Orvis’ fame extends to hall
D-lineman to be 8th Bu≠ inducted
Herb Orvis played football the way he learned to play it.
His classrooms ranged from high school football in Flint, Mich., to service football on an Army team in Germany, to the University Colorado, where he became an All-American, and to the NFL, where he divided 10 years between the Detroit Lions and the Baltimore Colts.
Orvis last week received perhaps the biggest honor of his starstudded career, getting selected to the 2016 class for the College Football Hall of Fame, the eighth Buff so honored.
As a 6-foot-5, 235-pound defensive lineman, Orvis was considered one of the bigger players of his day. He took it for granted that he would be in the middle of the roughest action.
Orvis could more than hold his own on the football field. Besides his All-America designation, he was selected to CU’s all-century team and to the Big Eight Conference’s all-decade team for the 1970s. He is also a member of the CU Sports Hall of Fame.
He doesn’t see a point in ranking his awards, though it would be tough to do better than the College Football of Fame. He does make a point that he had great teammates at CU who helped him earn individual honors. The introduction of the All-Century team at Folsom Field caught his attention.
“There was an amazing feeling for us when we walked out together on the field,” Orvis said. “The appreciation from the fans was wonderful.”
Orvis got on the field at CU first as a sophomore in 1969. He had 75 tackles that season, including 12 for loss and nine sacks.
CU coach Eddie Crowder and Orvis met while Crowder was on a government-sponsored coaching trip to Germany and Orvis was playing on an Army team.
“I think five of us on that team said we were going to CU,” Orvis said. “None of the others came to Colorado.”
The Buffaloes finished 8-3 in 1969, including a 47-33 victory over Alabama in the Liberty Bowl. In 1970, Orvis had 69 tackles, including 14 for loss and eight sacks. The Buffaloes were 6-5, losing 17-3 to Tulane in the Liberty Bowl, but a 41-13 victory over Penn State ended the Nittany Lions’ 31-game unbeaten streak.
In 1971 the Buffs finished 10-2 and defeated LSU (31-21) and Ohio State (20-14), both on the road. The Buffaloes completed their season with a 29-17 victory over Houston in the Bluebonnet Bowl, giving the Big Eight a sweep of the top three spots in the final college poll, with Nebraska No. 1, Oklahoma No. 2 and CU No. 3.
Orvis’ teammates during his three years in Boulder included Cliff Branch, Bobby Anderson, Bill Brundige, Cullen Bryant, J.V. Cain and John Stearns, all standouts.
“We all shaved our heads one year to show team unity,” Orvis said. “Somebody donated tan cowboy hats for all of us to wear in public.”
Orvis believes his experience playing football in the Army helped him make the transition from college to the NFL in 1972 as a first-round draft pick by the Lions.
“You had to be tough to be there,” Orvis said. “In service ball, there was a lot of rough play.”
After his football career ended, Orvis operated an art gallery for a short time, ran a citrus tree farm for 20 years in Florida and rebuilt houses for a time in Longmont. He is now retired and living in Arizona.
“I’d never trade my years of being a Buffalo for anything,” Orvis said. “I didn’t party. I said to myself that I wasn’t going to mess up. Now, I wonder what I missed. But I love those Flatirons.”