(1907-1990)
Inducted into Jewish Sports Hall of Fame, 1986
A native of Hartford, Ellovich graduated from the Northwest School and Weaver High School in 1926. He continued his education at the University of Connecticut but his father’s death in 1929 forced him to withdraw to take over the family business, the Eagle Dye Works.
At Weaver, Ellovich played football, basketball, and baseball. He was captain of Weaver’s first football team, scored the first touchdown made by a Weaver player, and was the first Weaver student named to the all-state football team. He was the first president of the Athletic Association. He played both tackle and fullback, kicked a 49-yard field goals, and was named to the all-state football team.
In a column he wrote later for a newspaper, he recalled that the Weaver team at first “presented a motley appearance as we had no uniforms and we played in sweat shirts and long khaki trousers.” In a game against West Hartford, the Hall team’s quarterback made “a couple of nasty remarks about the Jewish boys.” He and Mush Dubofsky at first let the comments pass but after the third time, they nodded at each other and charged down the field to the offender. “There were no more remarks about Jewish boys after the stretcher had been brought into action,” he recalled.
At the University of Connecticut, he played football and basketball his freshman year, but subsequently concentrated on basketball and was a high scorer on that team in 1928. He turned to track, throwing discus and breaking the school record for the hammer throw, which he held for over 20 years. Later in his life he became an accomplished golfer.
Ellovich was president of the Emanuel Synagogue’s Brotherhood, a board member of Mount Sinai Hospital for many years, a board member of the Jewish Community Center, and was appointed by the governor to the War Manpower Board during World War II.