Hall of Fame
If any one single person is responsible for the previous 35 College of St. Francis Hall of Fame inductees before him, or the better than 100 combined all-americans and academic all-americans, the 50-plus conference and district 20 titles each and the 59 national tournament appearances that have come the way of St. Francis since his arrival, that individual would be John C. Orr. Inaugurated as the second lay president of the College in June, 1974, Orr saw the vision of what extra-curricular programs could do to a school which once housed just 474 full-time students and only two men's sports upon his arrival. Beginning with the hiring of Gordie Gillespie as athletic director and head baseball coach and Pat Sullivan as assistant athletic director and head basketball coach, Orr oversaw an athletic department which eventually swelled to better than 300 student-athletes competing in 13 different sports, seven for women and six for men. In 1991, the position of Chancellor was added to his job description and he held both titles until 1995, when he relinquished his duties as president to become more involved with the College's external relations. Orr, who becomes the first inductee under the category of meritorious service, earned both his bachelor's and master's degrees in History from Illinois State and DePaul, respectively, before obtaining his Ph.D. in Administration of Higher Education from Northwestern University.
