Three-time Olympic gold medalist Rowdy Gaines summed up Al Ortolani in just one word.
“The biggest thing that stuck out for me was that he had an amazing ability to make you relax,” Gaines said in a phone interview with The Morning Sun Monday “They called him Magic Fingers, but they should have just called him Magic.”
Gaines worked with Ortolani, the longtime Pittsburg State and USA Olympic athletic trainer who died early Friday morning, for the 1980 and 1984 Olympic games.
Those that worked and knew Ortolani over the years remembered Ortolani as a comedian and family man but, also someone who influenced a lot of others.
“Al first sparked my interest in athletic training,” said retired Kansas City Chiefs head athletic trainer Dave Kendall. “It didn’t take very long in high school for me to find out that I was not really a player.”
Kendall, who served as the head trainer for the Chiefs from 1984 to 2005, said it all started in the 1960s when Ortolani helped Kendall — whose grandparents lived in Pittsburg and was also born in Pittsburg — become a ball boy for the PSU football team.
“My folks would put me on a bus Friday night to stay with my grandparents,” Kendall said. “I went to the football games on Saturday and went back home on Sunday.”
From there, Kendall became interested in what Ortolani did on the sidelines.
“When I started at PSU, I got into the program and, I think, I was the only one helping in the training room,” Kendall said.
Kendall, who graduated from PSU in 1977, said Ortolani helped him get into his athletic training career after Pitt State competed in the 1972 NAIA National Basketball Tournament.
“He introduced me to Wayne Rudy (then-Chiefs head athletic trainer) and, from that, I was able to be a student trainer with the Chiefs,” Kendall said. “I owe my entire professional career to Al.”
Another person with fond memories of Ortolani was former PSU football player and current sideline reporter for the Chiefs Radio Network, Kendall Gammon.
“Al, on the surface, could seem a little hard,” Gammon said. “When you got to know him, you realized that he had a big heart.”
Gammon played for the Gorillas from 1987 to 1991 and also remembered Ortolani as a comedian.
“He always had jokes to crack,” Gammon said.
Gammon had his first encounter with Ortolani when he first came on campus as a freshman. Gammon said that he had gained 30 pounds during that year and found stretch marks because of the weight gain.
“I went there in private and asked Al what it was,” Gammon said. “He said ‘You’re fat, now get out of here.’”
His sense of humor also carried over on football team trips.
“Al put straws in his nose and acted like a walrus,” Gammon said.
Even though the Gorilla coaching staff at the time, namely head coach Dennis Franchione, may not have been amused at the time, they still found Ortolani’s humor welcome.
“I think Fran knew about Al,” Gammon said. “Fran knew what he was about ... he helped develop the attitude (of Pitt State football).”
For Gaines, he said he remembers how Ortolani worked with the swimmers prior to and during key meets.
“Back then, there was no such thing as massage therapy,” Gaines said. “It was the rub-down guys, and he made it spectacular.”
“I did not like to get them, and when I went to Al, he would always start to chuckle because I just wanted my feet and hands done. He laughed because he knew that he would not have to work very hard.”
Even after the U.S. boycotted the 1980 Olympics in Moscow, Gaines said there was a kinship between those that were preparing for those games.
“There are not a lot of us that share the bond of having ‘80 and ‘84, and Al and I were ones that had that bond,” Gaines said. “We always felt like we were family, especially with that bond.
“The big thing for me was being able to get through the boycott in 1980 and [to] try to strive to 1984, and we were able to make it together.”
All of them said that, through their dealings with him, Ortolani taught them one important life lesson.
“Through life, he taught me to laugh at adversity and cry at victory and good times,” Kendall said.
Services for Ortolani will be at 10 a.m. today at Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church.
Matthew Clark can be reached at matthew.clark@morningsun.net or at 620-231-2600, Ext. 140.
ABOUT AL ORTOLANI
— Ortolani established himself as one of the nation’s most respected athletic trainers at his alma mater. He served as head athletic trainer from 1956-95. Following his retirement, Ortolani remained a faculty member in the Health, Human Performance and Recreation Department, and he served the past three years (2006-08) as an athletic trainer for the Pitt State baseball program.
— Ortolani served as a USA Olympic trainer spanning from 1973-96, serving at four Olympics and countless World and Pan Am games.
— He served as PSU’s head baseball coach from 1962-72. Ortolani guided Pitt State to a 95-90 overall record, including a pair of Central Intercollegiate Conference titles and a trip to the NAIA District III playoffs. Ortolani was named the NAIA Coach of the Year in 1965. In 1995, PSU opened its on-campus baseball facility, which the school named Al Ortolani Field.
— Ortolani was the first athletic trainer inducted into the NAIA Hall of Fame. He has been inducted into five Halls of Fame, including the PSU Athletics Hall of Fame for meritorious achievement in 1992 as well as the National Athletic Trainer’s Association Hall of Fame.
— PSU Sports Information
Matthew Clark's interview with Kendall Gammon.
