Ollila was born to Finnish parents in Gratiot Location, Houghton County, Michigan, a copper-mining company town in the Upper Peninsula.

"[2] Ollila became an outstanding athlete on the Calumet High School football and track teams and was devoted to hunting, trapping, and heavy machinery.

During his high school years, Ollila experienced a religious conversion under the mentoring of Pastor Charles Hart of the First Baptist Church of Calumet.

"[3] Following his future wife to Bob Jones University, he overcame a speech impediment and gained the respect of his work supervisors as a hard worker and natural leader.

[6] In 1984, having impressed inventor and businessman, Paul Patz (1911–2000), the founder of Northland Baptist Bible College, Dunbar, Wisconsin, Ollila was offered the presidency of the small school.