High school coaching legend 'Bus' Ormsbee dies
Back in the late 1950s, E. Elliott “Bus” Ormsbee coached some of Arlington High School's most successful football teams, bringing his NFL experience with the Philadelphia Eagles to the role.
However, his true legacy is at Wheeling High School, where as the first athletic director, he shaped the coaching staff and varsity sports offerings, and helped to launch some of their signature tournaments.
Mr. Ormsbee passed away on Sunday, in Hot Springs Village, Arkansas, where he had lived since retiring in 1983. He was 89.
He was division head of the P.E. and Health departments, and oversaw the athletic programs when Wheeling opened in 1964. In 2007, when administrators created an Athletics Hall of Fame, Mr. Ormsbee was among the charter group inducted.
“Bus was very competitive, and he expected that level of intensity from his coaches and his student athletes,” says Pat Ritchie, the retired girls softball coach and girls athletic director. “He strived to be No. 1 in everything, and everyone respected him for that.”
Mr. Ormsbee grew up in southern Illinois and later lettered in football, basketball and baseball at Bradley University. After college, he enlisted in the Naval officers' training program and spent two years on a submarine in the South Pacific.
The Philadelphia Eagles drafted Mr. Ormsbee in 1944 as a defensive back and running back. His professional career would span five years and wind up with the San Francisco 49ers.
He married his high school sweetheart, Jeanne Fitzgerald, in 1948, and in 1949 he began his teaching and coaching career at Arlington.
Bob Frisk, the retired assistant managing editor for sports for the Daily Herald, describes the 1959 Arlington Cardinals as one of the best teams he covered, with receiver Mike Dundy, who went on to play on the Illinois' 1964 Rose Bowl team, and quarterback George Bork, later named a Little All-American quarterback at Northern Illinois University.
“Bus was the first varsity coach I had direct dealings with after joining the Herald full-time in 1958,” Frisk says. “He made this young reporter's job very easy, by always being accessible and also understanding I was just starting out. Of course it didn't hurt that he gave me an outstanding football team to cover.”
Evelyn Mendralla, who was Mr. Ormsbee's secretary at Wheeling High School, finally uncovered how her boss got the nickname “Bus.”
“I worked for him a long time before I found out,” Mendralla says. “It was short for ‘Buster,' which his dad used to call him.”
At Wheeling, Mr. Ormsbee helped create the Wildcat Relays, traditionally one of the last meets of the indoor season. It continues now as the Wildcat Invitational.
He also worked with former basketball coach Ted Ecker to create the Wheeling Hardwood Classic basketball tournament. What started out as a field of eight teams now has 16. This year, the 33rd annual, will tip off on Dec. 27.
Mr. Ormsbee was preceded in death by his first wife, Jeanne. He is survived by his second wife, Pat, and children Sandi, Candy, Debbi and Terry. Private services are being held Saturday in Arkansas.