MEET PETE:
IMPRESARIO OF SPORT

Photo by Katie Penfield

Pete Paciorek was only five or six years old, but his first lesson in leading by example is a vivid memory of a dark night, a stray kitten, and a scared big sister. 

Paciorek, his mom and sister were walking one evening to the grocery store, when his mother noticed a stray kitten in distress, and decided milk and treats were what was called for. She asked Paciorek’s older sister to run home to “grab the goods.” 

But when his sister balked because of the dark, Paciorek wanted to impress his mom, and he stepped up and said, “I’ll go, I’m not afraid because God is with me.”  

“It took courage to take those steps,” says Paciorek, who admits he was a bit hesitant to run through the dark. But he did. And, he says, the reward was that his mom “commended me for this act of leadership.” It was a turning point in his life, says Paciorek. “This character value of leadership has been something that I have tried to apply in all aspects of my life.”  

And, so, Paciorek, who is just finishing his first year as Principia’s director of athletics, went on to a career in coaching – not just sport, itself, but the life-long character and leadership values of sport. In the past year he has brought back the Women’s Basketball program, improved coaches approach to recruiting and amped up the community service work of Principia athletes.  

“My No. 1 goal as the director of athletics here at Principia College is to positively impact others’ lives through sports. College athletics provide student-athletes with many learning opportunities for growth and character development, and this is at the heart and soul of what Principia stands for,” says Paciorek.  

 “He has brought a great energy to the department, and one of the things I am really excited about seeing as Pete moves forward is his coaching of our coaches and helping our coaches put into practice recruiting strategies,” says Provost, Joe Ritter.  

“We have amazing facilities and we’ve got great coaches…Sedge Southworth… is going out to Southern California and meeting with three prospective athletes, going to two track meets and doing a recruiting trip out there and that is just evidence of Pete’s effectiveness in coaching our coaches and how to be effective recruiters,” says Ritter 

Success in athletics –and in life – was something the Paciorek family was good at:  Nine family members became professional major league baseball players. Paciorek, himself, spent nine years with the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Diego Padres affiliations. 

Building on that experience, Paciorek earned two master’s degrees in organizational communication and leadership and then in sport management, spent six years as head baseball coach and assistant athletic director at Principia College, and several years in Bradenton, Fla. where he was an instructor and camp director for more than 40 programs at IMG Academies, a boarding school for high level athletes of school age. 

  With the mission to “focus on the development of strong character in youth through sports participation,” he started a non-profit in 2016 called, “Character Loves Company,” and wrote the 332-page book “Character Loves Company – Defining the ‘Teachable Moments’ in Sports: A Guidebook to Character Literacy Development.” It is now used as a textbook in sports management classes at the University of Florida. 

Almost every week since the fall semester started, Paciorek has had different sports teams visit the Boys & Girls Club in Alton to teach the kids different skills in the sports. 

 “The first Wednesday we went to the Boys & Girls Club in Alton the kids from the club were really excited,” said Paciorek.   

 To him, being out in the community and supporting kids is what character education and sports is all about.  

One of Paciorek’s first efforts as athletic director was to bring back the women’s basketball program, which was suspended for a year due to low interest and staffing. Many of the women who were on the team in previous years came scampering into his office in his first week on the job, he says. 

That prompted him to search for a new coach, and hired Dory Smith, a coach seasoned in Principia athletics as a former athletic director at the upper school, a P.E. teacher, coach of softball teams and director for several other schools.  

The team then was able to compete as a junior varsity sport in the winter, with 12 women on the roster, which is the biggest it has been in years. Next season, the women’s team will compete at varsity level again. 

 Smith uses the principles in Paciorek’s book as a part of training. Every week the team chooses a new principle like “teamwork or unselfishness” to discuss before practice. “I think that Pete is organized and coaches want to see that...he has good communication and comes to your contests,” says Smith.  

Student athlete Sophia Hathaway shared some of her gratitude for Paciorek after he brought back women’s basketball.  

“He was very transparent about the whole process to me and two other players…I am very grateful for how dedicated he was in getting the program back and how much he listened to us,” says Sophia Hathaway. 

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