FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Call it a hat trick for David Pichler.

The Butler graduate and former Olympic diver was inducted into the Ohio State University Athletic Hall of Fame Sept. 27.

Pichler was inducted into the Butler County Sports Hall of Fame in 1998 and was part of the inaugural Butler Area School District Athletic Hall of Fame class four years ago.

“I’ll always remember the pool at Butler High School,” Pichler said. “It is a great facility with a separate diving well.

“Mickey Haley was my basketball coach and my diving coach.”

Pichler did gymnastics until ninth grade. He played basketball through eighth grade and was a baseball player as well.

“I think I could have been good at those other sports had I stayed with them,” Pichler said. “But I always had that Olympic dream and it wasn’t going to happen that way.

“Team sports were tough for me. I always felt more comfortable relying on myself.”

Pichler began diving at age 13. He placed sixth overall in the 10-meter dive at the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta and served as a team captain with the United States diving team at the 2000 Games in Sydney, Australia.

“One step just led to another,” he said. “My gymnastics training as a child helped me make the transition as a diver. It was just a matter of getting used to landing head-first instead of feet-first.

“Diving came pretty natural to me.”

It was at Ohio State that Pichler completed the fin al steps toward becoming an Olympian.

He was a four-time All-American there and became the Buckeyes’ first NCAA champion in the 10-meter dive in 1991. He is one of 11 divers under OSU Athletic Hall of Fame coach Vince Panzano to win an individual NCAA title.

Pichler won five Big Ten titles and was named the conference’s Diver of the Year in 1991 and 1992.

“It’s a great honor,” he said of gaining induction into the OSU Athletic Hall of Fame. “The list of outstanding alumni in sports here is incredible.

“There’s something like 87 male Olympians who went to Ohio State. Competing at OSU made my career for the most part. I learned how ups and downs are a part of life when I was in college.”

Ohio State has sent 46 members of its men’s swimming and diving program to the Olympics over the years.

Now a property appraiser in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., Pichler retired from active diving competition at age 32.

“I had a long career, but, yes, of course I miss it,” he said. “For a long time, I thought I’d get into coaching on a steady basis, but the time hasn’t been there.

“There are politics with any sport that involves judging. I learned how to deal with it as a diver myself, but when you are coaching a kid, it’s hard watching him have to deal with it. You see how it can affect somebody.”

Pichler’s parents and other family members still live in Butler.

“In many ways, I still consider it home,” he said. “I love it when I go back there.”

He also loved to train.

“That’s one aspect of the sport I never grew tired of,” he said. “I loved to practice and I was into the preparation and pushing myself.

“I was 6-foot-0, tall for a diver, competing against guys 5-8 or 5-9 ... and I could execute certain dives better than anyone. I was always proud of that.”