A room waits relatively spartan, with fluorescent lighting eliminating even a hint of a shadow. Four fresh copies of “The Athlete’s Bible” sit on a moderately bare shelf, their bright red spines contrasting the grey walls. On the opposite side of the shelf are photos of family, a family now living hundreds of miles closer to its relatives. Flags for sports teams adorn the walls, the Cubs, the Redhawks and most unsurprisingly the Rams. A flyer admonishes that “wrestling changes lives.” A myriad of financial posters line seemingly every blank surface. Brown tables contrast the sea of grey, white and blue. More important than these undeveloped surroundings however, are the students that inhabit them—along with the teacher, coach and man they look up to.

Business teacher and assistant coach Jace Mortimer has only recently become a part of Ladue’s staff, but his connections to education and athletics are far deeper. They began in high school, where Mortimer participated in a variety of sports along with other activities.

“I ended up doing four sports in high school: football, cross country, wrestling and track,” Mortimer said. “Unfortunately, I had to end my football career early, I had too many concussions. I was getting contacted by a couple of coaches for track, and they said, ‘Hey, now that you’re not playing football anymore, you should really think about running cross country, because that’s probably what you’ll end [up doing] in college.’”

While Mortimer might have had an early attraction to sports, a life teaching in a classroom wasn’t his first calling. Towards the end of high school, Mortimer focused on pursuing a career in aerospace engineering.

“I took [physics] in my junior year and fell in love, and I knew from there I wanted to go into engineering,” Mortimer said. “So my college search was all about engineering schools. I ended up taking an Air Force [Reserve Officers’ Training Corps] scholarship to Ohio State University and joining their aerospace engineering program. [My] ultimate goal was to go work at NASA.”

However, reality soon set in. Mortimer found that pursuing a career in the engineering field didn’t align with his passions, so he turned to another path.

“[My] second option was going into some form of finance field,” Mortimer said. “So once I left Ohio State, I went to [Southeast Missouri State University]. They had a decent business program down there. I ended up studying finance, that’s really what I wanted to do.”

Regardless, Mortimer’s second attempt at a career ended up also not working out. After taking a job working for the financial services and insurance company MassMutual, Mortimer had more difficulties than expected. 

“I hated making 200 phone calls [a day],” Mortimer said. “‘Hey, this is Jace Mortimer over here at MassMutual, I’d like to talk to you about your finances.’ I learned pretty quick that people don’t want to talk to a 24-year-old fresh out of college [about their finances.]”

After another brief stint—this time in management—Mortimer began to feel the allure of working in a school environment. With his family’s support, Mortimer left his job as a restaurant general manager to move towards a career in managing a classroom setting.

“I knew I wanted to get into coaching, and I did a little bit as a college volunteer assistant coach,” Mortimer said. “I came from a family of teachers and had conversations with them. They said, ‘Yeah, you should really go for it.’ So [in] 2017, I ended up going back to school. Got my degree, and took off from there.”

While Mortimer was working on his Bachelor’s of Education at Illinois State University, he also met his wife. The two met in a library that Mortimer frequented, and their relationship deepened from there—propelling Mortimer to eventually move to Texas.

“2019 was my first year [teaching],” Mortimer said. “I moved down to Texas with my wife. She did her student teaching down in San Antonio, and she’s like, ‘Hey, if you want to stay together, you’re coming down here to Texas with me.’ So after I graduated from Illinois State, I moved.” 

After settling down, Mortimer began teaching business and marketing classes at Pflugerville High School, near Austin, Texas. Additionally, while Mortimer had some experience with coaching in college, it was moving to Texas—where wrestling was less popular—that gave him his first chance at being a head coach.

“Pflugerville had a very, very small wrestling team,” Mortimer said. “When I took over that program, there were four wrestlers, and the kids were essentially coaching themselves. It worked out in my favor that I knew enough to take over that program.”

After spending several years teaching and coaching in Texas, it was time for a change. Mortimer learned about an opening in the business department at Ladue from his sister, and he decided to go for the position.

“It [was] an opportunity at the best school district in the state. You don’t get those opportunities very often,” Mortimer said. “As much as we loved Texas and loved our life in Texas, we prioritized that over living there.”

Mortimer’s previous experience working in management and finance gave him the requisite experience for the job. Having degrees in both business education and business administration allowed for Mortimer to carve out a unique role in his new department.

“He is kind of our finance guru,” business teacher Allen Stringer said. “He teaches investment strategies and personal finance, which is really why he was brought in when we had that opening a couple years ago. That was a big reason why he was selected for the job, because he has a background in finance and has an understanding about how different markets work and things like that.”

This year, Mortimer has been working as an assistant coach for Ladue’s football and wrestling teams. His previous experiences have shaped the way that he interacts with student athletes, and have changed his philosophy when it comes to teaching, coaching and living.

“I made a lot of decisions personally when I was younger, [which] definitely were not the smartest decisions, personally or financially,” Mortimer said. “And this [was] part of the reason why I wanted to get into coaching, to be able to take what I love and mentor young people. Being a teacher, I get to do that now.” 

While wrestling might have been less competitive in Texas, the opposite was certainly true for football. Mortimer’s unique perspectives have helped the team in its success during its season earlier this year.

“Coming from a place like Texas, where high school football is operated on such a different level than at Missouri, he just kind of brings that perspective of what high school football should be like,” social studies teacher Matt Horn said. “Coming from a different school, you do different things, you have different philosophies. He’s never been afraid to bring those ideas to the staff and try to implement them.”

Mortimer has also stepped up this year in a different way. After having a complicated relationship with his faith for several years, Mortimer has become the advisor for the Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA). The club actively hosts a variety of meetings to help students integrate faith into their individual athletic journeys.

“My faith has been off and on,” Mortimer said. “I guess for a very, very long time, I was away from God, and really recently within the last year—my wife and I—we’ve started really reconnecting with our faith. When I got contacted by Mr. Kendall about needing an FCA sponsor, I was still fairly early on into renewing my faith. I’ve been trying to use FCA as a way to go down that renewed faith journey.”

Looking to the future, Mortimer has higher aspirations. At 32, with a long tenure at Ladue ahead of him, he’s seeking to deepen his engagement with athletics through his work with athletic director Nick Gianino.

“I’m fortunate enough that coach Gianino has offered to be my mentor in this program, so I want to learn as much from him as possible,” Mortimer said. “After being at Ladue, falling in love with the school and the community, my ultimate dream job would be Ladue’s athletic director at some point in the future.”

Even after just one school year at Ladue, Mortimer has made an impact. Students and teachers alike have recognized him for being a genuine teacher.

“He’s legitimately a good person,” Stringer said. “I could say without a doubt that he enjoys being here, he enjoys his job and he enjoys working with students. I think that makes a big difference in those connections he builds, because students are better at recognizing authenticity than people sometimes realize.”

Mortimer has tried and failed to find a suitable career path time and time again. Whether it was solving problems, serving drinks or making phone calls—everything has led up to his present. While some might claim that the journey is more important than the destination, Mortimer’s journey through life is only just beginning.

“Everything happens for a reason,” Mortimer said. “It’s interesting to look back and think, ‘What if?’ But if I didn’t make the choices I did, I don’t know [if] I would be working here. I don’t know if I would have been married to my wife. I don’t know if I would have a son. I feel like I’m in a really good place right now, and I have a pretty awesome life as it is. Everything happens for a reason.”