Ramona Girls Tennis Coach Ron Orluskie Dies at 58

Ramona girls tennis coach Ron Orluskie died Monday of an apparent heart attack in his home.

Orluskie, 58, a long-time tennis coach and an employee of Pacific Bell for 38 years, had collapsed in his home Monday morning and was discovered by his wife. She called paramedics, who failed in their efforts to revive him. He was taken to Pomerado Hospital in Poway, where he was pronounced dead at 10:19 a.m.

Carolyn Orluskie said her husband had been at Warner Hot Springs Sunday, where he was out in the hot sun all day, but hadn’t shown signs of health problems when he arrived home.

Orluskie was in his first year as the head coach at Ramona, although he was an assistant coach last year. He also taught tennis at San Diego Country Estates and Warner Springs Ranch.

Orluskie is survived by his widow and two sons, both of San Diego.

HOCKEY

The Gulls, whose foundation is a solid defense, will be tested in their first exhibition tonight (7:30) by the Phoenix Roadrunners, who come into the 1992-93 IHL season from the opposite direction--led by a strong offense.

The game will be played in Tucson and will be carried live by KSDO (1130 AM) and KGMG (1320 AM) beginning with a 7 p.m. pregame show.

Both teams want to get off on the right foot with first-year coaches. The Gulls’ Rick Dudley returns to the IHL from the NHL Buffalo Sabres, and Phoenix’s Tim Bothwell comes from the Western Hockey League where he coached in Medicine Hat, Alberta.

Affiliated with the NHL Kings, the Roadrunners are stocked with several proven scorers: left wing Scott Bjugstad (28 points in 28 games at Phoenix last year and a former 40-goal scorer with the Minnesota North Stars), left wing Sylvain Couturier (39 points in 39 games with Phoenix last season), right wing Sean Whyte (the Roadrunners’ leading scorer last year with 58 points in 75 games) and center Guy Leveque (the Kings’ first pick in 1991 who accounted for 60 points in 37 games while fighting through several injuries last season at Cornwall of the Ontario Hockey League).

The Gulls will counter with a tough defensive unit anchored by goalie Rick Knickle, the winningest goalie in the IHL last year with 28 victories, and defensemen Alan Hepple, Lindy Ruff, Dale DeGray and Sergei Starikov. Those players all have contracts; looking to sign one is another defender who has impressed Dudley in training camp, Andrei Iakovenko.