'She loved coaching': Kerrie Orozco, slain Omaha police officer, is celebrated at ballfield opening
The thud of a baseball against a glove and the ping of a ball striking a bat are more than the sounds of summer at the Kerrie Orozco Memorial Ballfield.
By News Channel NebraskaThe thud of a baseball against a glove and the ping of a ball striking a bat are more than the sounds of summer at the Kerrie Orozco Memorial Ballfield.
Those are the sounds of hope growing from tragedy.
On Wednesday, the first Little League game to be played on Orozco Field — renovated and named in honor of slain Omaha Police Officer Kerrie Orozco — got underway with much celebration. A Kerrie Orozco flag was hung at the field, there were speeches, the national anthem, free hot dogs and a ceremonial first pitch. But not just any first pitch.
Orozco’s husband, Hector, and their 4-year-old daughter, Olivia, threw out the first pitch at the field in Miller Park near the corner of 24th Street and Kansas Avenue.
Orozco, 29, was shot in May 2015 while she and other Omaha police officers were trying to apprehend a fugitive gang member. The man fired multiple times at police, and one of the bullets hit Orozco just above her protective vest. The day she was killed was her last scheduled day of work before she was to start maternity leave to care for Olivia, who had been hospitalized after being born prematurely. Orozco had been with the department seven years.
A member of the gang unit, Orozco devoted much of her energy and time to getting kids away from gang life. Little League — such as Wednesday’s game between the Miller ParGrays and the North Omaha Boys and Girls Club Jaguars — was an important way of doing so.
Her passion for kids, volunteering and police work inspired the mantra “Kerrie On” after her death, a reminder to live as she did. Orozco had served as a Spanish interpreter for other officers, volunteered with the Special Olympics and coached baseball for the North Omaha Boys and Girls Club.
She coached in the Police Athletics for Community Engagement program, which uses sports to reach at-risk kids. The program seeks out kids who wouldn’t normally join a team because of cost, family issues or lack of access. Officers and others volunteer as coaches. The program fields teams at the neighborhood level. PACE was started in 2005 in South Omaha by members of the Latino Peace Officers Association and has spread to other parts of the city.
“This was a way to honor her memory,” said Ken Fox of the Black Police Officers of Association. Orozco was a founding member of the union, which was formed by officers of many different backgrounds, and worked as a detective in the north Omaha gang unit at the time of her death.
“She loved baseball, she loved coaching it, but really it could have been anything,” Fox said. “She loved the kids, if she had coached them in swimming she would have been just as passionate.”
Before her death, Orozco, Fox and other officers had talked about the need for a Little League Field in north Omaha, so teams wouldn’t have to drive to South Omaha to compete.
After Orozco died, Fox said he approached the Omaha Parks Department and Sherwood Foundation with the hope of getting as much as $75,000 to improve a then-deteriorated ballfield at Miller Park. “That ($75,000) was my high point, it would have gotten me a couple of bleachers, maybe clean out some dugouts, things of that nature.”
But the response from the community was immediate and generous. About $1.7 million in donations later, kids in north Omaha have a Little League field with batting cages, a scoreboard, concession building and lights. And, yes, those bleachers and cleaned out dugouts.
“It was a pretty cool thing to watch it unfold,” Fox said.
Retired Omaha Police Captain and PACE Executive Director Rich Gonzalez said the program has succeeded in keeping kids off the streets and has forged a connection between police and the community.
From its beginnings with soccer teams in South Omaha, it has grown to include baseball, flag football and CrossFit. This year, more than 5,000 kids ages 7 to 14 are expected to participate, Gonzalez said.
“You don’t see this in many other communities ... and everybody is playing a huge part in making this successful,” Gonzalez said. “Kerrie was always so excited about everything, she would be thrilled to see the kind of field these kids are going to be able to play on.”