Al Ortolani

 

Not many people realize that Pittsburg has a swim team, even fewer know that Pittsburg is home to an Olympic Swimming trainer.  Al Ortolani Sr., a.k.a. “The Wizard of Gauze,” is a local legend in the fields of football and athletic training. He is also a legend in the world of Olympic Swimming after working with 1976, 1980, 1984, and 1996 Olympic teams.  The following, is his path on the way to becoming a legend.

I was born in New York City, 1928, April 1st.  My Dad was what you would call a foundry man; in other words, if you were ever to go to the Paramount Theatre in New York City, you’d find that the chandeliers were my Dad’s design and he made them.  That was great.  My Dad was a craftsmen, oh boy.  He also worked for Tiffany, Sterling, and Braun’s.  Foundry people made all the beautiful chandeliers and nutcrackers and that’s the thing I remember.  My Mother was just a housewife; and a housewife that never got past the third grade because when she was born in this country to immigrant parents.  She worked for seven cents a day, eight hours a day in a sweatshop.  So you see, she went through a lot of tough stuff--tough old German gal.

My Dad passed away, and I guess out of seven kids I got the job of supporting my mother and three kids while I was still in high school.  So, she (mom) thought that I wasn’t happy anymore.  She says, “You don’t date anybody.  You know you don’t go out; you don’t do anything anymore.  You just go to work and come home.”  And that’s what I did because I had to support a mother and three kids; and I was only 17½, 18 years old.  So one day she says, “What do you want to do?” 

“I’d like to go to college with my buddies you know who’d left two years ahead of time to come to Pittsburg, to play football.” 

And then she said, “Well, how much money do you have?” 

And I said in two years time I’d saved about one hundred and sixty dollars.

She says, “Pack up and go.”

So, that was great because she actually made more on her own than with me as the breadwinner.  I was an apprentice mason, and we only worked good weather.  So in wintertime, if I could get two days of work I was lucky, and to bring home and support three kids, and a house--boy!

I hadn’t been past the Statue of Liberty in my entire life.  I went from Long Island to the Statue of Liberty, and that’s as far as I ever went.  A New York kid he might stay there his entire life because there’s so much to do.  You don’t need to come to Kansas or Montana or wherever.

It (Kansas) was the first I had ever gone into a bathroom that had a sink in it.  See, we didn’t have that kind of thing in our house in New York.  We washed in the kitchen sink with brown soap; we shaved there, we did everything there.  We had a stool and a bathtub you know, but that’s all.  So having an actual sink in the bathroom, holy mackerel, I almost stayed there for two days just looking at it.

New Yorkers were always in to see me and would say, “What are you doing out here?” 

I would say, “I love it out here.  You can take the businesses, the subways, and the stuff like that and you can just jam it.” 

I remember there were things to do (in New York).  There was the ocean to swim in, there was salt-water fishing.  There were beautiful sandy beaches, and they were all very attractive; but not half as attractive as the peace and quiet and the honesty of the midwestern people.

I wanted to be a musician.  Then I came over here (Pittsburg State University, Pittsburg, KS) and got enrolled, and (Professor) Mumaw ran me off.  Music was my life.  He says, “You need special music lessons.”

I said, “I don’t have the money.”

He said, “What else can you do?”

I said, “Well, I came here to play football.” 

He said, “Well go there and stay there,” and that hacked me off, boy!  Once I left that (music department) and got into physical education I couldn’t go back.

It (sports training) found me, I didn’t find it.  When I was in my last year working on my masters (at Pittsburg State University), Coach Smith wanted me to be the trainer.  I said, “I don’t want to be the trainer.” 

He said, “Well, please help me out?”  I had broken my neck playing football, and I couldn’t play anymore.  So I stayed as close to it as I could by being a team manager, handy man, gopher.  He says, “Al, we got to have somebody.” 

I said, “I don’t want any part of it. I’m getting enough money from the GI Bill. (Mr. Ortolani served in the United States Armed Forces in Korea)  I don’t need whatever you’re going to pay me.”

And he said, “Do it as a favor for me.”  And I did it as a favor for him.

Being a trainer was my third choice in life; and when I talk to kids about what they want to become they say, “Gee, you stuck with your third choice?” 

And I say, “Yes I did, and I made the most of it you know.”

Most of it (knowledge on sports training) came through hard work.  I went to a lot of symposiums, and work nights, and picked up a lot of information from everyone I could get it from.  The guy who helped me out the most was the trainer at Oklahoma University, Ken Rollison.  I’d call him and he’d spend hours with me.  Anyone at the Jackie Rice Institute, same way.  Old-fashioned trainers were dying to give a young kid knowledge.

Swimming came because I got involved with the Olympics.  NAIA, NCAA, National Junior Colleges, and the American Health Institute all got together, and put money into the World University Games.  The NAIA picked me to be their trainer to go to Russia.  I got to know people well.  From there I was submitted as one of the thirty-nine Olympic-training nominees.  I wanted to be in the winter Olympics.  I was watching them on TV, and wondered why I wasn’t there.  So, I put out a search to find out who the guy was that did all the assigning.  I found him in upper New York.  I got my connections rolling, and two hours later I was a trainer for 1976.

Nobody wanted swimming or diving, it was too hard.  The other sports were a piece of cake.  So, I said I’ll take it.  It fell in my lap because I wasn’t afraid to work.  I worked every hour, and never bitched about it.

Everything like that (the Olympics), athletics at Pitt State, and all the Championships, they don’t mean a thing, it was my job.  It was my job, not a fun thing.  I never cared about the winning and losing, it wasn’t my job.

I’ll tell you one of the things that probably helped me out more than anything else.  In the big time they seem to have a chip on their shoulder, and their athletes (Olympians)--which are the greatest in the world--they are very spoiled children.  Whereas here in Pittsburg, they are just down to earth kids.  I tried to get the big time athletes to be down to earth kids, too.  To love everybody, look down on no one, and things like that.  I guess that’s one of the projects I had in life.  I don’t know whether I won or not; but I made a lot of friends.  My theory was whenever a kid comes into your training room don’t let him leave without laying your hands on him.  I gave them all what they wanted, even when I didn’t agree with it.

(My advice) you’ve got to get along with the kids.  You can’t be afraid of hard work and don’t pick on anyone; keep your mouth shut and you’ll do okay.  That seemed to be the way it worked, you know.  If you do your job and work hard at it, it pays off.

*Text within [ ] was not said by interviewee.

This oral history was researched and prepared by Sarah Wilson.  January 2002.