When a team has a burst of success that puts it on a national stage, as UCSB’s baseball team did this spring, it prompts memories of seasons and characters that stand out in the history of that team.
Bernie Massey and Florie Kemper-Bunzel thought of Maury Ornest, who in 1980 was UCSB’s highest pick in the major league draft up to that time — a third-round selection (76th overall) by the Milwaukee Brewers. Ornest is still among the Gauchos’ top 10 hitters with a .363 career batting average.
Massey was Ornest’s roommate in Isla Vista, and Kemper-Bunzel was his girlfriend. They remember him as more than a slugging third baseman. “He was gregarious, hilarious, a great story teller, and not shy of anything or any moment,” Massey said. “Just a great and talented guy on and off the field,” said Kemper-Bunzel.