What everyone knows about cancer victim Gary Orwig, who had field No. 8 at Robb Field dedicated in his name on Sunday, March 15, is that he was a huge baseball fan and an integral part of Point Loma/Ocean Beach’s baseball/softball community.
What few knew about him, according to sister Janice Corbett, is that he was a true friend to the homeless.
“The homeless would come out and watch the games, sit in the bleachers, and my brother would treat them like fans,” said Corbett. “He’d bring them food, befriend them. He knew them all of them by name, and they cheered us on.”
Corbett said Orwig never resisted lending a helping hand to the homeless, even going so far as to allow them to use his P.O. box and deliver their mail to them, or house them temporarily if they required it.
“Nobody would even know about that, he (Orwig) was very humble and non-assuming,” Corbett said, offering an anecdote about her brother.
“One time he put together a (homeless) team, the Cart-els, for a baseball division that just played for fun,” Corbett said. “That was the kind of person he was.”
Corbett said her family practically grew up at Robb Field.
“My family has been using Robb Field for more than 55 years,” she said. “My dad coached and umpired there. My dad and brother both coached me. I coached my niece. She went on to play in college. My mom and dad even played on co-ed teams. It’s been totally a family affair there for us for a very long time.”
Corbett said renaming one of Robb Park’s eight fields for Orwig, only the second field there to be so dedicated, is “quite an honor and an amazing memorial for my brother.”
Corbett said having a field named for her brother is entirely appropriate given that that is something that can never be severed.
“It was a big social thing for him,” she said. “He was very competitive. He loved the game. He just loved being down there and playing, because he thought it was just a big family down there.”
Gary was born on March 4, 1948 in Warren, Ohio, to Lloyd and Ina Orwig. In 1959 when Gary was about 11, the Orwigs moved to San Diego and settled in Point Loma. He went to Ocean Beach Elementary, Collier Junior High School and Point Loma High School, where he lettered in track and baseball. He graduated in 1966 and was scouted by a couple different professional baseball teams.
He served in Korea and was assigned as a dog trainer until he was honorably discharged in 1973. Gary and his wife Margie were married in 1978, but not before Margie had to pass the fishing, volleyball, softball and beer test.
Almost immediately two institutions sprung out of their partnership: The San Diego Coed Softball league headquartered at Robb Field, which they took over and ran for 35 years, and CDM Trophy, which Gary successfully ran out of his garage for 30 years.
In addition to providing beautiful keepsakes for countless young athletes, Gary provided a job at one point or another for almost everyone in his family and beyond.
Gary loved the outdoors: camping, whitewater rafting but he had a passion for fishing. Whether it was lake fishing locally, or deep sea fishing locally or off the coast of Ensenada.
The March 15 field dedication in Orwig’s honor included memorials from family members and prayers and a blessing of the dedicated field by a pastor. Orwig’s widow Margie threw out the first pitch on the field. Afterwards, everyone repaired to the grassy part of the park for a barbecue and refreshments.
“The game of baseball and softball was Gary’s life,” Corbett said at the memorial. “Robb Field was his playground. Renaming?field 8 to ‘Gary Orwig Field’ will ensure that as much as it was a part of his past, it will also be a part of his future.
“He would be so humbled to know that his dedication to the game and the spirit of love he had for it, would be memorialized for years to come,” Corbett added. “Being a man of a few words, it is clear what Gary’s response to this honor would be … ‘Play ball.’”