Baseball: A Marine Corps Veteran?s Reason to Live

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Chris Gregg umpiring on the infield in game one of the Sooners' annual fall world series in October.

“Veteran's Corner Claims Fall World Series”. “Walk-Off Win for Choose Hope”. The headlines and team names read like that of a Little League series held to decide municipal supremacy on the diamond. However, Veteran's Corner and Choose Hope were the names given to competing sides of the University of Oklahoma baseball team's fall world series.

For the last three years, the series has been the culmination of fall ball and pitted a red team vs. a white team; previously split up with student-athletes from Texas on one team and the rest of the roster on the other. The 2017 OU baseball roster features a more geographically diverse lineup, which prompted Sooner coaches to empower their teams to play for a cause.

Veteran's Corner is based in Oklahoma City and stands by the motto “Veterans Helping Veterans”. The group assists people in receiving full benefits after dedicating their lives to serving their country and protecting the rights and lives of the people that live in it.

The connection between the Sooners and Veteran's Corner was one of chance at L. Dale Mitchell Park this fall. Leading up to the fall series, Oklahoma held two or three intrasquad scrimmages per week; ranging from four to 10 innings, complete with a two- or three-man umpiring crew.

“I had been coming out here doing the scrimmages and I walked over to the coaches,” began umpire Chris Gregg. “We had a gap between innings and I went over to talk to Mike Anderson. He asked me what my job was. I mentioned that I had cancer and was in the military and that I absolutely love coming out here because it saves my life.”

Anderson, the Oklahoma hitting coach, was struck immediately by the honesty and gravity in Gregg's brief statements before the beginning of the next inning.

“After the game, the guys on the team gathered together and Mike called me over to introduce me. He briefly told a little bit of my story and a few days later asked me to come out and be a part of the series. I was extremely thrilled.”

“Chris has been through a lot in his life,” recalled OU head coach Pete Hughes. “Through his military service, his battles with cancer and the internal struggle he faces every day. To know that he has found something of value in baseball is amazing. It's been a long road for him, but I'm happy he finds that comfort coming to our ballpark and hope all veterans returning from serving our country can find the same peace.”

"I'm happy he finds that comfort coming to our ballpark and hope all veterans returning from serving our country can find the same peace."
— Pete Hughes

For Gregg, that road began growing up on a farm in Iowa. He then joined the Marine Corps as an enlisted Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) Technician and served in Kuwait during the first Gulf War. There, he disarmed land mines and package bombs as large as 500 lbs. After six years in the Marines, he moved back to Iowa with his wife Connie, earned a degree in business administration and spent time working for the Secret Service.

Gregg's next move brought him to the Iowa National Guard, where he became a full-time infantry officer. His unit was activated and he returned to Kuwait for a second time.

Upon return from his second tour overseas, Gregg's reintegration into everyday life proved more difficult than the first time around.

“Originally, it was great. I was 25,” Gregg said of returning home after his first tour. “Everything seemed normal. It was 10 years later when I came back. Two months later, sitting at lunch I thought I was having a heart attack. The doctor told me I was just having anxiety attacks. He told me, when I walked in, just looking at me he could tell I was suffering from depression.”

A study by the Congressional Research Service (Library of Congress), conducted by RAND Corporation in 2014, shows that 20% of veterans are returning from the Middle East with depression. Additionally, suicide rates among veterans are estimated as high as 8,000 per year.

“I've been hospitalized five times for suicide and am presently on my second cancer; prostate cancer. It was bladder cancer three years ago and prostate cancer this time.”

The Veteran's Corner logo appears on the L. Dale Mitchell Park videoboard at last month's fall world series.

Unable to work a fulltime job, Gregg turned to Veteran's Corner, which he discovered in a newspaper advertisement.

“Veteran's Corner helped me get things I never even knew about. They helped me get to 100% disability with the VA, which there's no way in hell I would have ever reached 100% on my own. Now, I go in there and help veterans that come in and I figure out what disabilities they have and how they can figure out that paperwork and write it out correctly so that they can get their disability benefits.”

Through it all, Gregg continues to battle. His family, which includes his wife, two daughters and one foster daughter, are the foundation for his support system. He has also found something at the ballpark over the years.

"This right here, umpiring, has literally saved my life. This is the only thing that I find enjoyment in doing anymore. I love doing this."
— Chris Gregg

It began playing in softball leagues at Reaves Park in Norman before elbow surgery ended his playing days. Gregg then turned to umpiring as a way to stay involved and maintain the relationships he had fostered as a player.

“I found that umpiring had a lot to do with the military as far as I had to do something very structured, it had teamwork involved and you have to really learn the rules. You can work hard at it and constantly learn and become better and I really found a passion and a home. Now I've got a connection; I've got a reason to live.”

That passion brought Gregg back to the ballpark to umpire another intrasquad scrimmage on Tuesday, October 25. Aside from his duties on the field, he was named an honorary captain for the Veteran's Corner squad that sported the Sooners' alternate camouflage uniforms, reserved for military appreciation games in the spring. Umpiring in a three-man crew on that day, Gregg worked the third base side of the infield. He laughed and talked with players coaching third base and looked out proudly to the Veteran's Corner logo that rotated on the L. Dale Mitchell Park videoboard beyond the left center field wall.

Gregg even recalled the first time he had gotten the call to work a fall Sooner game.

“The first time that I was going to come down to OU and umpire a scrimmage, my mom, my wife and my daughters came down here and watched the scrimmage to watch me. They were thrilled that I was going to be able to come down and do this.

“I can't work a fulltime job. This right here, umpiring, has literally saved my life. This is the only thing that I find enjoyment in doing anymore. I love doing this.”

The Sooner baseball program thanks Sgt. Chris Gregg and all veterans and active duty military for their service to the United States of America.

The phone number to get in contact with Veteran's Corner is 405-387-5070. For veterans struggling and in need of assistance, please call the Veterans Crisis Line to get help at 1-800-273-8255.

University of Oklahoma Athletics

Baseball: A Marine Corps Veteran?s Reason to Live

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