venezuela and Argentina. While playing in Argentina, Pace suffered a back injury that required surgery and eventually cost him his career. He developed gangrene and was sent to the United States for treatment. The injury not only took away his livelihood but caused his marriage to fail.

Pace wandered homeless for ten years while living in ten different cities before he returned to Seattle. Morphine became his drug of choice along with beer and he spiraled out of control until he placed himself in the care of a drug and alcohol rehabilitation center in 2003. He currently works as a security guard for the homeless charity the Millionair Club and pays three dollars per night for a place to lay his head.

• Wikipedia: Joe Pace

• NBRPA: Legends of Basketball-Joe Pace

• Basketball-Reference.com: Joe Pace Statistics

• FOXNews.com: Former NBA Player Joe Pace... (May 17, 2008)

• Seattlepi.com: From NBA Glory to Homeless Shelter (May 15, 2008)

• KOMO 4 (Seattle): From Riches to Rags: a Man Who... (November 7, 2002)

• Topix.net: Joe Pace Homeless

• Google News: Joe Pace Homeless

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