The whole story

Ottinger starred at Shorter

By Doug Hawley

Area sports enthusiasts who have known Melvyn Ottinger for decades associate him with the powerful Dalton Junior College basketball teams he coached from 1968-1978.

However, Ottinger earlier established himself as a superb college athlete, as evidenced by his recent induction in the Shorter College Athletic Hall of Fame.

Ottinger was a rare four-sport letterman at Shorter from 1958-62. His 10-letter breakdown goes like this: four in basketball, three in tennis, two in baseball and one in volleyball.

But he did much more than just collect letters. He earned All-Georgia Intercollegiate Athletic Conference recognition in all of his sports save volleyball.

“From the area I grew up in, it was surprising that I even went to college,” Ottinger said of his school days in little Parrottsville, Tenn. “You graduated from high school. You married your high school sweetheart. And you spent the rest of your life farming in that rural area.”

Ottinger, who was Parrottsville High’s valedictorian, showed an early prowess in basketball and baseball.

“In our senior class of 37, I was one of only two who went to college,” he said. “The other was the principal’s daughter.”

Ottinger went to Shorter on a combination academic and athletic scholarship to play basketball.

“In those days, there really was no film of high school basketball games,” he said. “Somebody had recommended me to Harvey Murphy, who was the Shorter coach. He had not even seen me play.”

When Murphy first met Ottinger at Shorter, he hardly could have been awed with the initial impression. Ottinger stood barely 5 feet, 9 1/2 inches and weighed a scrawny 130 pounds — but he played four seasons for the Shorter basketball team.

On the court, it did not take long for Ottinger to make a lasting impression. As a guard, he started for three years for the Hawks and averaged about 15 points per game. Despite his diminutive stature, “I drove to the basket a lot. I was fouled a lot. I got beat up,” Ottinger said with a laugh.

His Hawks basketball legacy blossomed in his final season of 1961-62, when he ranked No. 1 nationally in free throw percentage (90.1). Forty-seven years later, he still retains the Shorter single-season record in that category.

“The main thing is just practice,” Ottinger said. “I used to shoot 100 or more free throws a day. I don’t think that they do this as much as they used to. I always felt that you had to shoot over the front of the rim toward the back. You’ve got to use your legs, too.”

As a Dalton Junior College coach, Ottinger still took free throw shooting seriously.

“We would stop practice and shoot free throws when the guys were tired,” he said. “Sometimes they’d have to hit 10 or 12 in a row before we left. We certainly emphasized shooting free throws.”

Ottinger added tennis to his athletic mix for his sophomore year at Shorter.

“The first time that I ever played tennis was in a P.E. class,” said Ottinger, who at Shorter became a GIAC singles champion. “I had good hands and coordination. If you have that, you can play tennis.”

By his junior season, Ottinger was playing second base for the baseball team, too.

“I led the conference one year in hitting,” he said. “I was no power hitter, but I got on base a lot. I was quick and stole a fair amount of bases. In the field, I could cover a lot of ground.”

As a senior, volleyball worked its way into the equation.

“Up until then, I had played volleyball in P.E. and intramurals,” Ottinger said. “It was simply something else to play. I was primarily the setter.”

Despite such a hectic athletic schedule, Ottinger was an honor student. He earned a Graduate Fellow at Clemson University from 1962-64.

After returning to Shorter College, Ottinger coached the junior varsity men’s basketball team to a 35-5 record in the 1965-66 and 1966-67 seasons. He also was the GIAC Golf Coach of the Year in 1967.

When Dalton Junior College opened its doors in 1968, Ottinger became the school’s head basketball coach. He guided the Roadrunners to a sparkling 231-78 record over 10 seasons. His teams won two Georgia Junior College Conference championships and his 1971-72 Roadrunners finished the regular season ranked No. 2 in the country.

Ottinger was named GJCC Coach of the Year in 1970 and 1972 and he was also included in Outstanding Young Men of America for 1970 and Personalities of the South for 1971.

He and his wife, Marilyn, a Bradenton, Fla. native and Shorter grad, have been married for 47 years and have two children, daughter Mandy Floyd of Cartersville and son Mark of Memphis, Tenn. They played tennis on scholarships at Carson-Newman and Georgia Tech, respectively.

The Ottingers, who live in Dalton and have six grandchildren, spend extensive time at Cartersville High watching Mandy’s son, Justin Floyd, play football. He is a 6-foot-5-inch, 270-pound junior offensive lineman for the Purple Hurricanes.

“Justin’s made trips to the major schools all over the country,” Ottinger said. “He’s a good friend of (Dalton High’s Watts Dantzler, a 6-8, 300-pound junior offensive lineman). They text each other a lot.”

Justin’s father, Jay, Cartersville High’s principal, played football at Georgia and Carson-Newman.