Pat O'Malley Fieldhouse and
Rotary Community Room

Pat O'Malley standing in front of Girsh-Hochman field

While Pat O’Malley was designing space vehicles at Delco in Goleta, his weekends consisted of refereeing several adult soccer games. Usually referees are unappreciated figures, but Pat became a beloved figure in Central Coast Soccer League for decades. Pat joined AYSO Region 122 as a board member for the youth soccer organization and had an important role in getting AYSO to Girsh Park. Now over 3,000 families participate in AYSO, and all of them play right here at Girsh Park until they are eleven years old.

Pat coached his children in Dos Pueblos Little League. He talked about how he played everyone in all the positions, and how he focused his team on having fun. His team won the league championship that year, and he always got a kick out of it.

Pat joined the Girsh Park Board of Directors in 2001, eventually becoming the Facilities Committee Chairman. For over four years he lobbied the board to look at installing synthetic turf on the Park’s soccer field. He brought samples, did analysis, and never stopped pushing his vision. The board gave the co-chair position, along with Kim Schizas, of the Fields Forever 2 Capital Campaign. Pat and Kim lead the campaign successfully raising $1.2 million leading to the nicest soccer field in Santa Barbara County.

Pat is a Rotarian, where he worked on the 4^th of July Fireworks, ran his corn booth, and always helped in the lemonade stand at the Lemon Festival. He always kept the Park and the Rotary clubs in good communication.  In fact, this Community Room is named for the Goleta Rotary Clubs. 

For Pat’s many efforts, our community building will forever be known as ‘Pat O’Malley Fieldhouse’.