Hall of Fame
Football, Basketball, Track & Field (1947-49)
A good athlete for the Wolf Pack, Dan Orlich’s greatest fame in sport came long after he graduated. In the highly skilled and specialized sport of trapshooting, the ex-Nevada athlete was acclaimed “The Greatest of All-Time.” The 6-5, 225-pounder from Chisholm, Minn., started his grid career at Penn State and Northwestern on football scholarships. He interrupted his education to serve as an officer in the Marine Corps at the end of World War II. After the war, he came out west to Reno to finish his athletic eligibility at Nevada where he played end on the successful teams of the late 1940s. He also played center on the Wolf Pack basketball team and competed in track. He graduated with a degree in business administration and then was drafted by the Green Bay Packers. Orlich played three years of pro football with the Packers, including Curly Lambeau's last season as head coach.
After leaving Green Bay, he returned to Reno to work for Harold's Club. This association and the Trap Club they had opened led him to pick up the sport of trapshooting. He became one of the best in the world, setting and breaking many records from the late 1950s through the early 1970s, many of which remain today. Orlich retired in 1987 after a career in gaming. He continued to be an active member of the shooting community, the Harold's Club Pioneers, the Elks Club and the Prospector's Club. In addition to the Nevada Athletics Hall of Fame, he was inducted into the Reno Tahoe Athletic Hall of Fame in 1992 and the American Trapshooting Association Hall of Fame in 1979. He passed away at his home in Reno in January of 2019. At the time of his passing, he was the oldest living former Green Bay Packer.
