Background
Orr was born in Taylorville, Illinois or Yale, Kansas and grew up in Taylorville during the Great Depression.
Orr was born in Taylorville, Illinois or Yale, Kansas and grew up in Taylorville during the Great Depression.
Orr attended Taylorville High School under coach Dolph Stanley and in his senior year (1944) led the Tornadoes to a state championship and a 45–0 record, the first team to ever finish a season undefeated in the Illinois High School Association"s history.
In 2007, Orr was voted one of the "100 Legends of the IHSA Boys Basketball Tournament," recognizing his superior performance in his appearance in the tournament. 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 World War II, Orr returned to the college game at Beloit College.
This reunited him with his high school coach Dolph Stanley, who had come to Beloit College as athletic director, head basketball and football coach.
Orr was initially drafted in 1948 Bachelor of Applied Arts draft by the Minneapolis Lakers of the Basketball Association of America, the precursor to the National Basketball Association. Orr did not play for the Lakers, and was again drafted the next year in the 2nd round by the Saint Louis Bombers. In 1950, Orr played 21 games for the Bombers before moving to the Waterloo Hawks for 13 more games.
In 1951, Orr was the head coach at Dubuque Senior High School in Dubuque, Iowa. He later became an assistant coach at Wisconsin.
Shortly afterward, Orr moved to the as an assistant under Dave Strack, and was named head coach in 1969.
Orr remains the winningest coach in Michigan history with 209 wins and 113 losses. Orr joined the Iowa State Cyclones in 1980. The move came about when the Iowa State Athletic Director called him to inquire about Orr"s assistant, Bill Frieder.
When Orr learned how much Iowa State was willing to pay Frieder, Orr negotiated the job for himself (Frieder then succeeded Orr at Michigan).
In Orr"s fifth season in Ames, he led the Cyclones to their first National Collegiate Athletic Association Tournament berth in 40 years. The following season, Orr"s Cyclones reached the Sweet Sixteen of the 1986 National Collegiate Athletic Association Men"s Division I Basketball Tournament with a second round victory over the number five ranked team in the nation, Michigan.
Orr claims this was the greatest victory of his career. Orr led Iowa State to four more National Collegiate Athletic Association tournament berths before retiring from Iowa State in 1994.
He remains the winningest coach in Iowa State history with 218 wins and 200 losses.
Orr died on December 30, 2013 at the age of 86 at Iowa Methodist Medical Center in Des Moines. Orr"s death came from complications of a head injury suffered during a fall at his residence.