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By Ryan Huff The Tribune San Luis Obispo County
Osbaldo Orozco: Destined for the Battlefield
sbaldo Orozco wanted to be a soldier long before he came to Cal Poly. After watching “Rambo” as kids, he and his brothers would use broomsticks and knives to attack a make-believe enemy soldier — a cactus in their back yard. Indeed, some would say Orozco was destined for the battlefield, where he died April 26, 2003, on the front lines of Operation Iraqi Freedom. Cal Poly officials held a public memorial May 22, 2003, at the campus’ War Memorial Plaza to honor the 26-year-old alumnus and U.S. Army First Lieutenant. “Baldo,” as his friends called him, died when the Bradley fighting vehicle he was riding in rolled over while rushing to help other American soldiers under attack near Tikrit in northern Iraq. At the memorial service, a few hundred people — including family, veterans, students and past teammates — remembered the former school football star who was commissioned as an Army officer on June 16, 2001, the same day he earned his bachelor’s degree in social science. As the late-afternoon sun reflected off the bronze Mustang Statue, school officials added a 64th name to the plaque below that honors Cal Poly students who died on the battlefield.
Osbaldo Orozco wore paint on his face as a Cal Poly football pregame ritual.
Osbaldo Orozco Profile
Born: March 19, 1977, Earlimart, CA High School: Delano High School (graduated June 1995) College: Cal Poly (graduated June 16, 2001, majored in social sciences) Married: Mayra Mendez Orozco, June 23, 2001 Military Service: First Lieutenant, U.S. Army (4th Infantry Division) Died: April 26, 2003, near Tikrit, Iraq Notes: Seventh in career tackles at Cal Poly with 300 (1995-99), including 136 solo stops and 23 for lost yardage ... 106 tackles in 1997 13th all-time at Cal Poly ... voted linebacker of the year in 1998 and most inspirational player in 1999 by his teammates ... member of Cal Poly ROTC and MEXA ... survived by parents Jorge and Reyes Orozco and four brothers, George, Johnny, Andy and Ozzie.
Family members attend a memorial service at Cal Poly for Osbaldo Orozco in 2003.
Orozco — who grew up in Earlimart in Tulare Orozco’s mother and wife gripped each other’s hands throughout the service and wiped their County — served in the university’s ROTC protears with white tissues through the playing of gram. He was the first member of his family to graduate from college. “Taps.” He went on to command a platoon in Speaker after speaker talked about a big, Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, where they muscular man full of enthusiasm and guarded Al Qaeda prisoners. passion for his family, school, football After he returned from Iraq, Orozco team and the Army. and his wife were to start a family. Former football teammate Steve His brother, Andy Orozco, said he Prejean recalled that Orozco was so wanted to enroll in a college ROTC proud of his Mexican heritage that he program and become an officer. would blare mariachi music from his “It pumps me up even more and adds pickup and sing along. Prejean also recollected how fired up his old gasoline to the fire,” said the then-18-year-old, who along with his three brothers wore black teammate was on the gridiron. “Here we were on a hot day in August during No. 45 armbands. Another brother, Jorge Orozco, then 28, said double days (practices),” Prejean said, “and Baldo is talking as if he wasn’t hot and didn’t he was proud that “Baldo” fought for his country have an extra 10 pounds of pads on his body. but saddened to lose his best friend. “It’s war, and it’s going to happen,” he said. The guy was just full of energy.” Orozco was known for his pregame ritual of “There’s a price to pay for freedom. And unforapplying black war paint to his face. He earned All-American honors as a linebacker for the Mustangs and finished his football career in 1999 with 300 tackles — then third on the team’s all-time list. He brought that same passion to academics, said business professor Colette Frayne. She remembered the first day she met Orozco, when she tried to tutor 30 football players after they were exhausted from an afternoon practice. “Most of the players wanted to be Joe Martinez spoke at Cal Poly memorial service. somewhere else,” Frayne said. “But Baldo sat front and center and said, ‘Hi, I’m tunately, it cost us our brother.” The Cal Poly Athletics Department honors the Baldo. Bring it on!’ ” The whole room erupted into laughter, until memory of Orozco with an award given perpetthe 225-pound Orozco turned around and said, ually to the student-athlete who exemplifies “Hey, be nice to her, man. She’s trying to help us what he represented; leadership, outstanding personal achievement, the ability to overcome out.” Toward the end of the memorial service, obstacles, commitment and someone who Orozco’s former teammates gave his wife, reflects sacrifice. The Orozco Inspirational Mayra, a framed No. 45 green-and-gold Cal Award is presented at the Night of the Mustang Poly football jersey. Lt. Col. Norma Tovar, a Cal to deserving student-athletes as deemed approPoly military science professor, also presented priate. First recipient of the award in 2004 was freshman defensive end Chris White. her with Bronze Star and Purple Heart awards.
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