Bill Orwig James Wilfred " Bill " Orwig ( January 1 , 1907 - August 3 , 1994 ) was a basketball and American football player at the University of Michigan . He later served as the athletic director at the University of Toledo , University of Nebraska , and Indiana University . Raised in Toledo , Ohio , Orwig was an all - state athlete in high school and went on to be an All - Big Ten basketball player at Michigan . He received three varsity letter 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 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 . From 1948 - 1951 , Orwig was an assistant football coach at Michigan in charge of end s , participating in Michigan ' s 1948 national championship team 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 championships and seven NCAA championships . He hired Bobby Knight 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 , Ohio , and raised in Toledo , Ohio , Orwig won letter s in football , basketball , baseball and swimming at Scott High School , and won all - state honors in football and basketball . He played guard for the University of Michigan basketball team three years from 1928 – 1930 , helping the team win the Big Ten Conference 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 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 Weber as head football coach at Benton Harbor 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 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 , 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 , 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 , and was one of the coaches on Michigan ' s undefeated 1948 national championship team , and its 1950 Rose Bowl championship team . He remained as an assistant football coach at Michigan from 1948 - 1953 . As the end s 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 program went through three coaches ( Bill Glassford , Pete Elliott , and Bill Jennings ) , and had a 27 - 44 record . Orwig was the athletic director who hired Pete Elliott 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 Pont in football and Bobby Knight 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 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 Misaka . On the Kentucky team was a great basketball player , number one in the country , by the name of Ralph Beard . 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 . After stepping down as Indiana ' s athletic director in 1975 , Orwig retired with his wife to Sister Lakes in southwestern Michigan , where he was a volunteer and fundraiser for the University of Michigan athletic scholarship program and sat on the board of directors of the Michigan Health Care Association , the State Bank of Coloma , the Southwesterm Michigan Humane Society , and the Berrien Hills Country Club . He also enjoyed fishing and playing golf . Orwig and his wife Jane Orwig ( formerly Jane Ingrid Anderson ) had two children . Orwig and his wife were married in 1933 in St . Joseph , Michigan . 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 , 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 in 1984 and the Indiana University Hall of Fame in 1987 . He has also been inducted into the Toledo Rockets ' Varsity ' T ' Hall of Fame .