Rutgers-Camden Athletics

    Despite playing only two seasons of basketball at Rutgers-Camden, Ray Pace left a lasting impression, scoring 1,201 points for seventh on the career list. He also holds the single-season scoring record with 608 points during the 1976-77 campaign. His career average of 24.0 is second only to Bill Bramble’s 24.3, and his average of 10.7 rebounds tops the career charts. Pace also is No. 1 in career field goal percentage (56.9) and holds a single-season mark with 259 field goals (1976-77). Pace’s 27.6 scoring average in 1976-77 is second on the single-season charts to Bramble’s 28.7 in 1967-68.
    Although he played in only 50 games at Rutgers-Camden, Pace scored 30 or more points 13 times. His career high of 40 points came against Spring Garden Feb. 16, 1977. That total is tied for sixth on the single-game charts.
    In 1976, Pace was a member of the last Rutgers-Camden men’s basketball team to qualify for post-season play. That team went 19-9 and reached the NAIA District 31 final, with Pace earning a berth on the All-District 31 team.
    A star out of Bok Vocational Tech, Pace was named a Philadelphia Area Small College All-Star and was the MVP of the New Jersey All-Star Game in 1977. He is the only Rutgers-Camden player ever selected in the NBA draft, being  selected in the sixth round of the 1977 draft by the Boston Celtics.
    In later years, Pace served as coach of both the men’s and women’s teams at Rutgers-Camden. In his first year with the men (1996-97), Rutgers-Camden broke its NCAA-record 117-game losing streak. He led the women to their best record ever, 24-5, during the 1981-82 season.
    Pace graduated from Rutgers-Camden in 1979 with a BA in Sociology. He works as a building administrator at the University of Pennsylvania.