Athletes - Johnny Orr

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	Athletes - Johnny Orr

Johnny Orr (born June 10, 1927 in Yale, Kansas) is a former American basketball player and coach, best known as the head coach of men's basketball at the University of Michigan.

Life as a player

Johnny grew up in the southern Illinois town of Taylorville during the great depression. Orr attended Taylorville High School under coach Dolph Stanley and in his senior year led the Purple Tornadoes to a state championship and undefeated season. After high school Orr went to the University of Illinois and was the youngest freshman to compete in three sports. After joining the United States Navy for the end of World War II, Orr returned to the college game at Beloit College.

Orr was initially drafted in 1948 BAA draft by the Minneapolis Lakers of the Basketball Association of America, the precursor to the NBA. Orr did not play for the Lakers, and was again drafted the next year in the 2nd round by the St. Louis Bombers. In 1950, Orr played 21 games for the bombers before moving to the Waterloo Hawks for 13 more games.

Early coaching career

After a long time as an assistant coach, Orr attained a head coaching position in 1963 at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, commonly known as UMass, and guided the team to 15-9 record in 1963-64.

University of Michigan

Shortly afterward, Orr moved to the University of Michigan. His 1973-74 team made it to the Elite Eight in the NCAA tournament and Orr was named Big Ten Coach of the Year. In 1976 the team was the NCAA tournament runner-up and Orr was named National Coach of the Year. Orr remains the winnest coach in Michigan history with 209 and only 113 losses.

Iowa State Unversity

People thought he was crazy to leave a high-profile job at Michigan to go coach in the cornfields. Nevertheless, Orr joined the Iowa State Cyclones in 1980. In Orr's fifth season in Ames, he led the Cyclones to their first NCAA Tournament berth in 40 years. Orr retired from Iowa State in 1994. Orr remains the winnest coach in Iowa State history with 218 and 200 losses.

Retirement years

Orr now plays golf.

[ Visit the complete Wikipedia entry for Johnny Orr ]

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