Coffeyville CC

Frank Ortolani
Head Men’s Golf Coach

Frank Ortolani is the founder of the Men’s Golf Program at Coffeyville Community College.

As a native New Yorker, Ortolani came to Pittsburg, KS in 1958 to pursue a college education and play football at Kansas State Teacher’s College, now Pittsburg State University, where he earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees and achieved numerous accolades on the playing field.

Although Frank was a second-generation Italian American and New Yorker at heart, he fell in love with Kansas, small-town life, and Sara Jayne Holliday whom he married. Frank and Sara Jayne had three children together, sons Scott and Brent and daughter Shelly.

As a history teacher on CCC’s campus, Ortolani started the Men’s Golf program in 1974. Over the next 10 years, Ortolani’s teams had great success. The CCC’s Men’s Golf team was the Jayhawk Conference and Region Champions for seven years in a row from 1977 to 1984 and his 1983 team placed sixth at the NJCAA National Tournament. Through the years, Coffeyville had numerous golfers receive All conference honors as well as Ortolani earning the Conference Coach of the Year Award in 1978 and 1979 as well as Region VI Coach of the Year in 1978, 1982, and 1983. Ortolani also coached Steve Gomez who was the first-ever freshman to earn the Conference’s MVP award. Gomez went on to earn the award again as a sophomore. In describing coach Ortolani, one of his former golfers said that “Frank brought enthusiasm to the game and always wanted you to succeed in every way possible.”

His 30-year career at CCC included a popular Civil War seminar, in which students traveled to battle sites across the nation for live, on-site lectures and re-enactments. Students learned about battles on the fields where they occurred, often sleeping in tents and eating food of the period.

Later in life, Ortolani married his wife Rita, and together they enjoyed spending time with their son Christopher.

Coach Ortolani passed away Nov. 28, 2021.

Frank Ortolani will always be remembered for the outstanding achievements and contributions he made to Coffeyville Community College.