Orville Black, Ketchum's most ardent recycler back in the days when recycling wasn't fashionable, died Aug. 23 at a care center in Boise at age 87. He started his recycling career to supplement his income in 1975. He did it here for 25 years.
A native Midwesterner who moved to Ketchum in 1937 at age 14, Black was a Wood River Valley character for more than 60 years before moving to a Boise assisted living center in 2000. He lived in a log house on Ketchum's First Avenue.
With his ruddy cheeks, bushy eyebrows and moustache, many people thought Black resembled Ernest Hemingway. He seemed like a down-and-out man rummaging through Dumpsters as a means of survival, when in fact he was the valley's No. 1 conservationist.
To pick through Ketchum's Dumpsters on his daily recycling route, Black used what he called "a long arm," which was a golf club with its head removed and a nail welded into the top of the club. It was an aluminum can-spearing device.
He took his cans to Bob Wiesen's Coors Recycling Center in Hailey, which started paying 17 cents per pound "Cash for Cans" for aluminum in 1972. Wiesen called Black "a model recycler." Black stayed around the Coors plant and helped sort cans other recyclers brought in. He was fastidious about it.
Black's work ethic started as a teenager when he laid track for 32 cents an hour for Union Pacific after his arrival in Ketchum one year after the opening of the Sun Valley resort. He worked for Sun Valley until July 1975, except for an Army stint from 1943-46.
After leaving Sun Valley, Black worked as a clean-up man for restaurant owner Louis Mallane at Louie's Pizza and Italian Restaurant. He was also known as a town trickster.
Black would sometimes sit quietly at a crowded bar and fall off the barstool on purpose to get a reaction. He never got hurt because he was perhaps the most agile and limber man in town—able to touch his elbows to the floor without bending his knees.
He had the reputation for being able to stand on his head for a long period of time. Once, he had a standing-on-your-head contest with Kathy Wygle at The Yacht Club, now the Sawtooth Club. Wygle prevailed as people placed bets.
Black was known to turn somersaults out the front door of The Casino on Main Street. He would land standing and walk calmly away, as if nothing had happened. Many times he would pull a big logging chain around town. When asked why he was pulling it, he said because he couldn't push it.
A lifelong bachelor, Black is survived by many nieces and nephews. A graveside service is set for Wednesday, Sept. 15, at 2 p.m. at Ketchum Cemetery.
Orville Black, shown in 1978 at the age of 55. Photo by Mountain Express
