Fletcher Grateful for Unexpected Honor

— Orville Fletcher thought his high school football coach was dumb at first.

Fletcher played offensive end in junior high and couldn't figure out why Springdale coach Earl Voss moved him to guard as a sophomore in 1951.

“He had two all-district senior guards,” Fletcher said. “I had a miserable year and didn't get to play, but it made me a better player for the future.”

The next two years were different.

Fletcher earned first-team all-state honors as a senior, while receiving all-district recognition his junior and senior years despite playing the line at just 6-foot, 170 pounds.

“Coach was smart,” Fletcher said. “I was competitive. I didn't have monstrous strength, but I grew up on a farm and had more strength than the average player.”

More than six decades later, Voss' decision to move Fletcher to guard paid off again. Fletcher, 75, will be one of 10 inductees into the Springdale Hall of Fame on Aug. 11.

“It just came out of the blue,” Fletcher said. “It was just a great feeling that someone felt like I deserved to be honored. It really was a surprise and a very humbling experience.”

Fletcher had interest from several smaller colleges by his senior season, but wanted advice from someone he trusted.

“I went in to coach and told him I wanted to be a coach,” Fletcher said. “I asked where he suggested I go and he said the coach at what was then the College of the Ozarks put out more coaches than the rest of the coaches in the state combined. So that's where I went.

“The influence he had on my life was huge.”

Voss' coaching helped Fletcher earn the scholarship and prove to Fletcher's father, Louis, that playing football wasn't a waste of time.

“My father never kept me from playing but he never really encouraged it,” Fletcher said.

“He would say, 'Playing that ball all the time will never put beans on your table.'”

Fletcher tried to find his father as soon as he could when he received the scholarship letter from the College of the Ozarks.

“Here's beans for four years,” he told his dad.

Following his four-year collegiate career, Fletcher made his coaching dreams a reality, spending a decade coaching football, basketball, baseball and track and field for high schools and colleges.

In 1968, he entered the business world in a career change that came just before he would have added another coaching title to his resume.

“If I hadn't have quit coaching, I would have been the golf coach the next year at Sul Ross University in Texas,” Fletcher said.

Fletcher never coached in Arkansas and hasn't lived in his home state since college. His 2004 visit for a 50-year reunion was the only time in recent memory he has been back to his old high school.

He and Carol, his wife of 43 years, will be back at Springdale High on Aug. 11, though, ready for his induction.

“I thank the good Lord for letting me live this long,” Fletcher said. “Also, for letting someone else live this long that saw me play in 1953 and nominated me. Finding out really was a surprise and a very humbling experience.”

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