Luke Whitehouse
@Lwhitehouse12
Video games have always been something that kids love to play and parents love to scoff at. It consumes kids from when they wake up, when they get home from school and when they go to bed – which can lead into the late hours.
What it also does is blend competitiveness with passion, drive many to get better, and reach new ‘levels’ – literally.
But in a new world where streaming has become so popular, video games have been professionalized, and the stakes have never been higher.
It can literally turn into a job.
Through two and half years at Springfield College, Thomas Paturzo played video games for fun. Whether it was FIFA, UFC or 2K, Paturzo always showed his competitive nature through video games.
But he also had other obligations.
He had to attend class and was a member of the Pride football team – a role he took very seriously.
Growing up in Toms River, NJ, Paturzo always loved sports. He had a passion for improving his craft and was very ambitious — trying to be the best athlete he could. Around age six or seven, Paturzo started to pick up video games as a hobby in addition to his athletics.
“They were always an escape,” Paturzo said. “Whether it was sports, stress, or whatever it was, it became an escape just playing with my friends and having a good time. That’s what really made me fall in love [with video games].”
The hard work on the field, though, is what earned him a spot on the football team and ultimately had a part in bringing him to Springfield College.
But as soon as he stepped foot on Alden Street, football had to wait.
During his freshman year, the global pandemic COVID-19 had spread worldwide – essentially shutting it down. The pandemic also put remote classes into effect – moving college students indoors.
Sitting in his room inside Gulick Hall during that first year was the start. This was when Paturzo began to hone in on his craft.
“I remember being up at 3 a.m. watching this guy play FIFA,” Paturzo’s roommate at Springfield, John MacDonald said. “From the jump, I saw the influence.”
MacDonald also notes Paturzo’s willingness to do all he could to be the best at a particular game.
“He learned all different things about the games he was playing,” he said. “It’s not all about his competitiveness; although he is very competitive, it’s about his dedication. And no matter what it is, if you grind it out for hours, you’ll get good at it.”
As Paturzo returned for his sophomore year, he began to take video games a little more seriously for many reasons – the main one being that he was really frickin’ good at them.
“I always knew playing with my friends was naturally better,” Paturzo said. “It turned into not being enough to play for fun anymore. I wanted to start to play competitively.”
As Paturzo started playing with others outside his inner circle, he saw that he was better than those kids as well.
At the same time, 2K and the NBA were forming a league that would professionalize the game itself and offer the best of the best an opportunity to play for money.
But it wasn’t even something Paturzo thought about.
“I honestly didn’t know the 2K league was a thing until probably 2021,” he said. “[Although] I heard about it, I never was like, ‘let me go for this.’”
During that year, Paturzo had begun to find a group that was just as good and as competitive as he was. The group started playing in amateur tournaments for small amounts of money. And they were winning…a lot.
“We won like every single tournament,” Paturzo said. “Scouts were there watching, and people started to reach out to me, and people wanted to play with me. I’m starting to get a little bit of a following.”
Paturzo realized that this was an opportunity. If he made the right connections and got better, the 2K league could be attainable.
Still, it seemed far-fetched.
Until the night of the 2023 NBA 2K league draft.The Utah Jazz selected Paturzo with the 30th pick in the second round.
What looked like a blessing put Paturzo at a crossroads.
Although he would now have the opportunity to play video games professionally, he also was a college student trying to get an education. He was also a member of the football team. He was also considering leaving school for a job that offered no long-term security (NBA 2K league contracts are year-by-year).
“You basically have to drop everything and move to Utah,” he said. “It’s basically your life now. And you can’t be in college doing that. I knew if I went, it meant leaving Springfield. So I had to make a choice.”
It came down to one thing for Paturzo.
“It was very simple,” he said. “I said to myself, ‘I can always go back to school and finish my degree, but this opportunity, you never know when it’s gonna come up again, so I’m gonna take this chance.’”
After completing the fall semester of his junior year, Paturzo, who goes by the name “KAAZE” in the league, packed his bags and traveled west to Utah to join his new team, Jazz Gaming.
With this, Paturzo competes for hundreds of thousands of dollars throughout the season – from January through August.
Despite reaching newfound heights, Paturzo remembers his roots.
“I gotta give all my credit to my time at Springfield College,” he said. “I didn’t even know if I was going to get to play video games competitively. It’s a good, small, close-knit group at Springfield. Everyone knows each other. Everyone supports each other, and I can’t give enough credit to people at Springfield.”
Following a successful first season, Paturzo was granted the opportunity to return for another season.
“I’m very thankful to be brought back by the Jazz,” Paturzo said. “I have fun every day. My work day consists of getting up and playing video games for money. It really is a dream come true.”
Photo courtesy of Thomas Paturzo