A 4-time 1st-team All-Ivy and 4-time All-Heptagonal selection, Rittenburg burst onto the track-and-field scene as a sophomore. He won the Indoor Heptagonals’ Championship in the 60-yard high hurdles, and led the Crimson in points scored during the 1952-53 season. Rittenburg also set the all-time individual points record at the 1953 New England Meet, where he placed in six different events. Over his career at Harvard, Rittenburg won three more individual Heptagonal Championships – the 1954 and ’55 outdoor long jump, and the ’55 indoor 60-yard hurdles. He capped his collegiate career with a 26 point performance against Yale, winning four individual events and placing second in two others. Rittenburg was named the 1955 Bingham Award winner as the top male athlete, and after graduation competed at the 1956 US Olympic trials.