The year Bob Petrich moved to San Diego was 1963, the West Texas A&M defensive end chosen in the sixth round of the AFL draft to join the upstart Chargers, who relocated from Los Angeles two years earlier.
San Diego won a championship his rookie year. He was 22.
Petrich largely has lived in the area since. The El Cajon resident has waited to celebrate the region’s next major professional sport title, having seen the Dan Fouts era, felt the electricity around town during one Super Bowl and two World Series appearances, and gasped at the close calls of the early 2000s.