Mike Oriard

Mike Oriard (born May 26, 1948) is a former professional American football player and college administrator and professor.

Early life and education
Oriard was born in Spokane, Washington. He was a standout athlete at Gonzaga Preparatory School in Spokane.

A graduate of the University of Notre Dame, he was a walk-on player in its football team.

Career
Oriard played offensive lineman for four seasons for the Kansas City Chiefs.

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. 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) ISBN 9780521391139
 * Reading Football: How the Popular Press Created an American Spectacle (Cultural Studies of the United States) (1998) ISBN 9780807847510
 * 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) ISBN 9780807833292
 * The End of Autumn: Reflections on My Life in Football (2009) ISBN 9780252076695
 * Brand NFL: Making and Selling America's Favorite Sport (2010) ISBN 9780807831427
 * The Art of Football: The Early Game in the Golden Age of Illustration (2017) ISBN 9780803290693