Vikings' Ivan Pace Jr. returns home to Cincinnati, and his namesake, as an NFL success story

Ivan Pace Sr. first laid eyes on Ivan Pace Jr. in Cincinnati 23 years ago Saturday.

"You know those old Stretch Armstrong wrestler toys?" Pace Sr. said of the day his son was born: "Ivan looked like that coming out of the womb. Short, all muscle, flexible. Always liked to wreck things."

In other words, born to play football.

"Been playing since he was 5," Pace Sr. said. "I knew he was different because I kind of showed him the ropes, and he wanted to do what Daddy did, and that's what he did."

Cincinnati is home to a tale of two talented Ivans, two very different football journeys and how a father overcame his youthful "trials and tribulations" to help his namesake rise higher than a 5-foot-10 NFL linebacker is supposed to.

"My pops taught me to fight for everything I get in life," Pace Jr. said. "That's where the dog in me comes from."

Pace Jr. is the reigning NFC defensive player of the week and the celebrated closer of the 16^th shutout in 63 seasons of Vikings football. On Saturday, he will lead the Purple (7-6) into Paycor Stadium to face his hometown Bengals (7-6) — sorry, Cincinnati, but he grew up a Cowboys fan.

The undrafted phenom and dark-horse candidate for NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year, Pace Jr. is just beginning to write his gridiron success story 28 years after Pace Sr.'s career ended abruptly in one of the more sorrowful tales in Ohio's rich history of high school football.

Nov. 25, 1995. Pace Sr. is a 6-2, 240-pound senior defensive lineman for perhaps the best team ever assembled at Cincinnati's Colerain High School. His interception return for a touchdown helps the undefeated Cardinals rout Brunswick 49-7 in a Division I state semifinal. Next up: Cleveland's St. Ignatius.

But …

A high school graduate who attended eighth grade with Pace Sr. saw the pick-six on television. He asked his mom, a Colerain employee, why Pace Sr. was still in high school. The mom asked a co-worker, who discovered Pace Sr. had failed a grade and was in his fifth year of high school, making him ineligible.

Pace Sr. had played only two years of football. Football was helping him turn a troubled home life around, but bam, just like that, it was over.

On the Monday before the state title game, Colerain reported itself to the state, and 13-0 became 0-13. Brunswick played St. Ignatius and lost 41-21.

"It would have been nice to finish; we were so good, but that was it for me," Pace Sr. said. "People said things and made threats, but I wasn't worried about all that."

With the spotlight on him, Pace Sr. found out there was a warrant for his arrest. He owed money on an old theft charge. Money he didn't have. His coach, Kerry Coombs, drove him to the police station so he could turn himself in.

"I think the story got bigger than it was," Pace Sr. said. "Things just didn't fall in line for me like they should for a kid. You leave it, turn it over to God and let him handle the business and see what happens.

"What happened is he blessed my wife [Shellie] and me with a family" — a daughter, Jalynn, and Pace Jr. and his younger brothers, Deshawn and Quincy — "and told me to show them the right way. And that's what I did. That's the story line for you."

Deshawn played safety at the University of Cincinnati, where he and Pace Jr. were teammates in 2022, and has entered the transfer portal. Quincy is a football-loving sixth-grader.

Pace Jr. played fullback and outside linebacker at Colerain. He rushed for 1,414 yards and 22 touchdowns while also winning Ohio's Division I Defensive Player of the Year award as a senior in 2018.

He and Deshawn played in the state title game. They lost. After that, only one Division I program — Miami (Ohio), 40 miles away — offered Pace Jr. a scholarship.

"Ivan is the flaw in college recruiting and the NFL draft," said Spence Nowinsky, Pace's linebackers coach at Miami. "He's got heart, instincts. He'll hit you like a truck. Isn't afraid to put his face on you, which is a lost art in the NFL.

"He's tough as mustard gas. You tell him something and he remembers it like Rain Man …"

And …

"He's like Michael Jordan."

Come again?

"He refuses to lose," Nowinsky said. "At anything."

"He's over my house playing Madden with my son, Jack, who's 9 at the time," Nowinsky said. "He's beating Jack 50-0. The kid is crying. I say, 'Ivan, can you at least let the kid get a first down?' He says, 'Nope, Coach. You don't learn that way.' "

Pace Jr. laughs at this memory.

"I see people say, 'You got to let your kids win,' " he said. "I think you got to make them fight for everything. That's how I see life. That's how my pops made me do it. Build that dog in a kid and nobody can stop him."

Just ask three-time All-Pro receiver Davante Adams. With the Vikings clinging to a 3-0 lead with 1:57 left in Sunday's game at Las Vegas, it was Pace Jr. who wouldn't be denied when a Raiders drive opened with a pass to Adams.

Vikings defensive coordinator Brian Flores praised Pace's interception for closing the deal on a shutout "we'll be talking about for a long time." Coach Kevin O'Connell called it "a season-defining performance." Inside linebackers coach Mike Siravo pointed out how Pace missed defending the same play a couple of times earlier in the game.

"His eyes weren't on the quarterback like they should have been," Siravo said. "That's him learning and the people around him constantly helping a young guy with his in-game learning."

Pace Jr. finished with a career-high 13 tackles, one sack, the interception and … his first NFL backflip following the pick.

"I used to do that before every game at Cincinnati last year," said Pace Jr., who transferred to the Bearcats before last season. "I figured last week was the right time to bring it to the league."

It's no surprise this guy has a tattoo of the Tasmanian Devil cartoon character on his left knee. Folks in Cincinnati have been making that comparison for years. On the wrestling mat, where he won conference titles in different weight classes each year. And, of course, on the football field.

"We had a blitz we called 'Taz,' " said Tom Bolden, Pace Jr.'s coach at Colerain. "It was a delayed blitz. I'd say, 'Ivan, let everything form in front of you and then just go a thousand miles an hour to the quarterback.'

"Ivan also would drive me crazy. He never wanted to leave the field. I had to give him some rest, so during punt return practice, I'd pull him. But the whole time, he'd walk circles around me, just staring at me and not saying a word. I finally had to tell him, 'Hey, we might need to you punt next week. Go practice punting.' He'd grab a bag of balls and take off with a big smile. Taz."

"Oh, man, the Taz blitzes were crazy," Pace Jr. said. "I'd tear through everybody. Nobody could stop me. That's kind of what's happening in the league now."

Injured Vikings veteran Jordan Hicks, who went to nearby Lakota West High School and whose role Pace Jr. took over, nods. He says Pace Jr. has "probably the most wiggle I've ever seen, so he's really not ever blocked because you can't grab someone you can't get your hands on."

Pace Jr. was considered too small before he won Defensive Player of the Year awards in two conferences. Too small before he became UC's first unanimous All-America selection and Pro Football Focus' highest-ranked college linebacker in 2022.

And now?

In the same number of games (13) and starts (nine), Pace has more solo tackles (43-41), more sacks (2½-1), more interceptions (1-0) and more forced fumbles (1-0) than 6-5 Lions rookie Jack Campbell, the 18th overall pick and the first linebacker drafted. PFF ranks Pace Jr. 20th and Campbell 131st among linebackers.

"Jack Campbell is a good linebacker," Pace said. "His road is his road. I have my road. I should have been drafted. I had the eye test going against me. That's all it was, but teams see who I am now."

Pace Sr., 47, turned his life around long ago. He became a diesel mechanic at Rumpke Waste & Recycling. And a role model.

"I get up every day and put food on the table and a roof over head," he said. "I showed my kids. I told them, 'You got to be responsible. Make your grades, don't dwell on the past.' No matter how tired I am, I get up and do my job."

Pace Jr. will get up Saturday in Cincinnati and go to work in front of his role model, his family and a total of about 50 ticket-bearing, mostly Cincinnati fans who will be rooting harder for him than the hometown Bengals.

"Every day I get to watch Ivan play, I'm very happy," Pace Sr. said. "It's like renaming yourself. Bringing your name back and making you proud. That's what Ivan's doing. It's a good day."