Ormiston attended Westinghouse High School in Pittsburgh where he played football, baseball and volleyball.
[2][3] He was selected by the International News Service and the New York Sun as a first-team guard on the 1934 College Football All-America Team.
[6] During World War II, Ormiston served as an athletic director and special service officer with the United States Army Air Forces.
In 1946, he was hired as the line coach at Amherst College,[7] a position he held for three years.
[2] Ormiston retired from coaching after suffering a heart attack and moved to Norfolk, Virginia.