TRABUCO CANYON – Matt Schwenke – a husband, father, coach and former Dodgers player – died Nov. 10. He was 37.
Friends described Schwenke as a beloved Little League baseball coach adored by his young players.
“He was so knowledgeable about the game, yet so patient and good with the kids,” said Carlos Gonzalez, a family friend whose 7-year-old son Arren plays little league with Schwenke’s 7-year-old, Logan.
“He was the epitome of a volunteer,” Gonzalez said. “He was giving not only of his time, but more importantly, of his love.”
Another little league coach, Mike Gass, said every kid wanted to be on Schwenke’s team.
“He and his wife coached together and they were this unbelievable power team,” Gass said.
Schwenke died because of a pulmonary embolism, in which an artery in his lung suffered blockage from a blood clot. Schwenke underwent surgery 12 days earlier to repair an Achilles tendon torn during a softball game, according to the Web site rememberingmatt.com.
Schwenke’s wife Barbara was looking for a way to memorialize her husband when Richard Ortiz stepped in to create rememberingmatt.com on the family’s behalf.
Brother-in-law Joe Stocker said the goal of the site is to create a space so people would know what kind of man Schwenke was.
Born in Kankakee, Illinois, Schwenke attended Poway High School in Poway, where he excelled in history, calculus and physics and played varsity baseball and football. He received an athletic scholarship to attend UCLA, where he was starting catcher. He was drafted by the Los Angeles Dodgers in 1993 and played in the minor leagues with the Dodgers and the Padres through 1998.
Schwenke continued to pursue his passion for baseball, coaching Rancho Santa Margarita Little League for the past three years with wife.
The family is accepting donations to create trust funds for sons Drake, 13, and Logan, 7. People can donate at rememberingmatt.com using PayPal or by mailing a check to: Matt Schwenke, 30 Riverview Drive, Trabuco Canyon, CA 92679.
A memorial service is scheduled for Thursday at Mariners Church, 5001 Newport Coast Drive, Irvine. The viewing is planned for 10:30 a.m. with a ceremony to follow from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.