Ray Orgill, Millennium Hall of Fame

Richard Dunn

A familiar theme for Ray Orgill has been surrounding himself with

winners, even going into business with Hall of Famers.

“I didn’t make it to the pros (in basketball), but I’m with a pro,” said

Orgill, the former Estancia High and Orange Coast College standout,

referring to business partner George Yardley.

Orgill, a 5-foot-11, 160-pound point guard who was once listed in an OCC

basketball media guide as 6-0, 190, punches a clock Monday through Friday

with Naismith Basketball Hall of Famer Yardley and his son, Rob, who

played hoops with Orgill at OCC in the late 1970s.

They felt the original name of the fire protection company, Yardley and

Orgill, wouldn’t work “after a couple hundred times.” So they took the

first letter of the last names and came up with Yo Fire Supplies.

“Everyone remembers ‘Yo’ and so far it’s been a great name,” Orgill said.

“(The Yardleys) gave me the (business) opportunity. I did nothing ...

they’re the greatest people in the world.”

There are people who say similar things about Orgill, including his

former OCC basketball coach, Tandy Gillis. “Ray could really play,”

Gillis said, “and he was one of the nicest kids I’d ever been around.

“He just couldn’t believe me sometimes, because I used to go off. But he

didn’t even bat an eye.”

A first-team All-CIF Southern Section choice for Estancia and the Daily

Pilot’s Orange Coast area Player of the Year in 1977, Orgill went on to

become the darling of OCC’s most famous basketball team, and, later, a

star at St. Mary’s College under Coach Bill Oates, the reason Orgill

selected the school.

The one year Orgill didn’t play point guard, Orange Coast won the 1979

state championship in his sophomore year, as Paul Akin handled the point

and Orgill moved to the two spot.

“Basically, we had two point guards,” Gillis said. “Ray could shoot and

Paul was a better defender. They were both winners. After all those years

(of coaching), I finally figured it out: When you’ve got two guys to

handle the ball, it makes it a helluva lot easier to coach.”

Orgill, once named to the first team on OCC’s all-time basketball squad

with John Vallely, Phil Jordan, Chris Beasley, Denny Fitzpatrick and

Bruce Chapman, averaged 14 points per game in his two-year Pirate career

and finished as the school’s career leader in assists (since broken) and

free-throw percentage (81.6%).

An all-state selection and the team’s MVP in ‘79, Orgill averaged 16.1

ppg in the championship season, joining Akin in the back court and

teaming with Pete Neumann, Brian McCormick and Steve Timmons -- later a

two-time Olympic gold medalist in volleyball -- in the starting lineup.

“It was the team effort I just loved,” Orgill said. “With (Akin) taking

up the point guard responsibility and bringing the ball up most of the

time, it freed me up and allowed me to have more energy. I had more time

to get to the open court. Too bad I wasn’t 6-3 or 6-4.”

In addition to the thrill of state and South Coast Conference titles (and

a 27-5 record in a Cinderella season), Orgill said his experience at OCC

was “the best of the best” with caring teachers who offered tutoring, the

“best trainer anywhere in Leon Skeie” and an on-campus publicist, Jim

Carnett, who “made me into whatever I was, though I always thought he

made me better than I was (in the eyes of the press).”

That memorable year, the Pirates defeated Saddleback, 75-67, in overtime

in the state championship game at Cal State Fullerton. “There will never,

never be another group like them,” Gillis said after the net was cut

down.

Prior to his OCC glory, Orgill started at point guard for three years at

Estancia, earning second-team All-Century League honors as a sophomore,

but he injured his back the next year and was forced to sit out the

entire season.

“It was either have an operation on my back or sit out,” he said. “That

(year) was tough.”

Orgill, the latest honoree in the Daily Pilot Sports Hall of Fame, said

sitting out his junior year was “really instrumental in my Christianity,

which leads to eternal life, which is far more important than basketball

... basketball was my life, and when that was taken away, I thought ‘What

else is there to live for?”’

Orgill thrived as a senior, sharing Century League Player of the Year

recognition with Santa Ana Valley’s Ron Cornelius and earning a spot in

the Orange County All-Star game.

His high school sweetheart, Allison (nee Wright), was named head

cheerleader for the South All-Star team as Estancia also provided the

sideline color and coach (Dave Carlisle).

“I always say I married Ms. Wright,” said Orgill, who lives in San

Clemente with his family, which includes four children: Michelle, 9,

David, 7, Matthew, 3, and Daniel, 1.