Men’s basketball guard Stefawn Payne represents CSUSM on the court and is an active duty Marine Corps staff sergeant.

Thirty-one year old Payne is a rarity among NCAA athletes. He is on active duty and a college athlete. So few active duty service members play college sports (with the exception of the service academies) that the Department of Defense, Marine Corps and the NCAA do not keep such tallies.

In 1985, Payne was born into a military family in 29 Palms, a Marine Corps base near Palm Springs.

After graduating from Junipero Serra High School, where he was a team captain on his basketball team, Payne joined the Marines in 2003.

“I joined partly because of my father serving 30 years in the Marines. So, of course I would always go to work with him when I could. So, that definitely motivated me to want to join the Marines,” Payne said.

“When I was a junior in high school, 9/11 happened. So, I also felt it was my duty to serve my nation in a time of war.”

Payne deployed eight times: The first three to Iraq with 1st Marine Logistics Group and 1st Air Naval Gunfire Liaison Company units in 2004, 2006 and 2008.

In 2011, Payne deployed on a ship off the coast of East Africa and the Middle East.

Despite the danger, Payne stayed safe until a 2011 training injury cut his deployment short.

“We were off the coast [of East Africa] …  and I was coming out of the helicopter and my backpack got caught on the hell hole that we go out of,” Payne said.

Payne’s backpack ripped, the momentum pulled him backwards and dropped him on his elbow on the ship deck.

“At the time I didn’t know it was broken, I thought I just hit it hard, all the adrenaline going. So I got up and did the mission,” Payne said.

After completing his training mission with a broken elbow and spending 10 days on the ship, Payne headed back stateside for a four-month recovery.

Following a full recovery, Payne served in special operations for Global War on Terror from 2013 to 2016.  

As an enlisted Marine, Payne wants to be an officer. Two paths exist: attend a Platoon Leadership Class or do Naval Reserves Officer Training Corps (NROTC), said Marine Staff Sergeant Andres Carrero, the Officer Selection Assistant for San Diego.

Payne received acceptance into the officer program last fall on his first application ‒ one that included recommendations from generals. Payne moved back to California in March 2016 and began summer classes at CSUSM.

Payne’s interest in basketball sparked when he saw the Sports Center.

“I decided [to play basketball] probably in July of this year,” said Payne. “… I was going to the gym all the time, lifting weights and I obviously saw the Sport Center and I was like, ‘You know what, I might as well play basketball.’ I missed it when I was in the military. In between my deployment time, I was playing for the base teams, playing all Marine teams.”

Payne’s NROTC unit encourages him to focus on school and build leadership through campus activities. Being a part of a team is in line with the values of Payne’s officer candidate program, he said.

“Once [Interim Head] Coach Foster said ‘Hey, I want to keep you on the team’ after I went to the walk on tryouts … we started the NCAA clearing process. Because of being active duty, being out of high school for so long, it was a long process.”

The men’s basketball team welcomed Payne and the intangibles he brings.

“A guy that has done the service that he has over his lifetime only can help out the things that we’re teaching in terms of teamwork, in terms of toughness, in terms of fighting through adversity … I love having him on the team,” said Foster.  “He’s a great guy … It’s a no brainer for us to have him on the team. He only brings positives.”

Junior Ethan Alvano said, “I think the biggest thing we can learn from Stefawn is simply his knowledge. He’s been through certain challenging experiences a lot of us have never been through, and it allows us to take his advice and apply it to our own lives.”

Redshirt Senior Collin Host admires Payne’s many commitments.

“With all the things he has going on in his life (wife, kid on the way, and military services) he still makes time for us, the basketball team,” Host said. “He is at practice everyday working on his game and also making sure he can do everything in his power to help us get better as well. It is a pretty amazing thing to do.”

Completing a degree in Global Studies at Cal State gives Payne the opportunity to be commissioned as a Marine lieutenant.

“I’ve led Marines on small-level scale. I’ve probably had like 20, 30 guys that I’ve been responsible for, but now being an officer you’re going to have a bigger picture of what you have to do and be responsible for,” Payne said.

“I love it because I can have somewhat of an impact, which is why I wanted to go into the officer route because everything I’ve learned over my 13-and-a-half, almost 14 years in the military. I feel like now I should be giving back to the younger guys.”