1996 HALL OF FAME INDUCTEE | ORVELL C. CROWDER
Dr. Orvel C. Crowder is from Spruce Lake, North Carolina. In 1961, Crowder initiated wrestling as a club sport at Milligan and served as coach for eight years.
"One of the things that I wanted to do when I came to teach at Milligan," said Crowder in a recent interview, "was to get permission to start a wrestling team."
In order to get wrestlers, Crowder wrote high school wrestling coaches all over the U.S. "to see if they had promising wrestlers who had never reached their ability and could benefit from being coached by a psychology teacher."
With these new students, plus those already interested in wrestling at Milligan, Crowder formed his first team. They began practice on an old tumbling mat but by their second season, Crowder had outfitted his wrestling program with regulation uniforms and equipment.
The teams traveled to matches throughout the south with financial support from their coach. Crowder made personal sacrifices to transport, support and feed his teams on trips.
It paid off. By the third year of the program, the team had gained a reputation as one of the best wrestling squads in the south, regardless of university size and amount of athletic scholarship support. The college achieved seven winning seasons under Crowder and twice placed second in the Southeastern Intercollegiate Wrestling Association. Milligan defeated, in dual meet or tournament competition, every major college and university in wrestling squad in the south during these years.
"Dr. Crowder made us believe that a little school in East Tennessee called Milligan was as good as that little engine that constantly said, 'I think I can, I think I can, I know I can,"' said alumni wrestler Tony Farrace of Johnson City, Tennessee, class of 1970, "He made us proud to be Buffaloes.”
Even through the strain of late-night traveling—especially on weekends—Crowder could always be seen in the pulpit of Hopwood Memorial Christian Church on Sunday mornings and ready to teach on Monday mornings.
"Coach Crowder was consistent, always enthusiastic, always ready to learn something new, always encouraging, never demeaning," said former wrestler Rex Jackson of Fallbrook, California, class of 1967. "He was proud of us whether we won or lost. His words of encouragement for me were always the same as I walked onto the mat. 'Have fun, enjoy yourself,' he'd say."
Crowder served the Milligan College community through his Christian service in coaching, teaching and as a minister. Many alumni agree that he represented the finest values of the college and was an example and father figure that touched many students' lives.