Arthur Leroy "Buzz" Ott attended Hillsboro High School from 1946-1949. In high school, Buzz participated in track & field, played centerfield for the baseball team, and served as the quarterback and co-captain of the 8-3 football team in his senior year. During his high school career, Buzz earned a total of twelve varsity letters in four different sports.

Buzz was an extremely gifted athlete in all sports, but most notably in basketball. In his junior year at Hillsboro High School, he was point guard for the varsity basketball team that advanced to the Sweet 16 in the IHSA state tournament. In his senior year, he was the captain of the 1949 basketball team that advanced to the championship game of the IHSA state tournament, earning a 2nd place finish in a unified tournament that did not distinguish schools by enrollment size. In his junior year, Buzz was named to the Champaign News-Gazette All-State 2nd team and in his senior year earned 1st team All-State Honors.

Buzz continued playing basketball at Bradley University. He was a member of the 1950-51 team that finished with a record of 32-6 and advanced to the championship game of the National Campus Tournament. In his junior and senior years he was the captain of the Bradley Braves and earned the honor of Most Valuable Player in his senior year.

The Bradley University 1951-52 Yearbook had this to say about Leroy "Buzz" Ott:  "Standing a fraction of an inch under six-feet, and weighting 175-pounds, Ott had been the steadying influence on the court as the youth-studded Braves have molded into a well-knit unit. Ott, a junior from Hillsboro's state tournament team of three years ago, is (the) Brave captain this season. He has performed like a captain, too . . . besides his ball handling, quarterbacking and defensive rebounding, he has found time to average slightly under 10-points per game."

Of the thrilling 57-56 double overtime win at St. Louis, the Yearbook went on to say:  "Ott's floormanship was peerless during the hectic battle and his coolness under fire amazed even the most icy-veined onlookers. It was his deadly set shots from the side that kept the Billikens on the defensive just when they seemed ready to take the game."

Buzz graduated in 1952 with a Bachelor of Science degree and has been inducted into the Bradley University Hall of Fame.