New Hermiston High School baseball Head Coach Dave Padilla poses for a portrait Tuesday, July 21, 2021, at Weber Field in Hermiston.

HERMISTON — Dave Padilla still has a trophy he won for playing baseball as a young boy in Germany. His love for the sport has never wavered.

Padilla recently was named the head baseball coach at Hermiston High School, bringing him back to his playing days at Weber Field.

“The Hermiston School District is very excited to have coach Padilla back in our baseball program,” Hermiston Athletic Director Larry Usher said in a news release. “We are looking forward to him building connections with our community and youth program.”

Padilla replaced Kevin Moore, who stepped down after last season.

When the job came open, Padilla was intrigued, and his friends were supportive.

“I coached a lot of kids in Hermiston, and now their kids are 9 to 13, and I’ve helped them coach their kids,” Padilla said. “Justin Simmons, who played for Hermiston, passed away from cancer the day before Thanksgiving 2020. Justin and I were always doing baseball. I know he would have wanted me to put in (for the job). That was a deciding factor, and I knew the time was right in my life, my age and what I have going on. I have a great support system. They are so pumped up that I put in for the job.”

Padilla already has his finger on the pulse of youth sports in Hermiston, having coached his three girls — Aubbree, Kallee and Kynzee — in ASA softball.

“I have been doing this a long time,” Padilla said. “Here, there and everywhere. When the girls were younger, I started coaching baseball and my girls would come to practice and take grounders and hit with us. I started ASA traveling softball with my girls and it was fun.”

In addition to coaching ASA softball, Padilla also has coached Little League, Babe Ruth and Legion baseball. He also has been an assistant for the Hermiston High softball team.

When his daughter Kallee was a junior in high school, she played for Umatilla High School. Padilla was an assistant coach for the team.

“Kallee a pitcher and third baseman, and I happened to have four of my ASA players on that team,” He said. “That year (2007) was the first time Umatilla had ever played in a state game.”

Baseball in his veins

When Padilla lived in Germany, he got his first taste of baseball playing for the Giants at the Landstuhl Medical Center.

“We traveled all over Europe,” he said. “It was amazing. Even though I was young, I remember. I have been all over the world.”

Padilla graduated from Hermiston High in 1979. He played football and wrestled through his junior year, and played baseball all four years.

He went on to play baseball at Treasure Valley Community College, Ontario, and Blue Mountain Community College, Pendleton, where he was reunited with his high school coach Larry Bartee.

He also used to play with the Oregon Outlaws out of Pendleton, and the team played in the Men’s Senior Baseball League World Series in Phoenix on a regular basis.

“I have a ton of friends in Pendleton,” Padilla said. “We had a good time.”

Padilla, who has been a lineman for 27 years, is ready to get things going with the Bulldogs.

“I am pretty excited about getting going and getting on Weber Field again,” he said. “It will be exciting. I played there. It’s nice now. I did not want to go in there and coach at the middle school.”

He may help with slow pitch softball in the fall, but he hasn’t decided on that just yet.

“I really have a lot of work to do with baseball and I want to stay on top of it,” he said. “We will see.”