After being a part of what many deem the best basketball team Pace has ever seen, Tracy Jackson continues to give back to her school long after graduation.
The Pace hall-of-famer was recently promoted to Director of Auxiliary Housing Operations and has slowly been working her way up the career ladder. Jackson was a management systems major as an undergraduate and then took on management information systems and master of science in teaching business – secondary level as a graduate student.
“I was a graduate assistant for residential life for two years, and then I became the Assistant Director for the Pleasantville campus” Jackson said. “I certainly didn’t plan to have my career go in this direction; it is something that just happened. But I am very happy with where I am at.”
Jackson played from 1983 to 1985 and has yet to leave Pace, partly because her student experience was something she really enjoyed.
“Coming here as a student was a lot of fun,” Jackson said. “We were a pretty good basketball team, so a lot of students and administrators came to our games, Homecoming week was a blast with all different events and building floats, dorm decorating contest, Halloween, Christmas, all the sports teams were competitive and winning, and the students were a bunch fun.”
However, all good things must come to an end.
“I wish I had another year with the team,” Jackson said. “The first year we played together we were learning each other’s style and ability to play the game. The second year we were on point as a team with each other. If we had one more year together as a team we would have been playing in the final four of Division II Women Basketball Championship.”
Although the women’s team was unable to win a championship, Jackson helped lead her team to many accomplishments, including earning the ECAC (Easter College Athletic Conference) Team of the Year in 1985, an Empire State Conference regular season and playoff title in 1983-84 and 1984-85, as well as an appearance in the NCAA Tournament in 1984-1985 (pacesettersathletics.com). Additionally, Jackson helped the Setters to a NCAA East Regional Title. She earned herself an induction into the Pace Hall of Fame in 1998.
“Our success came because we played as a team,” Jackson said. “Everybody had their good games and not so good games, but everyone always worked hard and understood what we needed to do to accomplish our goals.”
Pace wasn’t the only place where Jackson helped accomplish new feats. She attended Hilbert Jr. College for two years, before it became a four year school, before being recruited to come to Pace University. At Hilbert Jr. College, Jackson and her team went to the National Jr. College tournament for the first time in the school’s history.
Basketball has been in Jackson’s life since she was a little girl, as she would always play during her lunch period growing up in Buffalo, NY.
“I started playing basketball in grammar school,” said Jackson, who averaged 13 points, 8.7 rebounds and 2.8 steals per game for her career (pacesettersathletics.com). “I then continued playing at Hutchinson Technical High School for four years, and was able to receive a scholarship to play for Hilbert Jr. College.”
“Basketball has always been a sport that I enjoyed playing and I was pretty good at it, and I was able to get two scholarships so I continued to play,” said Jackson, who helped the 1983-1985 basketball teams to a 53-8 record. “I played volleyball in high school as well, but I was not recruited.”
With it being the 50th Anniversary of the Pace Pleasantville Campus, Jackson sees this as an opportunity to reflect on the past and look forward to the future.
“To know that you have been a part of history or longevity is a wonderful feeling,” Jackson said. “We have had the luxury of knowing 50 years of Pace Pleasantville and now embarking on the transformation of Pleasantville with all the new construction and making Pace Pleasantville Westchester one campus.”
Jackson has left a lasting impact on the Pace community, including Zach Dayton, another pace alum who is currently the Assistant Athletic Director of External Operations for Pace.
“Tracy Jackson is a great colleague and someone who is integral in the history of Pace University as a women’s basketball alum and Hall of Fame inductee,” said Dayton, who was a pitcher for the Pace baseball team from 2006 to 2009 (pacesettersathletics.com). “I always enjoy working with her on different initiatives throughout the school year and she works very hard for our students.