Bob Orders was an anchor on the offensive line for the Mountaineer football team during the 1952 and 1953 campaigns.
Born Jan. 9, 1932, at Kermit, West Virginia, Orders was raised in Huntington, where he enjoyed a successful career as a two-sport letterwinner for Huntington High School. Orders was a prep all-state selection in football and basketball.
After graduation, Orders enrolled at West Point for two years and played center for Army. Orders was implicated in Army’s famous “cribbing scandal” that took place in 1951, impacting 90 Cadets encompassing the entire campus. The controversy pitted the Academy’s old-school beliefs and customs against the modern, powerhouse football program developed by Earl Blaik in the 1940s. Orders, Ray Malavasi (who later coached the Los Angeles Rams in Super Bowl XIV) and Bob Blaik (Earl Blaik’s son) were among the most prominent football players affected.
Orders, Jim Peyton of Wheeling, West Virginia and Phil Stockey, from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, were the Army cribbers who returned to the Mountain State to great fanfare in 1952. Orders ended up being a two-year letterman at center for the Mountaineer football team from 1952-53.
Orders was a key part of two of the greatest victories in Mountaineer history -- the 1952 16-0 whitewashing of No. 18 Pitt in Pittsburgh, and the 19-14 upset of No. 9 Penn State at State College in 1954. The win against the Panthers was the first time a WVU football team defeated a ranked team. The 1953 squad went on to lose to Georgia Tech, 42-19, in the 1954 Sugar Bowl -- WVU's first New Year's Day appearance -- to finish at 8-2.
Orders was a two-time All-Southern Conference selection who also earned first team All-America honors from NEA in 1953, and second- and third-team honors from Central Press, UPI and Football Digest. Additionally in 1953, Orders was named the state of West Virginia's Athlete of the Year. Away from the gridiron, Orders was a member of ROTC, Beta Theta Pi fraternity, Mountain honorary and was the vice president of the senior class.
Called "the best in-the-line blocker I've ever coached" by Mountaineer coach Art "Pappy" Lewis, Orders was a 13th-round draft choice of the Green Bay Packers. After graduation, Orders spent two years in the Army, and then relocated to Charleston. He spent two years at a life insurance agency, and then seven more at an asphalt and paving company. In 1966, he opened his own asphalt and paving business. He was a board member of several organizations, including AAA, the Boy Scouts, Goodwill and the National Asphalt and Paving Association. He was also a member of the Lions Club.
He died April 22, 2014 at age 82.
He was named an inaugural member of WVU’s Mountaineer Legends Society in 2016.
