Bill Orwig
Encyclopedia
Basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...
and American football
American football
American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...
player at the University of Michigan
University of Michigan
The University of Michigan is a public research university located in Ann Arbor, Michigan in the United States. It is the state's oldest university and the flagship campus of the University of Michigan...
. He later served as the athletic director
Athletic director
An athletic director is an administrator at many American colleges and universities, as well as in larger high schools and middle schools, who oversees the work of coaches and related staff involved in intercollegiate or interscholastic athletic programs...
at the University of Toledo
Toledo Rockets
The Toledo Rockets are the athletic teams that represent the University of Toledo. The Rockets are a Division I Football Bowl Subdivision team in the National Collegiate Athletic Association and play in the Mid-American Conference . The school's colors are midnight blue and gold.Toledo's...
, University of Nebraska
Nebraska Cornhuskers
The Nebraska Cornhuskers is the name given to several sports teams of the University of Nebraska–Lincoln. The university is a member of the Big Ten Conference...
, and Indiana University
Indiana Hoosiers
The Indiana Hoosiers are the athletic teams for the Bloomington campus of Indiana University . Athletic teams sponsored by IU Bloomington include cross country, track, baseball, golf, tennis, rowing, volleyball, soccer, football and basketball...
.
Raised in Toledo, Ohio
Toledo, Ohio
Toledo is the fourth most populous city in the U.S. state of Ohio and is the county seat of Lucas County. Toledo is in northwest Ohio, on the western end of Lake Erie, and borders the State of Michigan...
, Orwig was an all-state athlete in high school and went on to be an All-Big Ten
Big Ten Conference
The Big Ten Conference is the United States' oldest Division I college athletic conference. Its twelve member institutions are located primarily in the Midwestern United States, stretching from Nebraska in the west to Pennsylvania in the east...
basketball player at Michigan. He received three varsity letter
Varsity letter
A varsity letter is an award earned in the United States for excellence in school activities. A varsity letter signifies that its winner was a qualified varsity team member, awarded after a certain standard was met.- Description :...
s in basketball and one in football. After graduating from Michigan, Orwig was a successful high school football and basketball coach from 1931-1945 in Benton Harbor, Michigan
Benton Harbor, Michigan
Benton Harbor is a city in Berrien County in the U.S. state of Michigan which is located west of Kalamazoo. The population was 10,038 at the 2010 census. It is the lesser populated of the two principal cities included in the Niles-Benton Harbor, Michigan Metropolitan Statistical Area, which has a...
and Toledo. He helped develop an athletic program for the occupation forces in Germany and became the athletic director, football coach, and basketball coach at the University of Toledo after World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
.
From 1948-1951, Orwig was an assistant football coach at Michigan in charge of ends, participating in Michigan's 1948 national championship team
1948 Michigan Wolverines football team
The 1948 Michigan Wolverines football team represented the University of Michigan during the 1948 college football season. The team's head coach was Bennie Oosterbaan. The Wolverines played their home games at Michigan Stadium.-Schedule:...
and the 1950 team that won the Big Ten championship and the Rose Bowl. He accepted a job as athletic director at the University of Nebraska in 1954 and remained there for seven years. In 1961, he was hired as athletic director at Indiana University and led the Hoosiers from a four-year NCAA probation to 37 Big Ten Conference
Big Ten Conference
The Big Ten Conference is the United States' oldest Division I college athletic conference. Its twelve member institutions are located primarily in the Midwestern United States, stretching from Nebraska in the west to Pennsylvania in the east...
championships and seven NCAA championships. He hired Bobby Knight
Bobby Knight
-Indiana:When Indiana University was seeking a new coach in 1971, they turned to Knight. Knight was given the nickname "The General" by former University of Detroit and Detroit Pistons coach-turned-broadcaster Dick Vitale....
as basketball coach at Indiana, and has been inducted into the Halls of Fame at Indiana, Michigan and Toledo.
Athlete at Scott High School and University of Michigan
Born in Cleveland, OhioCleveland, Ohio
Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and is the county seat of Cuyahoga County, the most populous county in the state. The city is located in northeastern Ohio on the southern shore of Lake Erie, approximately west of the Pennsylvania border...
, and raised in Toledo, Ohio
Toledo, Ohio
Toledo is the fourth most populous city in the U.S. state of Ohio and is the county seat of Lucas County. Toledo is in northwest Ohio, on the western end of Lake Erie, and borders the State of Michigan...
, Orwig won letter
Varsity letter
A varsity letter is an award earned in the United States for excellence in school activities. A varsity letter signifies that its winner was a qualified varsity team member, awarded after a certain standard was met.- Description :...
s in football, basketball, baseball and swimming at Scott High School
Scott High School (Toledo, Ohio)
Jesup Wakeman Scott High School is a public high school located in the Old West End neighborhood of Toledo, Ohio. It is part of Toledo Public Schools. It was named for a former editor of The Toledo Blade from 1844 to 1847...
, and won all-state honors in football and basketball. He played guard for the University of Michigan
University of Michigan
The University of Michigan is a public research university located in Ann Arbor, Michigan in the United States. It is the state's oldest university and the flagship campus of the University of Michigan...
basketball team three years from 1928–1930, helping the team win the Big Ten Conference
Big Ten Conference
The Big Ten Conference is the United States' oldest Division I college athletic conference. Its twelve member institutions are located primarily in the Midwestern United States, stretching from Nebraska in the west to Pennsylvania in the east...
championship in his junior year, 1928-29. He was picked as an All-Big Ten basketball player in 1930. He also played at the end position for the Michigan football team in 1928. While at Michigan, he was a member of Phi Mu Delta
Phi Mu Delta
Phi Mu Delta is a small, national fraternity founded on March 1, 1918 at the Universities of Connecticut, New Hampshire, and Vermont. The fraternity is focused on the three ideals of democracy, service, and brotherhood.-Founders' Creed:...
fraternity and a member of the Michigauma society. He graduated from the School of Education in 1930. From 1930-1931, Orwig was a graduate assistant working with Michigan's freshman football team, and also tutoring freshman player and future U.S. President Gerald R. Ford.
Football and basketball coach at Benton Harbor, Toledo and Michigan
In May 1931, Orwig succeeded Wally WeberWally Weber
Walter J. Weber was an American football player and coach at the University of Michigan. He played halfback and fullback for the Wolverines in 1925 and 1926 on the same teams as Benny Friedman and Bennie Oosterbaan. He later became an assistant football coach at Michigan for 28 years from 1931 to...
as head football coach at Benton Harbor
Benton Harbor, Michigan
Benton Harbor is a city in Berrien County in the U.S. state of Michigan which is located west of Kalamazoo. The population was 10,038 at the 2010 census. It is the lesser populated of the two principal cities included in the Niles-Benton Harbor, Michigan Metropolitan Statistical Area, which has a...
High School. In five years at Benton Harbor, the football team won 75% of its games, including a 4-0-1 record against rival St. Joseph. Orwig also coached the basketball and tennis
Tennis
Tennis is a sport usually played between two players or between two teams of two players each . Each player uses a racket that is strung to strike a hollow rubber ball covered with felt over a net into the opponent's court. Tennis is an Olympic sport and is played at all levels of society at all...
teams, and in 1934, he led the first Benton Harbor basketball team ever to win a regional championship. He also coached Earl Brown at Benton Harbor, who went on to be an All-American at Notre Dame. In 1936, he moved back to his hometown, Toledo, to be the basketball and football coach at Libbey High School. At Libbey, Orwig's teams won three state football championships and six city basketball crowns. He worked with the U.S. State Department during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, helping to set up an athletic program for the occupation forces in Germany. Orwig was hired in 1946 as the athletic director at the University of Toledo
University of Toledo
The University of Toledo is a public university in Toledo, Ohio, United States. The Carnegie Foundation classified the university as "Doctoral/Research Extensive."-National recognition:...
, where he helped reinstate the athletic programs after the end of World War II. He was also the Toledo Rockets football coach, leading the team to a 16-4-1 record and an Ohio Conference title. In one season as Toledo's basketball coach, he led the team to a 19-6 record. He returned to Michigan in 1948 as an assistant football coach under Bennie Oosterbaan
Bennie Oosterbaan
Benjamin Gaylord "Bennie" Oosterbaan was a three-time first team All-American football end for the Michigan Wolverines football team, two-time All-American basketball player for the basketball team and an All-Big Ten Conference baseball player for the baseball team...
, and was one of the coaches on Michigan's undefeated 1948 national championship team
1948 Michigan Wolverines football team
The 1948 Michigan Wolverines football team represented the University of Michigan during the 1948 college football season. The team's head coach was Bennie Oosterbaan. The Wolverines played their home games at Michigan Stadium.-Schedule:...
, and its 1950 Rose Bowl championship team. He remained as an assistant football coach at Michigan from 1948-1953. As the ends coach at Michigan, Orwig helped develop Dick Rifenberg, Lowell Perry, Harry Allis, and Ozzie Clark.
University of Nebraska
In March 1954, Orwig signed a three-year contract as the athletic director at the University of Nebraska for $12,600 a year. He remained at Nebraska until 1961, and during his tenure the Corhuskers started to emerge into national prominence. Orwig was responsible during his seven years at Nebraska for creating the Touchdown Club, the Extra Point Club and the Husker Athletic Achievement Awards. However, the football team did not fare well during Orwig's time there, as the football progam went through three coaches (Bill GlassfordBill Glassford
James William "Bill" Glassford is a former American football player and coach. He attended the University of Pittsburgh where he played football and was a member of Phi Delta Theta Fraternity. He graduated in 1936....
, Pete Elliott
Pete Elliott
-External links:...
, and Bill Jennings
Bill Jennings (football coach)
-External links:...
), and had a 27-44 record. Orwig was the athletic director who hired Pete Elliott
Pete Elliott
-External links:...
as the football coach at Nebraska in 1956. Elliott later recalled, "I thought the world of him. I thought he was a great guy." In 1961, Orwig quit his position at Nebraska to accept the athletic director job at Indiana; news reports indicated that Orwig had been offered $20,000 a year by Indiana, $5,000 more than he was making at Nebraska. At the time, Orwig said: "The decision to accept the Indiana University position as Director of Athletics was a most difficult one. . . . The people of Nebraska and the University have been most kind to me over the past 7 years. Their understanding of our problems, their excellent help and their friendship have been heartwarming. . . . I leave Nebraska with the greatest admiration for its administrative staff, its teaching staff, and its increasing educational strength. . . . My thanks go out to all my friends throughout the state and best wishes and hopes to the Cornhuskers for many victories in the years to come." Football coach Bill Jennings said, "I'm sorry to see Bill leave and I'm sure everybody who has worked with him does. He's done a fine job. Nebraska's loss is Indiana's gain."
Athletic director at Indiana University
Orwig was the athletic director at Indiana University from 1961 to 1975. He took over as athletic director in February 1961, ten months into a four-year NCAA probation. On accepting the post, Orwig said: "No strong athletic department has been built on fraud. We'll never have a part of that as long as I am the director at Indiana University. I know there have been mistakes made here, but I think they've been honest ones. These are mistakes to be corrected." In the 61 years preceding Orwig's arrival, Indiana had won 49 conference championships and seven NCAA championships. During Orwig's 15 years, the Hoosiers won 37 Big Ten championships in seven sports and six NCAA titles including a tie for the Big Ten football title in 1967 and a Rose Bowl appearance. Home football attendance at Indiana averaged 25,854 the year before Orwig arrived, and by 1969 it had more than doubled to 53,319. Orwig also guided the expansion of the school's athletic facilities, including the Assembly Hall basketball facility. Among the coaches hired by Orwig were John PontJohn Pont
John Pont was an American football player and coach. He served as head coach at Miami University, Yale University, Northwestern University and Indiana University. He was the only Indiana University coach to take a team to the Rose Bowl. Later in his career, Pont was recruited to start a football...
in football and Bobby Knight
Bobby Knight
-Indiana:When Indiana University was seeking a new coach in 1971, they turned to Knight. Knight was given the nickname "The General" by former University of Detroit and Detroit Pistons coach-turned-broadcaster Dick Vitale....
in basketball. Bobby Knight said of Orwig: "Bill Orwig, the athletic director who hired me, was a man of exceptional intelligence and class who knew how to get along with people and work with coaches. He had a great arrogance, in a positive way—he knew he was damned good at what he did. I think more than anybody else in the school's history, Bill Orwig developed Indiana's athletic program into a major league operation—facilities, teams, coaches. Sam Bell was a nationally respected track coach. Doc Counsilman was one of the great coaches of all time; John Pont
John Pont
John Pont was an American football player and coach. He served as head coach at Miami University, Yale University, Northwestern University and Indiana University. He was the only Indiana University coach to take a team to the Rose Bowl. Later in his career, Pont was recruited to start a football...
took a team to the Rose Bowl; and Jerry Yeagley started the soccer program and built it from nothing into the best one going. The architect of all that, Bill Orwig, is in the college athletic directors hall of fame." He was also one of the founders and the first president from 1969-1970 of the National Athletic Directors of America.
Orwig's speech about the 1946 NIT finals
When he won the NIT-NACDA Athletic Directors Award, he said in his speech: "I have always been a great believer in sports as part of our American way of living. . . . I am reminded of an experience I had of 40 years ago which brought home the real sudden realization of how important we are, and how important it is to have sports in our American way of life. I mentioned 40 years ago, that would bring us back to March of 1946. At that time I was involved in some high school work in Toledo, Ohio, as a football and a basketball coach. But in order to augment my income, because we weren't getting paid a great deal in those days, I was doing some officiating. I was very fortunate to be chosen by the Big Ten Conference to work the Final Four of the NCAA, which in that year was held in Madison Square Garden. I went a day or two early so I could watch the finals of the NIT Tournament. The two teams were Utah and Kentucky. On the Utah team was a little Japanese-American boy by the name of Walter MisakaWataru Misaka
is a retired American basketball player. He was the first player of Asian descent and the first non-Caucasian person to play in the National Basketball Association .-Biography:...
. On the Kentucky team was a great basketball player, number one in the country, by the name of Ralph Beard
Ralph Beard
Ralph Milton Beard Jr. was an American collegiate and professional basketball player. He was born in Hardinsburg, Kentucky. Beard was a member of Adolph Rupp's "Fabulous Five" University of Kentucky basketball team...
. Misaka was about 5'10" and probably weighed around 160 pounds. Beard was about 6'2" or 6'3" and weighed about 190 He was called 'Mr. Everything' in basketball. Nobody had ever heard of Walter, but in the man to man defense that the Utah coach, Peterson, used against Kentucky that night, Misaka was chosen to guard Ralph Beard. He held Ralph Beard to 3 points, one basket and one free throw, and as a result of the great work that this little guy did on Ralph Beard, and of course, the work of his teammates, Utah won the game and won the National Invitation Tournament Championship. Just before the end of the ballgame, with just about a minute to play, the Utah coach took Misaka out of the game. About 14,000 people in the Garden that night rose to a person and stood on their feet and cheered the great effort turned out by the little Japanese-American boy. As I reflected on it later, I thought what a great display of how sports are in the American way of life. Remember, I mentioned the date was March, 1946. We had just finished a war with Japan. There were people in the audience who had lost loved ones in the Japanese conflict. There wasn't much love in the heart of any of those people or any American for that matter, for anyone of Japanese ancestry. Yet they could cast aside all of their dislike for the Japanese race and stand on their feet at a sports contest and cheer the efforts of a little Japanese-American boy. Since that time I realize how great our sports program is in America, and how much it means to the American way of life."
Later years and awards
St. Joseph, Michigan
St. Joseph is a city in the US state of Michigan. It was incorporated as a village in 1834 and as a city in 1891. As of the 2000 census, the city population was 8,789. It lies on the shore of Lake Michigan, at the mouth of the St. Joseph River, about east-northeast of Chicago. It is the county...
.
Since 1976, the Bill Orwig Medal has been awarded each year by the Indiana University Alumni Association to recognize outstanding contributions made by a non-alumnus to the IU athletic program.
In 1978, Orwig received the James J. Corbett Memorial Award
Corbett Award
The James J. Corbett Memorial Award is a US award given annually by the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics . It is presented "to the collegiate administrator who through the years has most typified Corbett's devotion to intercollegiate athletics and worked unceasingly for...
, presented annually to the collegiate administrator who “through the years has most typified Corbett’s devotion to intercollegiate athletics and worked unceasingly for its betterment." On receiving the award, Orwig said: "This award is kind of like being named coach of the year. It's the top award you can get in the field of athletic administration. It pleases me immensely, particularly since I was elected by my peers after I had retired."
He was inducted into the University of Michigan Athletic Hall of Honor
University of Michigan Athletic Hall of Honor
The University of Michigan Athletic Hall of Honor, founded in 1978, recognizes University of Michigan athletes, coaches, and administrators who have made significant contributions to the university's athletic programs...
in 1984 and the Indiana University Hall of Fame in 1987. He has also been inducted into the Toledo Rockets
Toledo Rockets
The Toledo Rockets are the athletic teams that represent the University of Toledo. The Rockets are a Division I Football Bowl Subdivision team in the National Collegiate Athletic Association and play in the Mid-American Conference . The school's colors are midnight blue and gold.Toledo's...
' Varsity 'T' Hall of Fame.