O'Rourke was born at El Paso's old Southwestern General Hospital, as the only son of Mildred Rowena and John Francis "Frank" O'Rourke, a former baseball player and then manager of the public relations department at Reynolds Electrical and Engineering Company. He had a half-sister from his mother's previous marriage. His great-grandfather, Bernard O'Rourke, was an Irish Catholic railway worker originally from Glencar, County Leitrim and naturalized as an American citizen in 1868. His first name on his birth certificate was Pat and not Patrick. He attended Davy Crocket Elementary School and Austin High School before graduating from New Mexico Military Institute. He got his undergraduate degree at Texas Western University and took courses at the business school of UCLA.
Public life
By age 25, both of O'Rourke's parents were deceased. His first forays into politics were greatly aided by his uncle, Raymond O'Rourke, head jailer for El Paso County who ultimately held that position for 30 years. His uncle's insights and connections in El Paso politics were "tremendously valuable" for Pat O'Rourke's political start. O'Rourke lost his first two races, for a seat on the El Paso Community CollegeBoard of Trustees in 1972 and for a seat on the El Paso Community College Board of Trustees in 1976. A friend described him as unmistakably Irish American and he suspected it would used against him in the mostly Mexican American electorate so he embraced it by campaigning on March 17, 1978, Saint Patrick's Day, dressed up as a leprechaun. Also on March 17, 1978 he gathered friends to jog along Trans Mountain Road, an idea that evolved into the annual Trans Mountain 20-kilometer challenge each Saint Patrick's Day. From 1978 to 1982, he served as El Paso County commissioner and then from 1982 to 1986 served as El Paso County judge. O'Rourke and El Paso Mayor Jonathan Rogers worked to consolidate some of the governments' services to try to save taxpayer money. O'Rourke did not seek re-election saying publicly among other reasons, his wife and family did not wish him to run again. In February 1983 while O'Rourke was out of state on vacation, El Paso County Sheriff's deputies were installing a two-way radio in O'Rourke's vehicle discovered a tied condom containing an off-white powder they believed to be either cocaine or heroin. A sheriff's captain ordered the substance destroyed. The incident did not come to light to both O'Rourke and the public until months later. In October 1983, the captain was indicted by a grand jury on charges of official misconduct and tampering with evidence. O'Rourke and the sheriff's captain said they believed the powder had been put into O'Rourke's vehicle by one of O'Rourke's political enemies. From October 1983 to November 1986, he served on the Texas Jails Standards Commission. O'Rourke served as state co-chairman for Jesse Jackson during Jackson's 1988 bid in the Democratic presidential primary having also supported Jackson's 1984 presidential campaign. "I like the guy. He's entertaining, and he has some magic in him," O'Rourke explained a few years later. "Jesse brought more people into the voting booth, and I don't care who you are -- the more people that vote, the better off this country is." After O'Rourke switched his party affiliation from Democrat to Republican citing his belief Democratic Party had lost touch with financial responsibility, he campaigned to for the Republican nomination for the U.S. House. He was defeated in the primary runoff by Chip Taberski in April 1992. In 1996 he was a candidate for county tax assessor-collector and in 1998 he was Republican candidate for county judge, but he was unsuccessful in both races.
Death
On July 3, 2001, O'Rourke, a longtime cycling enthusiast, died while riding his bicycle along the shoulder of Pete Domenici Highway just outside the city limits of El Paso about across the New Mexico state line when he was struck from behind by a 1999 Pontiac Grand Am throwing him causing severe head injuries; he was pronounced dead at the scene. No charges were filed against the driver in connection with O'Rourke's death, but he was arrested for an outstanding warrant for failure to appear in court for a suspended license citation. O'Rourke's son Beto delivered the eulogy during the funeral service at Saint Patrick's Cathedral.
