University of Minnesota Athletics
Oliver Freeman - M Club Hall of Fame
Orville Freeman
Lifetime Achievement Award
HOF Class of 1995
Orville Freeman, who played football for the Gophers from 1937 through 1939, was a member of the 1937 and 1938 Big Ten title teams.
He joined the U.S. Marine Corps during World War II, serving in the South Pacific and attaining the rank of Major.
Returning to civilian life, he earned a degree from the University of Minnesota Law School and entered a life of politics and business.
He was elected Governor of Minnesota in 1954, and re-elected in 1956 and 1958.
Later, Freeman was appointed Secretary of Agriculture by President Kennedy and retained in that post by President Johnson.
Freeman, founding chairman of the U.S. India Business Council, was also appointed to the Board of Trustees of the Medeleev Chemical Institute in Moscow.