Loras College Athletics

• Selected as an honorable mention to the Catholic College All-American team as selected by the Brooklyn Tablet. The team featured selections from Catholic colleges from across the nation including eventual NBA legends Bill Russell and K.C. Jones of San Francisco.
• Played along side Loras Hall of Famers Dick Wright and Cy Potts in the lineup while scoring 831 career points.
• A four-year letterwinner in baseball, Ottavi hit .260 and led the team in home runs in 1956.
• Served as head basketball coach at Hempstead H.S. in Dubuque for 12 years.
• During my sophomore year, one of our best victories of that 1954-55 season was over Creighton, 86-85. Creighton’s program was not of the stature then that it is now, but they still had an excellent team. Their team was led by none other than Bob Gibson (a great basketball player, but apparently an even greater baseball player as he went on to have a Hall of Fame career with the St. Louis Cardinals). We played Creighton the next year at their gym and they defeated us quite handily, however, in that particular game Bob Gibson was ejected for fighting with a Loras player (not me). Eight years later in 1964, a year in which the Cardinals won the World Series and Gibson was voted Series MVP, our paths crossed again. I was coaching basketball at Marquette High School in Ottawa, Illinois, at the time. Gibson was in demand as a speaker at various sports banquets due to his World Series fame. I happened to attend a banquet in Joliet, Illinois, where he spoke.  I went up to meet him after his speech. I asked him whether he recalled a basketball game during his days at Creighton when he had been ejected. If you have ever seen Bob Gibson glare at a hitter during his pitching career, you know what kind of look he gave me. I thought it best to right then tell him how much I had enjoyed his speech and say goodbye.
• I was a second baseman on some excellent baseball teams at Loras from 1954 through 1957. In the 1956 season I “led” the team in home runs with two, Yes, that is the correct number. We were a good hitting team, but obviously without a lot of power that spring. In fact, my two home runs came in a double-header victory over Iowa State Teachers College (UNI today) 8-1 and 14-1. They were hit in consecutive times at bat, with at least a 30 mile an hour wind blowing out and no fence, so I had to run hard all the way. Incidentally, they were the only home runs I hit in my collegiate baseball career.
•             When I entered Loras in 1953, Loras was part of the Iowa Conference. The 1953-54 season would be Loras’ last season in the conference for a number of years. Not being in a conference allowed Loras to play a number of new opponents, however, our main rivalry would still be with the St. Ambrose Bees. We played St. Ambrose in our final game in 1955, ’56, and ’57 coming out on top each time. It was a most satisfying way to end each season and finally my basketball career. 

Story
During my sophomore year, one of our best victories of that 1954-55 season was over Creighton, 86-85. Creighton’s program was not of the stature then that it is now, but they still had an excellent team. Their team was led by none other than Bob Gibson (a great basketball player, but apparently an even greater baseball player as he went on to have a Hall of Fame career with the St. Louis Cardinals). We played Creighton the next year at their gym and they defeated us quite handily, however, in that particular game Bob Gibson was ejected for fighting with a Loras player (not me). Eight years later in 1964, a year in which the Cardinals won the World Series and Gibson was voted Series MVP, our paths crossed again. I was coaching basketball at Marquette High School in Ottawa, Illinois, at the time. Gibson was in demand as a speaker at various sports banquets due to his World Series fame. I happened to attend a banquet in Joliet, Illinois, where he spoke.  I went up to meet him after his speech. I asked him whether he recalled a basketball game during his days at Creighton when he had been ejected. If you have ever seen Bob Gibson glare at a hitter during his pitching career, you know what kind of look he gave me. I thought it best to right then tell him how much I had enjoyed his speech and say goodbye.
I was a second baseman on some excellent baseball teams at Loras from 1954 through 1957. In the 1956 season I “led” the team in home runs with two, Yes, that is the correct number. We were a good hitting team, but obviously without a lot of power that spring. In fact, my two home runs came in a double-header victory over Iowa State Teachers College (UNI today) 8-1 and 14-1. They were hit in consecutive times at bat, with at least a 30 mile an hour wind blowing out and no fence, so I had to run hard all the way. Incidentally, they were the only home runs I hit in my collegiate baseball career.
When I entered Loras in 1953, Loras was part of the Iowa Conference. The 1953-54 season would be Loras’ last season in the conference for a number of years. Not being in a conference allowed Loras to play a number of new opponents, however, our main rivalry would still be with the St. Ambrose Bees. We played St. Ambrose in our final game in 1955, ’56, and ’57 coming out on top each time. It was a most satisfying way to end each season and finally my basketball career.