Gee-Gees Football Hall of Fame Inductee Profile: Ettore Lattanzio
A foursome of fearsome defensive players and one record-setting receiver have been selected as the 2023 inductees to the Gee-Gees Football Hall of Fame. Ettore Lattanzio, Frantz Jacques, Michel Dupuis, Mike Hendricks, and Don Burns will be inducted on Saturday, April 22.
Never prototypical, always powerful
Ettore Lattanzio only has one speed – and it's full tilt. When he was placed in a position to be successful that relentlessness took him to the top. However, as he tells the story of his football career he underscores that nothing was easy, and nothing was pretty.
"I was never a finesse guy; I was a hammer," laughs Lattanzio. "My father instilled a love of training in the gym and a work ethic in me at a young age and I was able to bring it to the football field. One thing that separated me when I was young – I was always one of the strongest. That was certainly a catalyst for me being successful at all."
Lattanzio would separate himself time and again, both from the double and triple coverages applied to contain him and from the doubters who looked at his six-foot height and "undersized" frame and wondered if he could play. "I wasn't a prototypical defensive lineman and I couldn't get away with just being a bigger guy, so I was always having to make sure that I was on point with my skills."
"The funny thing is, I started as a d-lineman right away," Lattanzio remembers. "I think it says a lot about my personality because I'm very tunnel-vision. You're not thinking about a lot – you have your job, you know your play call, and you go. You just worry about what's in front of you, and where you need to go. It suited me and my mentality so well."
After setting records and winning awards as a club player with the local Myers Riders, Lattanzio was a redshirt in his first season at uOttawa, who focussed on taking on the star-studded Gee-Gees offensive linemen in practice. "I knew I could play, but I also knew that there were a lot of big guys ahead of me. My thinking was, 'I'll just go hard in practice against an All-Canadian line, then I know I'm able to compete," explains Lattanzio.
"I wasn't trying to be a practice hero, but I only have one speed. I always had to come at a certain level because I needed to be prepared. My mentality was also that no one else is going to come at you as hard as I am, and if they do at least you're ready for it."
In 2011 Lattanzio had a solid OUA debut with 9.5 tackles for loss and five sacks in six games played. "It was a good group of guys who had played together for a while, some top tier talent, and I was happy to slot in and start contributing. I think I was able to prove that I could play at that level. Moving forward everything took off for me."
Lattanzio acknowledges the rough times that came in 2012 for the team, which opened the season 0-5 and experienced a mid-season coaching change. "It was difficult because there was a lot of confusion. It was frustrating for me and a lot of the seniors. As a defence we were constantly on the field."
"I learned that season that there are certain things you can't control. My goals were to stay healthy and make plays – contribute, do something. And I was able to do that." Lattanzio recorded 12.5 tackles for loss, including eight sacks, and earned a place on the OUA Second Team.
"I always wanted to have the respect of my peers – for me that's always been the biggest thing. Whether it's guys I played with or played against. Going into 2013, once I had that respect, I sensed a shift in my own leadership skills and it was the year I came into my own. It gave me that feeling of, 'I can.'"
Lattanzio is quick to mention the ways in which he respects his teammates as well, noting the confidence that Gee-Gees linebackers Nick Lecour (2010-2015) and Tyler Sawyer (2008-2012) gave him. "They said, you be you, cut loose. And they were so cerebral that they were able to adapt and clean it up."
Lattanzio was also feeling the support from the Gee-Gees coaching staff in 2013-2014, a support which would echo later when he joined the Ottawa Redblacks under defensive coordinator Leroy Blugh. "My play style was a unique one, and I was fortunate that I had a coaching staff who knew how to utilize my abilities. I wasn't designed to absorb blocks, I have to use my leverage and be disruptive. I learned those skills at uOttawa and honed them."
In 2013 Lattanzio led the OUA and tied for the national lead with 10 sacks, including a four-sack performance in the final week of the regular season. He earned the J.P. Metras Award for OUA Lineman of the Year and was named a First Team All-Canadian.
In 2014 Lattanzio added an OUA-best eight sacks to his career total, finishing with a team record of 31 over his four seasons of play. His 10 sacks in 2013 shares the team record.
Lattanzio was aware at the time that that he was chasing the all-time Gee-Gees, OUA, and U SPORTS single season sacks records, and was motivated by the J.P. Metras Award. The 2013 National J.P. Metras Award went to Laval's Laurent Duvernay-Tardif, who Lattanzio is prepared to concede was tough to beat. But in 2014, there was no denying number 49.
"Having my name etched on that trophy is very special to me. There are a lot of big names on that trophy and to be part of that history is really cool. It was a highlight for me, and I was very proud that I was able to make it happen."
Lattanzio would raise another trophy, as part of the 2016 Grey Cup Championship-winning Ottawa Redblacks. "As an individual that was my best year of my five years of playing," says Lattanzio. "There's a lot more to being a successful player, and the fact that guys I played against said I gave them a hard time, that was a meaningful accomplishment."
2016 was Lattanzio's second CFL season in Ottawa, after initially being drafted by Winnipeg. He played a total of 63 games in the CFL and went to the Grey Cup three times before retiring ahead of the 2021 season.
"One cool thing was being part of the Gee-Gees brotherhood in the CFL. For me, a moment that stands out to me was when I walked into the Redblacks locker room for the first time, Brad Sinopoli was the first guy walking towards me, and he was really excited. I was a rookie during his 2010 senior season at uOttawa and although he was the nicest, friendliest guy, we didn't interact that much. But boom, there was that connection."
"Sharing the field in the pros with him [Brad], [Brendan] Gillanders, and Lewis [Ward], was really special. We're all part of that same Gee-Gees family, and it's a cool experience be from the area. Even if you're from Toronto, but you came to Ottawa for university… You're in the fabric of the city."
And that's a powerful feeling.