Benny Pace, the former Valletta FC secretary and noted sports journalist, passed away on Wednesday night. He was 73.
Pace leaves behind him a great void in the local sporting community as in his lifetime, he combined his journalism work with several other administrative posts at club and national level.
"When the death of veteran journalist Benny Pace was announced, the Sports Journalists Association (formerly Għaqda Kittieba Sports) and its affiliated members joined the local sporting family in saluting a person who was not only instrumental in the development of journalism in this country but one who, for many years, was among the leading administrators in Maltese sport," the Sports Journalists Association said in a statement.
Victor Sciriha, the president of Valletta FC, described Pace as "a pillar of Valletta FC and Maltese sport in general".
"I'm saddened by the death of Benny Pace who, for many years, was general secretary of Valletta FC," Sciriha said.
"Benny has given a lot to Maltese sport but he will always remain synonymous with Valletta FC.
"He will always be remembered as an excellent servant of our glorious club, a true club man who, despite his deteriorating health, continued to follow Valletta FC even in the final years of his life. Benny Pace was a pillar of Valletta FC and Maltese sport in general."
In a statement, the president and directors of the Maltese Olympic Committee (MOC) expressed their condolences to Pace's family.
Born in Valletta on September 27, 1936, Pace studied at St Aloysius College, a school with firm sporting traditions, especially football.
Pace began his working career as a radio officer on the Malta to Sicily ferry, The Star of Malta. Later, he joined the Signal Squadron until the Services run-down when he took up employment with the government service as a clerical officer.
Pace started his sports journalist career in 1957 with the launching of his popular weekly Soccer Magazine. Three years later, he produced, edited and published The Sporting Star, a weekly sports newspaper.
For a number of years in the fifties and sixties, Pace was assistant editor to Robbie DeCesare for of the popular Football Annual. He is also the author of many sports publications about football and, for many years, was responsible for the publication of Valletta FC's magazines and programmes.
His unwavering love for sport meant that Pace was also involved in broadcasting and produced several programmes on Radio Malta, Super One and RTK. His best-known programme however, was the History of Maltese Sport, an 18-part series that was broadcast on TVM in 2001.
Pace was one of the pioneers of the national team supporters' club in 1958. Since then, he remained closely associated with Maltese football and compiled the national team's section in Lewis Portelli's famous publication, The Football Year Book, which was published between 1987 and 2007.
Administrative career
In his long and eventful administrative career, Pace was the first president of the Darts Association, the Basketball Association and the Malta Billiards and Snooker Association. For a time, he was also involved in the Malta Boxing Association.
Pace was also an active member of the National Sports Board, the Għaqda Kittieba Sport, the Maltese Olympic Committee, Valletta's Waterpolo Club and of course, his beloved Valletta FC where he served as secretary for many years. He was also the founder of the Sportivi Nazzjonali and organised the contests between 1960 and 1964.
Pace was also the Sports Editor of Il-Poplu (1958-73), Il-Mument (1972-1985) and In-Nazzjon Tagħna (1970-1985).
He travelled extensively to cover sporting events such as the Olympic Games, the Commonwealth Games and the Mediterranean Games. Pace also reported on international football matches played by the Maltese national team.
In 2007, Pace won the coveted Sports Journalism Award and that year, he was also inducted in the Maltese Olympic Committee Hall of Fame.
Pace's funeral takes place this morning at 10 at Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church in Valletta.