Conrad Stephen Ortmayer (February 13, 1944 – March 9, 2021) was an

American football American football, referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada and also known as gridiron football, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular American football field, field with goalposts at e ...

player, coach, and executive who served as the general manager of the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...

(NFL)'s

San Diego Chargers The San Diego Chargers were a professional American football team in the National Football League (NFL). The Chargers played in San Diego, California from 1961 until 2016, before relocating back to the Greater Los Angeles area, where the franch ...

and St. Louis Rams.

Early life and playing career

Born in Painesville, Ohio, Ortmayer grew up in

Nashville, Tennessee Nashville, often known as Music City, is the capital and List of municipalities in Tennessee, most populous city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County in Middle Tennessee, locat ...

, and

Dallas, Texas Dallas () is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of Texas metropolitan areas, most populous metropolitan area in Texas and the Metropolitan statistical area, fourth-most ...

. He played one season at

Vanderbilt University Vanderbilt University (informally Vandy or VU) is a private university, private research university in Nashville, Tennessee, United States. Founded in 1873, it was named in honor of shipping and railroad magnate Cornelius Vanderbilt, who provide ...

before transferring to the University of La Verne and playing three seasons there.

Coaching career

Ortmayer got his start in coaching at the

University of Colorado at Boulder The University of Colorado Boulder (CU Boulder, CU, or Colorado) is a Public university, public research university in Boulder, Colorado, United States. Founded in 1876, five months before Colorado became a Federated state, state, it is the fla ...

in 1967 and also spent a season at Georgia Tech. From 1968 to 1973, he was assistant head coach, offensive line coach, and defensive line coach for Colorado. In 1974, he was assistant head coach and offensive line coach for the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets. After one year with the Yellow Jackets, Ortmayer moved on to the

(NFL) to be the special teams coach of the Kansas City Chiefs from 1975 to 1977. Ortmayer spent 25 seasons in the NFL and won two Super Bowl rings as special teams coach with the Oakland/Los Angeles Raiders. In 2003, he became assistant head coach, special teams coordinator, and tight ends coach at the

University of Kentucky The University of Kentucky (UK, UKY, or U of K) is a Public University, public Land-grant University, land-grant research university in Lexington, Kentucky, United States. Founded in 1865 by John Bryan Bowman as the Agricultural and Mechanical ...

. Ortmayer has coached in five college bowl games and for eight NFL playoff teams, in addition to his two Super Bowl wins with the Raiders.

Executive career

In 1987, Ortmayer moved to the

general manager A general manager (GM) is an executive who has overall responsibility for managing both the revenue and cost elements of a company's income statement, known as profit & loss (P&L) responsibility. A general manager usually oversees most or all of ...

where he served until his release in December 1989. He then rejoined the Raiders until moving to an administrative office with the

Los Angeles Rams The Los Angeles Rams are a professional American football team based in the Greater Los Angeles, Greater Los Angeles area. The Rams compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC West, West ...

. With the Raiders, he served in a number of capacities ranging from assistant coach to director of football operations. Ortmayer was on the sidelines when the Raiders won both Super Bowl XV and Super Bowl XVIII. In 1995, as vice president of football operations of the Rams, Ortmayer oversaw the move from Los Angeles to St. Louis. In 2000, Ortmayer was named director of player personnel of the XFL's Memphis Maniax.Veteran Pro Football Executive Steve Ortmayer Joins XFL-Memphis
World Wrestling Entertainment. Accessed July 2, 2007. In 2022, Ortmayer was inducted into the Kentucky Pro Football Hall of Fame.

References

1944 births 2021 deaths Colorado Buffaloes football coaches Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets football coaches Kansas City Chiefs coaches Kentucky Wildcats football coaches La Verne Leopards football players Los Angeles Raiders coaches NFL general managers Oakland Raiders coaches San Diego Chargers executives St. Louis Rams executives Vanderbilt Commodores football players Sportspeople from Painesville, Ohio Players of American football from Lake County, Ohio Players of American football from Dallas Players of American football from Nashville, Tennessee {{Amfoot-coach-stub