Juan Ostoic

Juan “Jota O” Ostoic was a Chilean basketball player who competed at the 1952 and 1956 Olympics. He was an undersized center at 193 cm, but helped Chile win a bronze medal at the inaugural 1950 World Championships in Buenos Aires. He started playing with the Chung Hwa club, based in the Chinese district of his hometown, Iquique, and at 18 was regarded as one of the best centers in the country.

After his retirement as a player, Ostoic coached Union Española of Santiago, leading them to four consecutive national titles, winning from 1970-73. He served as an assistant coach to the Chilean men’s national team under renowned international coach Dan Peterson. Ostoic later coached the Chilean women’s national team, leading them to an upset victory over Argentina at the South American Championships. He lived in Venezuela between 1975-81 where he was a physical education teacher. Ostoic was also later a basketball television commentator, but was possibly best remembered as the number one creator of crossword puzzles for many years, and from 1981, created the puzzles for the leading newspaper La Tercera de la Hora where he used the pseudonym “Jota O”. In 2017 he received “The Sport Hero of La Tercera” award.