Catching Up With: Pat McGuire

Tony Altobelli

He may be stepping down from his post, but now-former Costa Mesa

American Little League President Pat McGuire will be remembered in the

local youth baseball circles for quite some time.

“It’s been great, but it’s time to move on,” McGuire said. “I’ve been

doing this for a while know and it’s time for the next group of parents

to get involved. That’s how the program will continue to grow and

flourish, with the help of more parents.”

McGuire, a fixture in the CMALL program for nearly a decade remembers

when the current Majors Division, Minor A and Minor B fields were just a

vision.

“Where the field is now (behind the tennis courts at Costa Mesa High)

was nothing but horse fields,” McGuire said. “It was just an extended

area of the farm area. We played on the current high school field area,

which was small and crowded. The new fields really make a huge

difference.”

McGuire grew up in Mount Vernon, New York, home of Dick Clark, as well

as NBA stars Gus Williams and Rodney McCray.

“I was your normal kid, growing up playing football and baseball,”

McGuire said. “I got into umpiring at an early age and my parents were

involved with the little league out there as well.”

After his athletic career came to an end with semipro baseball,

McGuire moved to Southern California in 1973, but didn’t get into youth

baseball until 1991. “When my oldest son, Michael, started playing in

1993, I started getting into coaching,” McGuire said. “As he grew, I went

up the coaching ladder with him, to the Majors Division.”

At that level, McGuire coached three CMALL All-Star teams in the first

three Mayor’s Cup tournaments with the Costa Mesa National Little League,

winning two out of three years.

“District 62 split up our league into a National Little League and an

American Little League in 1995,” McGuire said. “Instead of just playing

against our own teams, we started playing interleague contests, which

really helps keep both organizations thriving. Otherwise, playing the

same teams over and over again would have bored us to death.”

Unfortunately, according to McGuire, the division has thinned out the

quality of All-Star teams in Costa Mesa, which can be a major problem

when the Tournament of Champions and the District 62 Tournament gets

underway.

“We try to keep the teams balanced, but that spreads out our talent

pretty thin,” McGuire said. “For us to be as successful as possible, we

should bring the two leagues back together again.”

After coaching, McGuire became chief umpire for three years before

taking over for Kirk Bauermeister as league president.

“Kirk has done such a tremendous job with bringing youth sports up to

the level where it now is,” McGuire said. “Now at Costa Mesa High, he’s

doing the same thing again. Instead of losing all of the athletes to CdM

or Newport Harbor or Estancia, kids are coming to Mesa and a lot of the

credit belongs to Kirk.”

As CMALL President, McGuire helped create the Mayor’s Cup, now in it’s

fifth year of existence, as well as bringing last year’s Tournament of

Champions to Costa Mesa for the first time ever.

“Having the TOC in our backyard was a real feather in our cap,”

McGuire said. “People like Angie Rodriguez and Amy Stevens had a lot to

do with the success of that event, as well as all the field maintenance

guys and the other parents and volunteers involved. It was really

something special.”

Now, out of the CMALL limelight, McGuire has passed the reins to Erik

Kough. “The new group of active parents all have young kids in the

program, so they will be here for a while to keep this whole thing

going,” McGuire said. “Erik will bring a lot to the league and he’ll go a

great job.”

So what is the key to continued success for CMALL? According to

McGuire, the answer is simple.

“Get more of the parents involved,” he said. “If there’s 300 kids in

the league and let’s say even half come from broken homes, that means

there are 450 parents in our league. Usually, it’s always the same 12 of

13 heavily active parents doing everything, with the exception of the

coaches. If we can get more parents involved, it would make this program

that much stronger.”

After years of working for as a public relations specialist for

Lincoln Mercury, McGuire is now looking to open an office involving

senior citizen assisted living. “It’s an opportunity to help people with

non-medical related issues with assisted living,” McGuire said. “I’m

looking forward to getting that off the ground.”