(1955-)
Inducted into the Jewish Sports Hall of Fame, 1990
Chotiner’s career in athletics began at the Jewish Community Center, where he played on the center’s basketball team, as well as with the Greater Hartford Synagogue League. At Hall High School, he was captain of the baseball team and made the All-Conference team. He started playing American Legion ball, and in 1973 his team won the state and New England championships; Chotiner was named the Most Valuable Player in the state tournament. The following year, he received the Legion Player of the Year Award.
Chotiner was a starter on the basketball team when he broke the school’s scoring record. He was the only player to that date to have been selected for the All-Conference first team for three years and was voted Most Valuable Player in Hall basketball in 1972 and 1973. Upon graduation he received an award presented to the outstanding male athlete at the school.
In 1975 he began playing in the Greater Hartford Twilight League and was voted Rookie of the Year and All-Star first baseman. He played varsity baseball at C.W. Post College and served for two years as team captain. In 1977 he was named the All-New York College first baseman and invited to play in the Virginia Valley League, a summer league partly sponsored by the major leagues for the best college players in the country.
In his senior year of college, Chotiner’s hopes of a professional baseball career were shattered when he broke his back in a boating accident. Two weeks after his cast was removed, he returned to play Twilight League baseball in Hartford, but retired from athletics temporarily in 1989.