For almost 20 years, Steve Woltmann has served as the team photographer for Loyola Athletics, capturing some of the most unforgettable moments in Rambler history. Woltmann has covered everything from Loyola's men's basketball Final Four appearance in 2018 to the back-to-back men's volleyball NCAA championships in 2014 and 2015.

But, it's not just the iconic moments in Rambler history that the Lisle, Illinois native has chronicled with his breathtaking imagery. Woltmann has also photographed some of the greatest events in Chicago sports in addition to other athletics events.

His photography career has afforded him a sports fan's dream as he has shot five NBA championships – including the Chicago Bulls NBA championship - the Chicago Blackhawks Stanley Cup championship parades, five Super Bowls, and numerous MLB, NBA, NHL, NFL, PGA, LPGA, and NASCAR events. He has been published in Sports Illustrated, ESPN the Magazine, Inside Sports, and many book covers, including Reggie White's Autobiography, and also photographed the launch of the Space Shuttle Atlantis STS-132.

Whenever Woltmann works with professional athletes, he approaches it "like wildlife." He keeps his distance and stays out of their way because they have a job to do just as he has a job to do. But when they approach him, Woltmann almost always has a great story to tell. Woltmann often jokes he probably made Michael Jordan laugh on one of the most difficult days of his professional career.

"I was doing work for NBA Photos at the time and they had sent me to the Bulls media day, and it was the same day that they were announcing the signing of Dennis Rodman which was fairly controversial at the time," Woltmann said. "When Michael Jordan showed up for the photo station, you could just see he was in a really sour mood because he knew there were going to be a million questions from the media about the Rodman signing.

"At my station, I had just a generic jersey that had Bulls on it with no number that each player would wear. When a player came up, I said 'Hi I'm Steve. I'm with the NBA, and what is your name?' The guy would tell me his name and I would say 'Come on over, we're going to do your head shot really quick. Throw this jersey on, have a seat, click click click, we're done. Hey thanks, I appreciate it good luck I hope you make the team,' because they had about 30 guys out for the team at the time. So, Michael's turn comes up, and I turned to him and said 'Hi I'm Steve. I'm with the NBA, what is your name?' And he looked at me out of the corner of his eye and he said 'Leroy.' I said, 'Hey Leroy, come on over let's do your headshot.' When we were finished, I said 'Great thank you so much, Leroy, and hey good luck, I hope you make the team.' And he looks at me and he put his head down and he started laughing."

It was a break, literally, that got Woltmann into photography at a young age. He got his first camera for Christmas his sophomore year of high school but, the next month he ended up breaking his leg which then led to downtime spent learning how to use his camera. 

"Because I broke my leg, I couldn't take the bus home, so I had to wait an extra two hours after school every day to get a ride home from my dad. So, for those two hours every day, I learned a lot and found ways to kind of kill the time by immersing myself in learning about photography," Woltmann said.

Once his leg healed, he started shooting a lot of high school sporting events. Toward the end of the academic year, he approached the local community paper about doing some freelance work for them. 

"The timing was perfect in that they had a brand-new managing editor who had come in, wanted to cover the high schools more, and I happened to show up at just the right time and they said we would love for you to cover high school sports, school plays, and other school activities and things like that," Woltmann said. "I started shooting for my local town paper at the end of my sophomore year."

Since being at Loyola, things have come full circle for Woltmann since his stint with the local newspaper in his hometown. 

"While covering high school sports, there was a really good guard who played basketball for Benet Academy, by the name of Porter Moser," Woltmann said. "I covered Porter when he was a student at Benet and got to know him and his family from covering his games. So, when he got the head coaching job at Loyola, it was awesome to see him come back home, and personally, it was also nice to have his trust because he knew me from when he grew up."

While Woltmann covers everything behind the lens for Loyola Athletics, he doesn't stop there. 

"I do everything," Woltmann said.  "I do this for nine other colleges and universities. For most of them I'm shooting for athletics, but some of them I'm doing campus work – student profiles, faculty portraits, campus scenic photos and things of that nature. I enjoy that too, because it's different, it's unique, and it's a challenge. I try to push myself all the time to take a different approach whenever I can."

Over the last 20 years, Woltmann has seen the growth of the Loyola athletics department.

"I've seen Loyola's teams constantly evolve and improve, not just basketball but the soccer, volleyball and softball, teams too," Woltmann said. "It's like the profession — it's constantly moving, and it's definitely never dull. I enjoy it very much.

"Some of my favorite moments with Loyola obviously would be the NCAA Final Four run. That was such a blur but so much fun," said Woltmann. "The men's volleyball national championship that we hosted in 2014 was a lot of fun. That to me was great, because I had gotten to know (Loyola head coach) Shane Davis when he was a student-athlete at Loyola. Then, I got to see him jump head-first into his head coaching career right after graduation and to see all of his hard work culminate in a national championship on Loyola's home floor in front of all those Rambler fans was something I'll never forget." 

Over the years Woltmann has also had some great experiences with a lot of minor league baseball players.

"That's one thing I really do miss about doing minor league baseball is some of the relationships that I had," Woltmann said. "That's one of the things I enjoy so much about working at Loyola. I've made some great friends over the years and am still in touch with people who graduated 15 to 20 years ago."

One of those assignments shooting minor league baseball involved a certain shortstop for the New York Yankees who was recently inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame. 

Woltmann had the opportunity to shoot Derek Jeter's rookie card when Jeter was a student at the University of Michigan. The following year, when Jeter was playing in Class A ball in North Carolina, Woltmann shot another one of Jeter's cards.

"When I got into the stadium that day there was a small gift shop in this classic, old stadium," Woltmann said. "I walked into the gift shop and they had a barrel filled with cracked bats that they were selling for $5 and I looked in the barrel and saw written on one of the knobs, it said Jeter. So, I said, 'last year we did fielding shots, this year I think I'll do some shots with the bat'."

After the shoot, Jeter signed the bat for Woltmann and when he returned home with the bat, his wife asked what he planned to do with it.

"I said, 'hey this kid's going to be good one day. She goes, 'yeah that's what you say about all of these rookies.' Needless to say, 20 some years later, I still have that bat in a case at home and I have about 7 or 8 different cards of his that were made from 2 years' worth of photo shoots," Woltmann said.

If he wasn't shooting collegiate athletics events, Woltmann would love to be that guy who packs up his camper or car, grabs his dogs, and travels to national parks to take pictures. He loves traveling and exploring nature and always makes sure to have his camera with him to capture the views when doing so. One of his favorite places he has traveled to is Portland with his wife, Tanya, son, Nathan, and daughter, Emily, to visit his brother. 

Although he has already photographed so many of sports' biggest events, Woltmann says he would love the opportunity to shoot at the Olympics and says he was fortunate enough to find something he loved early in his life that he was able to turn into his career, and that is his advice for everyone. 

"Find something that you love, and you'll never work a day in your life," Woltmann said.