HACKENSACK, N.J. – Former Fairleigh Dickinson baseball coach and major league baseball player John Orsino passed away last Tuesday at Sunny Isles Beach, Fla.
Orsino, who was born in Teaneck, N.J. in 1938, was at the helm of the Knights from 1970 to 1976 before returning for a one-year stint in 1980.
The Bergen County native led the Knights to a combined 62-39-1 record across the 1973-75 seasons, including an impressive 35-12 mark in the Metro Conference.
His team's best season resulted in 23 victories and a 12-4 conference record. The 23 games stood as the Knights' all-time high until 1986 when Dennis Sasso's squad posted 23-16 overall record and a 13-4 Metro Conference slate. He also coached Steve Dembowski, Bob Droste, Lou Turco, Joe Rigoli and Tom Gattoni, who are all members of the Fairleigh Dickinson Division I Hall of Fame.
Professionally, Orsino was signed as an amateur free agent in 1957 by the New York Giants. Over the course of his seven-year career, he went on to play for the San Francisco Giants (1961-62), Baltimore Orioles (1963-65) and Washington Senators (1966-67).
His best major league season was 1963, when he batted .272 with 19 home runs and 56 RBIs in the regular season.
Also notable, Orsino was part of a record-tying home run barrage in a 12-run ninth inning by the Giants in a 14-0 win at Cincinnati's Crosley Field on Aug. 23, 1961. Orlando Cepeda and Felipe Alou hit consecutive home runs, Jim Davenport had an inside-the-park homer, Willie Mays went deep and Orsino capped the burst with a three-run homer.
Before his pro career, he was a standout in Bergen County semi-pro baseball, playing on a Fort Lee team and an Edgewater squad.
Following his tenure as coach at Fairleigh Dickinson, he became the golf pro at Emerson (N.J.) Country Club and the Indian Spring Country Club in Boynton Beach, Fla. Additionally, he was the golf coach at Florida Atlantic University from 2004-06.
Orsino is survived by his wife Honey and two children from an earlier marriage, a daughter Jeryl and a son, Jay. The funeral was held this past Saturday at Landmark Funeral Home in Hollywood, Fla.
