John Francis "Count" Orsi (November 11, 1908 – February 7, 1978) was an

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

player and coach. He played

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

Colgate University Colgate University is a private liberal arts college in Hamilton, New York. The college was founded in 1819 as the Baptist Education Society of the State of New York and operated under that name until 1823, when it was renamed Hamilton Theologi ...

and an end. He was inducted into the

College Football Hall of Fame The College Football Hall of Fame is a hall of fame and interactive attraction devoted to college football. The National Football Foundation (NFF) founded the Hall in 1951 to immortalize the players and coaches of college football that were vote ...

in 1982.

Early years

Orsi was born on November 11, 1908, in

Newark, New Jersey Newark ( , ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of New Jersey and the seat of Essex County and the second largest city within the New York metropolitan area.Columbia High School Columbia High School may refer to: *Columbia High School (Huntsville, Alabama) *Columbia High School (Georgia) *Columbia High School (Florida) *Columbia High School (Idaho) *Columbia High School (Illinois) *Columbia High School (Mississippi), a Mis ...

Maplewood, New Jersey Maplewood is a township in Essex County in the U.S. state of New Jersey. The township is an inner-ring suburban bedroom community of New York City in the New York metropolitan area. As of the 2020 United States census, the township's populatio ...

. In 1926, the Columbia High football team, with Orsi, made it to the state finals but lost 7–0. Orsi moved on to

The Perkiomen School , motto_translation = It is solved by living , address = 200 Seminary St , location = , region = , city = Pennsburg , county = Montgomery , state ...

from 1927 to 1928. On his birthday in 1967, he was honored at Perkiomen with 'John Orsi Day' to mark his athletic exploits. He also served as the chairman of the Annual Gift Fund at Perkiomen for that school year.

Colgate

Orsi moved on to

, where he was a three-sport star. He played

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

and ran

track Track or Tracks may refer to: Routes or imprints * Ancient trackway, any track or trail whose origin is lost in antiquity * Animal track, imprints left on surfaces that an animal walks across * Desire path, a line worn by people taking the shorte ...

, but starred in football for the head coach Andrew Kerr. With Orsi at end, Colgate went 25–3 from 1929 to 1931. He made headlines in 1930 in a postseason charity game against NYU at

Yankee Stadium Yankee Stadium is a baseball stadium located in the Bronx, New York City. It is the home field of the New York Yankees of Major League Baseball, and New York City FC of Major League Soccer. Opened in April 2009, the stadium replaced the origi ...

. With Colgate leading 7–0, NYU scored a late touchdown to bring the score to 7–6, but Orsi blocked the ensuing extra point attempt to seal the victory.

Lloyd Jordan Lloyd P. Jordan (December 14, 1900 – February 24, 1990) was an American football, basketball, and baseball player, coach, and college athletics administrator. He served as the head football coach at Amherst College from 1932 to 1949 and at Harva ...

, an assistant coach with Colgate at the time, later recalled that block as one of the best memories of his coaching career. The block in 1930 set the stage for Orsi's All-American year in 1931. Colgate had a great year with Orsi as a senior captain, only losing to NYU in Yankee Stadium. Orsi had perhaps his best game against rival

Syracuse Syracuse may refer to: Places Italy *Syracuse, Sicily, or spelled as ''Siracusa'' *Province of Syracuse United States *Syracuse, New York **East Syracuse, New York **North Syracuse, New York *Syracuse, Indiana * Syracuse, Kansas *Syracuse, Miss ...

Archbold Stadium Archbold Stadium was a multi-purpose stadium in Syracuse, New York. It opened in 1907 and was home to the Syracuse Orangemen football team prior to the opening of the Carrier Dome in 1980. History After organizing athletics events at various ...

. Colgate won the game 21–7 with Orsi scoring one touchdown and paving the way with blocks on the other two. After the season, Orsi was selected to the All-America team and was invited to Hollywood for the filming of 'The All-American' (1932).

Coaching

Orsi did not go far after graduating as he joined Kerr's coaching staff at Colgate. He was the end coach beginning in 1932 with the famous undefeated, untied, unscored upon, and uninvited team. He held the position as end coach until resigning in 1941. He moved on to the William Penn Charter School as an assistant coach in 1942 and assumed the head coaching position for the 1943 season. From 1944 to 1945, he was an assistant coach at

Germantown Academy Germantown Academy, informally known as GA and originally known as the Union School, is the oldest nonsectarian day school in the United States. The school was founded on December 6, 1759, by a group of prominent Germantown citizens in the Gree ...

and from 1946 to 1956 he was the head coach at

Episcopal Academy The Episcopal Academy, founded in 1785, is a private, co-educational school for grades Pre-K through 12 based in Newtown Square, Pennsylvania. Prior to 2008, the main campus was located in Merion Station and the satellite campus was located in D ...

. He later became vice president of the

Maxwell Football Club The Maxwell Football Club (originally called the Maxwell Football Club of Philadelphia) was established in 1935 to promote safety in the game of American football. Named in honor of Robert W. "Tiny" Maxwell, legendary college player, official, and ...

and was on hand at their award ceremonies, including 1968 when

O. J. Simpson Orenthal James Simpson (born July 9, 1947), nicknamed "Juice", is an American former football running back, actor, and broadcaster who played for the Buffalo Bills and San Francisco 49ers of the National Football League. Once a popular figure ...

won the Maxwell Award.

Personal life

Orsi married Elizabeth Claire Shea in 1936 and they had three children. Elizabeth died from leukemia, and Orsi remarried to Katherine White in 1953. Orsi lived in

Gladwyne, Pennsylvania Gladwyne is a suburban community in Lower Merion Township, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, United States along the historic Philadelphia Main Line. In 2018, Gladwyne was ranked the sixth richest ZIP code (using 2015 IRS data) in the country in a ...

for much of his later life and died in 1978, in

Naples, Florida Naples is a city in Collier County, Florida, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population of the historical city (i.e. in the immediate vicinity of downtown Naples) was 19,115. Naples is a principal city of the Naples-Marco Island, Flori ...

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Orsi, John 1908 births 1978 deaths American football ends American men's basketball players Colgate Raiders football coaches Colgate Raiders football players Colgate Raiders men's basketball players College men's track and field athletes in the United States High school football coaches in Pennsylvania College Football Hall of Fame inductees Sportspeople from Newark, New Jersey Players of American football from Newark, New Jersey American people of Italian descent Basketball players from Newark, New Jersey Track and field athletes from Newark, New Jersey