During his time at Carleton University, Osvaldo Jeanty won more than any other player in the history of the Ravens men’s basketball program.
He captured five Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS) titles, one in each season of his Ravens career from 2003-2007.
He also made Ravens history as the first Carleton student to be named CIS athlete of the year in 2006.
After graduating from Carleton, Jeanty was able to do what few CIS athletes have, and carved out a career playing professional basketball.
After playing professional basketball for six years in a career mostly spent with various club teams in Germany, Jeanty said he has recently retired from the game.
“I had a great experience playing basketball, but it was just time for me to move on to something new and different,” he said.
Jeanty and his five straight championships helped build the current Ravens men’s basketball dynasty that has gone on to capture nine of the last 11 CIS titles, according to current Ravens point guard Philip Scrubb.
“Os pretty much defines our culture that’s been established here at Carleton, just from his competitiveness, his toughness, and winning. That’s what he got done in his five years here, and I think that’s what we strive for today,” Scrubb said.
But Jeanty said he cannot take credit for helping change the culture of the Ravens basketball program all on his own, since he said there were so many important teammates he played with who contributed to helping create the Carleton basketball dynasty.
Early in his freshman year with the Ravens men’s basketball team, Jeanty said he remembers telling the coaching staff how he wanted to win five national championships—one for each season he expected to play at Carleton.
The Ravens had never won a CIS title in men’s basketball before Jeanty told the coaches about his goal, but five years later, it played out exactly as he’d dreamt it.
Ravens forward Tyson Hinz said that the legend of Jeanty telling the coaches about his goal to win every year is still told by the Ravens coaching staff to all incoming players before every season to motivate them to try to carry on Jeanty’s legacy of winning every year.
“We always hear the story from our coaches about how Os wanted to win five championships in five years,” he said. “[The coaches] said they were surprised and didn’t think much of it, and then he did it.”
Although Jeanty said he is now retired from professional basketball, he insists he will never stop playing the game because he loves it too much to walk away from it forever.
In fact, he said he continues to visit the Carleton campus and the Ravens’ Nest to practice with the current team about three times a week.
“I’ve been lucky and I always try to give back to the team as much as possible . . . It helps me stay in shape and it helps them a little bit to learn from my experiences.”
He said he is looking forward to the next chapter of his life, now that he has a job working at RBC Dominion Securities and is training to become an investment adviser.
Jeanty said the time and hard work he invested in at Carleton involved a lot of hard work, but he said it was all worth it because it made him into the person he is today.
“My time at Carleton, I wouldn’t change that for anything,” he said. “It’s where I made my best relationships that I’ll cherish for the rest of my life.”
