When Logan Pause’s decision to bring down the curtain on a 12-year professional career was announced in the closing stages of the 2014 season, Fire fans and teammates alike were forced to say goodbye to a veteran presence on the field and in the locker room.
Ten days after receiving a fitting send-off with the Men in Red in the team’s 2-1 victory over the Houston Dynamo on October 24, 2014, Pause was named vice president and assumed his duties a month later.
Fast-forward nearly 12 months later and you’ll find Pause, 34, and that veteran presence back in familiar territory.
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“There was a learning curve, moving upstairs from being on the field as long as I had,” Pause said Thursday, “but I have a great team of people that are patient and helpful in terms of bringing me up to speed, and finding where my niche is and where I add the most value.
“The last couple weeks has looked different in terms of being back on the field, but I would say that just the lessons and the experience of upstairs, of being able to see things at a 30,000-foot level and what it takes to put things together behind the scenes has definitely helped.”
From putting his arm around players to continuing to learn the ins and outs of the organization in a newfound role in the front office, Pause, who will serve on an interim coaching basis as the right-hand man to Brian Bliss until at least the end of the season, is instilling an infectious attitude and building on it.
Chicago Fire
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A member of the Chicago Fire Foundation Board of Directors since 2009, Pause has embraced the club’s core values over time and, on Sunday, tackled his first marathon. He completed the 26.2-mile Bank of America Chicago Marathon in 3:45:05, and helped raise funds for the club’s charitable arm.
“It’s something that’s massive for this club in terms of not only raising money through the marathon, but being engrained in the community with our youth,” Pause added of his affiliation with the Chicago Fire Foundation. “Our foundation specifically spearheads that, but everyone that’s part of this organization feels the responsibility and the privilege to be able to be a part of the P.L.A.Y.S. Program, and all these different things that are helping grow soccer in our country and helping pour into our youth in our city.”