Mike Oriard (born May 26, 1948) is an American former professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

player who was an

offensive lineman In gridiron football, a lineman is a player who specializes in play at the line of scrimmage. The linemen of the team currently in possession of the ball are the offensive line (OL), while linemen on the opposing team are the defensive line ( ...

for the

Kansas City Chiefs The Kansas City Chiefs are a professional American football team based in Kansas City, Missouri. The Chiefs compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) West division. Established in 1959 ...

of the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...

(NFL). He played

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

for the

Notre Dame Fighting Irish The Notre Dame Fighting Irish are the athletic teams that represent the University of Notre Dame. The Fighting Irish participate in 26 National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I intercollegiate sports and in the NCAA's Division ...

. After his football career, he became a college administrator and professor.

Early life and education

Oriard was born in

Spokane, Washington Spokane ( ) is the most populous city in eastern Washington and the county seat of Spokane County, Washington, United States. It lies along the Spokane River, adjacent to the Selkirk Mountains, and west of the Rocky Mountain foothills, south o ...

. He was a standout athlete at

Gonzaga Preparatory School Gonzaga Preparatory School in Spokane, Washington, is a Private school, private, Catholic Church, Catholic high school in the Inland Northwest. Colloquially nicknamed "G-Prep", the Jesuits, Jesuit school has been recognized for its college prepa ...

in Spokane. A graduate of the

University of Notre Dame The University of Notre Dame du Lac (known simply as Notre Dame; ; ND) is a Private university, private Catholic research university in Notre Dame, Indiana, United States. Founded in 1842 by members of the Congregation of Holy Cross, a Cathol ...

, he was a walk-on player in its football team.

Career

Oriard played

for four seasons for the

. After retiring from football, he earned his PhD at Stanford and became a professor of English and later Associate Dean of the College of Liberal Arts at

Oregon State University Oregon State University (OSU) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Corvallis, Oregon, United States. OSU offers more than 200 undergraduate degree programs and a variety of graduate and doctor ...

. His academic work has centered on American sports nonfiction in multiple media.

Works

* ''Dreaming of Heroes: American Sports Fiction, 1868–1980'' (1982) * ''Sporting with the Gods: The Rhetoric of Play and Game in American Literature'' (1991) * ''Reading Football: How the Popular Press Created an American Spectacle (Cultural Studies of the United States)'' (1998) * ''King Football: Sport and Spectacle in the Golden Age of Radio and Newsreels, Movies and Magazines, the Weekly and the Daily Press'' (2001) * ''Bowled Over: Big-Time College Football from the Sixties to the BCS Era'' (2009) * ''The End of Autumn: Reflections on My Life in Football'' (2009) * ''Brand NFL: Making and Selling America's Favorite Sport'' (2010) * ''The Art of Football: The Early Game in the Golden Age of Illustration'' (2017)

References

External links

Michael Oriard Oral History Interview
at Oregon State University 1948 births American football offensive linemen Kansas City Chiefs players Notre Dame Fighting Irish football players Living people 20th-century American sportsmen {{offensive-lineman-1940s-stub