Palomar
baseball coach Vetter gets 500th
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Palomar College baseball coach Bob Vetter
recorded his 500th collegiate victory
when the first-place Comets defeated second-place
Grossmont Tuesday afternoon at home. He’ll
now seek his 400th win as
Palomar’s coach at 2 p.m. on Thursday on the
road against the Griffins.
The two-time defending conference champion Comets
(19-8, 14-4) lead the Griffins by three games
with seven conference games to play. is Vetter
owns a 500-399-7 record as a college coach.
He’s 399-316-6 in 18 seasons-plus as Palomar
coach. He also won 101 games at coach at United
States International University.
Vetter was the starting center fielder on the
1973 Cal Western (now USIU) team that won the
NAIA World Series. He joined the school’s
staff as an assistant coach the following year
and, in 1976, he was named USIU’s head
coach. At 23 years old, he was the youngest
collegiate head coach in the United States at the
time.
He compiled a 101-83-1 record in five seasons as
the Gulls’ head coach. His best season at
USIU was his final one, in 1980, when the Gulls
defeated both Arizona, which went on to win the
College World Series, and San Diego State with
Tony Gwynn in going unbeaten in the Sun Lite
Classic tournament at San Diego State. That team
went 30-12.
Vetter spent the 1981 season as an assistant at
Palomar before being named the Comets’ head
coach prior to the 1982 season.
During Vetter’s tenure at Palomar, the
Comets have won Pacific Coast Conference
championships in 1988, 1989, 1993, 1998 and 1999.
His 1998 team finished the season 30-8 and the
1999 team, which was ranked No. 1 in Southern
California at the end of the regular season and
finally was eliminated from the postseason by
Santa Ana two games short of advancing to the
State Final Four, was 33-9.
He was honored as PCC baseball coach of the year
both in 1998 and 1999, and in 1988 he was
selected the conference’s coach of the year
for all sports.
Vetter, who received both Bachelor’s and
Master’s degrees from USIU, also is chairman
of Palomar’s Department of physical
education.
Vetter has sent 113 players on to play on the
four-year college level from Palomar and 25
players from Palomar into pro baseball. His best
player at Palomar, Troy Afenir, was a first-round
draft choice in the old winter draft, being the
second player chosen in the nation in 1982. After
two seasons at Palomar, Afenir signed a pro
contract and went on to play in the Major Leagues
for the Houston Astros, Oakland A’s and
Cincinnati Reds as a catcher.
Of Vetter’s former Palomar players, Bobby
Parry is now head coach at Poway High School,
Billy Dunckel is head coach at Valley Center and
Randy Davila is head coach at Carlsbad. Numerous
other former Comets are assistant high school
coaches. Darren Balsley is a coach in the Padres
organization.
A hitting instructor for the San Diego School of
Baseball for 22 years, Vetter also serves as the
PCC’s State seeding representative and has
been a member of the California Community College
Baseball Coaches Association Executive Board for
the past 12 years.
Vetter, who grew up in Tulsa, Okla., and was a
high school baseball standout in Scottsdale,
Ariz., lives in Del Mar with his wife, Sarah;
son, Robby, 11; and daughter, Emily (9).
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