(-1994)
Inducted into Jewish Sports Hall of Fame, 1985
William Chtoiner was a graduate of Weaver High School, where he played baseball, basketball, and football. He was chosen for the first team of the All-city baseball team in 1934. He played semi-pro baseball for several different teams in Hartford and played semi-pro basketball for the Hakoahs, Jewish Community Center, the Menorahs, and the Hartford Electric Light Company.
He served in the U.S. Navy during World War II and was stationed at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.
The owner of a wholesale hardware business on Atlantic Street in Hartford, Chotiner was closely affiliated with Hartford’s minor-league teams. He owned a fast-pitch softball team called “Conn’s Kings,” which he managed and played on until the age of 61. He was a fixture for decades at the Bulkeley Stadium in Hartford and later served as an Eastern League executive.
Chotiner devoted much of his life to youth sports. For 25 years, he was vice president and a coach of the West Hartford Boys’ Baseball League. He was president of the West Hartford Boys’ Basketball League, helping it grow to serve more than 400 boys. For 27 years Chotiner ran the Synagogue Basketball League – the only league of its kind in the United States, that featured teams from all the major synagogues in the Greater Hartford area.