Dave Gorrie is a college baseball

College baseball

College baseball is baseball that is played on the intercollegiate level at institutions of higher education. Compared to football and basketball, college competition in the United States plays a less significant contribution to cultivating professional players, as the minor leagues primarily...

 coach. He served as the head coach at the University of California, Santa Barbara

University of California, Santa Barbara

The University of California, Santa Barbara, commonly known as UCSB or UC Santa Barbara, is a public research university and one of the 10 general campuses of the University of California system. The main campus is located on a site in Goleta, California, from Santa Barbara and northwest of Los...

 from 1960 to 1977 and at Pepperdine University

Pepperdine University

Pepperdine University is an independent, private, medium-sized university affiliated with the Churches of Christ. The university's campus overlooking the Pacific Ocean in unincorporated Los Angeles County, California, United States, near Malibu, is the location for Seaver College, the School of...

 from 1979 to 1988. He coached the Pepperdine Wave to the 1979 College World Series

1979 College World Series

The 1979 College World Series was played at Johnny Rosenblatt Stadium in Omaha, NE from June 1 to June 8. The thirty-third tournament's champion was California State University, Fullerton, coached by Augie Garrido...

, where they placed third. Gorrie is currently the current hitting coach at Panola Junior College in Carthage, Texas

Carthage, Texas

Carthage is a city in Panola County, Texas, United States. The population was 6,664 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Panola County, and is situated in East Texas near the Louisiana state line.-Geography:...

.

Playing career

In the 1951, Dave and his brothers, Dick and Doug all played in the backfield of Santa Barbara College (the name of UC-Santa Barbara prior to 1958). Dave was fullback, Dick was quarterback and Doug was halfback. Gorrie then went on to play running back in the Armed Forces. He was signed to the Kansas City Athletic's farm system to play baseball in 1956 and played for three years, he was offered a AAA contract with Portland, but decided to get his master's at USC and then accepted the coaching position at UCSB.

Coaching career

Gorrie began his coaching career at UC-Santa Barbara in 1960 and compiled a 343-370-1 (.481) record. In 1972, he led the Gauchos to a 1st place finish in the Southern California Baseball Association (SCBA) conference with a 31-16 overall record going 14-4 in conference. UCSB lost to eventual national champion USC in the regional final. He is still the longest tenured Head Coach in Gauchos history with 18 seasons; however, current Head Coach, Bob Brontsema is only two years behind him as of 2009. Gorrie was inducted into the Gauchos Hall of Fame in 1975. Major leaguers who played at least one season for Gorrie at UCSB were Chris Speier

Chris Speier

Christopher Edward Speier is a former Major League Baseball player and current bench coach for the Cincinnati Reds. He was drafted second overall in the January secondary 1970 Major League Baseball Draft.-Playing career:...

, Brian Kingman

Brian Kingman

Brian Paul Kingman was a Major League Baseball pitcher from 1979 to 1983 for the Oakland Athletics and San Francisco Giants....

, and Greg Shanahan

Greg Shanahan

Paul Gregory Shanahan is a former pitcher in Major League Baseball. He pitched in 11 games for the Los Angeles Dodgers during the 1973 and 1974 seasons.-External links:...

.

Gorrie began his career at Pepperdine in 1979, leading the Waves to a third place finish in the College World Series. This was the schools first ever appearance. His 1979 team still holds the school record for wins in a season with 53. After 10 seasons, Gorrie retired with a 409-202-11 (.666) career record. Players who went on to Major League careers after playing for Gorrie include Mike Gates, Bill Bathe, Chad Kreuter, Mike Fetters, Paul Faries, Doug Simons, Andy Stankiewicz, Matt Howard, and Jalal Leach.

Gorrie was inducted into the Waves Hall of Fame in 1988. In January 1990, Gorrie was inducted into the American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA) Hall of Fame. He was presented by former player, Mike Simpson.

In 1996, Gorrie became the volunteer hitting coach at Panola Junior College in Carthage, Texas and still serves in the same capacity. At Panola, he has coached three professional hitters: Cody Rogers, Bobby Wagner, and Chad Beck as well as numerous division I college players.