California University of Pennsylvania Athletics

”When we started out, we played in converted barns, converted swimming pools, and roller skating rinks. We would dress in coal bins, we had one hot shower head, you name it, we did it,” Roger Hotz said. “If we could do it over again, we would. It was great fun.”

These may seem to be less than perfect playing conditions, but for Holtz they didn’t seem to make a difference. He took everything in stride, and along the way he produced many great achievements during his basketball career at California.

Hotz started at the center position for the Vulcan basketball team from 1955-59. During his four year tenure, he held every school record along with several conference marks, which remained on the books for 20 years.

Although the team averaged only 18.5 games a season, Hotz was still able to score 1,750 career points, still ranking him third on the all-time scoring list. By pulling down 573 career boards, Hotz also stands among the top ten rebounders in Cal history.

In Hotz’s four years of play, he averaged 25 points a game.

Not only did Hotz break many other players’ records, he also broke some of his own. One of his most memorable games was the final game of his collegiate career against Slippery Rock.

“The last game of my career in Herron Hall, I scored 47 points,” Hotz explained. “That was the way to go out. I had broken the conference record the year before, and then I broke my own record.”

Hotz played the way he did for a personal reason. His attitudes regarding being second helped him play to a higher level and led him into becoming a member of the second class of Cal’s Athletic Hall of Fame.

“In my freshman year, I started out running second team behind a senior center, and I don’t like to be second. So, I just worked as hard as I could work,” Hotz said. “The coach told me that he liked the way that I worked and said that if I kept working hard, I would play a lot of basketball for him.”

“I just went out and worked as hard as I could and took it away. I started the first game and never missed it from that day on,” he continued. “I have never been good at being second. A lot of people used to think that I was conceited, but that was what I believed.”

Basketball wasn’t the only sport that Hotz excelled in while at Cal. He was also on the tennis team and lost only two matches in four years. This may not seem obviously striking, but being that he never touched a tennis racket before playing on the team, it is quite an accomplishment.

“I’ve played almost every sport that there is practically. I love to compete, and I like to win,” Hotz said. “If I get beaten, fine, but I do everything I can do to win. I don’t cry or mope if I lose either.”

Graduating from Cal in 1959 didn’t end Hotz’s sports playing days as it does with many other athletes. He continued to play in semi-professional, city, church and YMCA leagues.

Because the chances of playing for a professional basketball team were slim for those who didn’t have a big name or attend a big college, many semi-pro leagues were located around the country. The money was not the motivating factor in playing for these teams, though.

“When people come to the games, if there was any money left over, it would be split with us,” Hotz explained. “If there was no money, we did it for nothing. Most of the time, we did it for nothing.”

Hotz retired from basketball at the age of 57 after playing for 42 years, although many of the guys that he played with didn’t understand why.

Hotz said that he couldn’t play to the standards that he wanted to, and said his head said one thing while his legs said another. So, he gave it up before he got hurt.

Although he has given up the sport that he loves, being inducted into the hall of fame is a terrific reminder of his days at Cal. The only thing that bothers him about being inducted in the second year as opposed to the first is that his mother isn’t here to share it with him.

“I was disappointed for my mother because she was the one who was the one who was able to go to the game while my dad worked,” Hotz said. “She would make special meals for me, make sure that I had the proper vitamins and make sure I was always healthy. If I made a mistake, she would chew me out royally.”

“She kept a scrapbook for me, and I didn’t even know it,” he continued. “I am disappointed that she didn’t get to hear about this. She would have been proud.”

Roger Hotz was one of California's original basketball "Big Men," playing for the Vulcans from 1955-59. He finished his collegiate career as Cal's all-time career leading scorer and rebounder. He still ranks third on the school's all-time scoring list with 1,747 career points, an amazing achievement considering that the Vulcans played an average of just 18.5 games a season during Hotz' four years.

As a senior in 1958-59, Hotz scored a whopping 573 points, a school record at the time. He averaged 28.7 points and more than 10 rebounds a game that year and his 573 single-season point total is still among the top 10 in school history. In conference play, Hotz averaged nearly 30 points a game as a junior and more than 33 points a game as a senior. A three-time all-conference selection, Hotz scored a school-record 47 points in his final collegiate game, a 92-74 win over Slippery Rock in 1959. The Athletic Council and Student Congress retired Hotz' number, 54, shortly after his final season.

Originally from California, Pa, and a graduate of California Area High School, Hotz is a guidance counselor at Gateway High School in Kissimmee, Fla., where he has served as a teacher, counselor and administrator. Hotz also owns his own golf club producing company. He resides in Orlando with his wife, Carol.