Ken Ohlendorf
Ken Ohlendorf
  • Title:
    Basketball/Baseball
  • Year Inducted:
    2016
  • Transfer/Graduation Date:
    1968

Bio

Ken Ohlendorf attended Chula Vista High School from 1964 to 1966 and competed for the Spartans in basketball and baseball. In both 1965 and 1966, his basketball team won the Metro League Championship and was CIF runner-up. As a senior, he averaged 17 points per game, was selected 1st Teal All-Metro and 2nd Team All-CIF. In baseball, his achievements echoed his success in basketball. As the team’s first baseman, he was named to the All-Metro Team as a junior and senior. In 1965, he also earned 1st Team All-CIF honors batting an impressive .380. An excellent student as well, Ken received the Business Academic Achievement Award.

After graduation, Ken enrolled at Southwestern College and elected to once again play the two sports he loved. In basketball as a freshman, Ken made the Palomar College Tournament Team after competing against some of the best teams in the state, including state and national JC champion Pasadena City College. As a sophomore, he averaged 17 points per game, was the “Apaches” leading scorer and rebounder, was selected 2nd Team Pacific Southwest Conference. He also received SWC’s 1968 Citizen’s Co-Most Outstanding Athlete-Scholar Award for his athletic and scholastic achievements.

Most important, Ken was awarded a full-scholarship to the University of Alaska in Fairbanks, Alaska to participate in basketball. As a forward, he contributed his skills, passion, and leadership to helping his team record its first winning season in school history. Dedicated to his studies, Ken graduated in 1970 with a Bachelor’s of Business Administration in Finance, which ultimately led to a stellar 40-year professional career in accounting and auditing.

Soon after, Ken accepted an auditing positon with a national accounting firm in San Diego working from 1971-1980. For the next 15 years, he was hired as an audit staff supervisor with a local San Diego firm. Wanting more family times and less travel time, Ken was hired as a governmental accountant for the North County Transit District in Oceanside, where he worked until retiring in 2012.

Ken was married for 32 years to his beloved wife, Susie, who passed away in 2013. They shares “a love for life and family for all their lives together.” They raised two sons, Scott and Brent. Scott earned his MA in Sports Management, and he is the Director of Recreational Programs at St. Mary’s College. Brent currently attends USD’s School of Law and is a corporate officer of an importing business.

Ken has lived in Rancho Penasquitos in North San Diego since 1987 and was active as a youth coach in basketball, baseball, and tennis programs for his son’s Little League days through their high school years. Retired now, Ken travels, plays golf and hikes throughout San Diego County.

One of Ken’s favorite memories was playing his final baseball games for the “Apaches” at home against rival Palomar College. For his last at bat, in the bottom of the last inning, he hit a double that scored the winning run in a 7-6 SWC victory. “It was my last bat in competitive baseball, and the last time I represented SWC in athletics.”

Congratulations Ken Ohlendorf! For your dedication, leadership, and many achievements garnered as a student-athlete, Southwestern College is extremely honored to induct you into its Athletic Hall of Fame, Class of 2016.