30th Athletics Hall of Fame: Gary Ozzello

The Shadow knows.

At least he did in old pulp fiction novels. The student intern back in 1974 had no idea.

Gary Ozzello had no idea what he was doing as a student intern in the Colorado State athletics department. He earned the nickname that first semester because, "I was never around." He's convinced he is the single worst student intern the department has ever seen, but Tim Simmons stuck with him and the university has never regretted the chance he took.

There is no one who knows more about Colorado State athletics, no one who served the department's communications arm longer, has seen more highs and lows than Ozzello, who has earned Hall of Honor recognition as part of the induction class into the 30^th Colorado State Athletics Hall of Fame on Friday, Sept. 10 at 4:30 p.m. in Canvas Stadium.

He arrived on campus as a student in 1974. He was hired by the athletics communication department in 1978, then moved to the administrative side of campus in 2014 as the Director of University Relations. When he retired in 2020, he really didn't. The next day he started his new job and now serves Canvas Credit Union as the Director of University Relations with, you guessed it, Colorado State.

"I tell people I slept through my retirement," Ozzello said. "I went to be one night and woke up and went to work the next day."

When he retired from Colorado State, he went back and counted the number of Colorado State football games he's attended, it and accounts for more than half of the games played in program history. He was there for every big moment, for every sport, and the feeling of going to campus on those days felt electric for him.

He still feels the same upon arrival in his new role.

"It's the exact same feeling. It is truly an adrenaline rush," Ozzello said. "When you talk about good friends I have on campus and in the community, and even people I've never met before, because I want them to know how special this place is and the impact it's had on my life and my family."

His wife, Joni, is a CSU grad. So are his two children, D.J. and Angie. Colorado State University, and in particular, athletics, became his family.

The all-time greats which come to mind – Fum McGraw, Jim Williams, Boyd Grant, Sonny Lubick – all were mentors for him. And in time, he became a confidant for them. He worked alongside Doug Max and Christine Susemihl for most of his time, and the three of them worked for nine different athletic directors.

He said it would be impossible to rehash every special person and moment he experienced.

"How much time do you have and how long is this article?" he said. "Like anything in life, you go through storms, and there's adversity, but the people I was able to work with and stand on their shoulders, the interns and the people I got to meet and the places I got to go … I treasure it, because there's no way to put into words how blessed I feel for what I was able to do and the people I was able to meet and be around."

Simmons later started a scholarship for student-interns in the communications department called the "Gary Ozzello Excellence in Education Scholarship," which Ozzello claims in actually an oxymoron.

That is just Ozzello being humble, because he dedicated his life to putting the interest of Colorado State, and in particular, athletics, first and foremost before his own.

He said the light went on, the flip switched when his dad told him if he didn't shape up he would be back home working for the Santa Fe Railroad, he found there was nothing else he'd rather be doing.

"When I started work, I remember I made less than $10,000 my first year and I thought I'd won the lottery. They wanted to pay me to do this," he said. "I knew this: I have great love for this incredible institution, and I remember the advice Fum McGraw gave me – Show up and do the work every day. I thought if I showed up and did the work, things would turn out fine. The more I got into it, the more I thought, try to leave it better than you found it, because there have been so many incredible people who passed through the hallways."

Now he still does, and his intentions remain the same.

He takes great pride in representing the partnership between Canvas Credit Union and Colorado State University, and when he started his new role, his goal was if another institution called either CSU Director of Athletic Joe Parker of Canvas CEO Todd Marksberry to ask how it worked so well, Ozzello would have provided them with the playbook.

Ozzello is positive the Shadow would be amazed.

"I tell you what he would think -- the only guy more surprised than him would probably be Tim Simmons," Ozzello said. "It's not something you set out to do and start your career and say in 42 years … No, that was never it. My day-to-day goal was could I represent the university, could I protect the integrity of the university in whatever took place and could I represent my alma mater, with constituents, student athletes, coaches and people in the community. I wanted to make sure I put my best foot forward to represent Colorado State."

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