New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1915-12-12
Hero of Service Football Bat
tie Has Been a Great Ath-
Iete for Several Years.

West Point, n. Y. Dec. ll-lf Cadet
Elmer CULLEN Oliphant, the dashing
halfback of the Army eleven this fall,
gains promotion and fame in the Army
after his graduation from West Point
two and a half years since as rapidly
as he has attained rank and promi-
nence in athletic pursuits. he will be
the recipient Of early brevets, words
of commendation and the like from
the very start Of his career as a
soldier
Cadet Olphant is one of the best
athletes that ever entered the Military
Academy. In fact, he is the only cadet
who ever won the coveted "A" in four
sports since the beginning of athletic
competition at the Point, twenty five
years ago.
No West Point man has ever been
graduated with the a. won in more
than three branches of sport at the
academy. There are upward OF four
hundred "a" men among the alumni
Of West Point. too, and most of these
men were the entire four years
accumulating their AS" Oliphant has
been here since June, 1914, year and
a half.
This doughty Hoosier, who is one Of
the few men with previous athletic
regulations to come 20 the academy
and make good, is the proud possessor
of his letter for football, baseball, bas
kctball and track. He won his first
letter by brilliant work on the basket
ball court last winter, where he starred
for the cadets. When the baseball
season began last spring Oliphant,
under Sammy Strang's coaching, de-
vclOped into a good catcher, working
through a successful season as Bob
Neylands battery mate.
Ohphant was prominent in indoor and
outdoor athletics during his "plebe"
year, getting into the finals in the
heavyweight boxing class last winter
and coming out a close second to Ney-
land. the heavyweight champion. In
fact, many thought Olphant should
have had a draw in the final bout with
the tall Texan.
When the cadets got ready for their
annual. outdoor meet last spring OIL
phant entered in several of the events,
and in one, the 220 hurdles, broke the
previous record, going the distance in
25 seconds fat, when the former record
at % is seconds. This feat annexed his
third "a" and his fash into Eastern
football fame by his work against the
Navy a fortnight ago in New York was
responsible for the fourth letter in his
collection.
There is only one other sport in
which Oliphant can possibly get an
other letter while at the Academy. II
is i'm hockey He il not on the ice
hockey squad, but said 10 be a speedy
skater. Ice hockey and basketball con-
fict at the Academy, the schedules
being arranged so that 1t is impossible
for a cadet 20 compete in both these
sports. Still, Ollie will have ample OPP
portunity 10 engage in all of the sports
i'm which he already excels, for he has
two and a half years 10 stay at the
Point before graduation.
Eastern followers of athletics in col
leges are perhaps not familiar with
Oiiphant's record at Purdue University
before he came TO West Point. At
Purdue he is classed as the greatest
athlete who ever graced that univer-
sity with his presence. He won let
tiers and numerals galore, and life-size
pictures of this Indiana lad hang IN
Purdue's athletic hall of fame, showing
him dressed in various athletic cos
tunes.
Oliphant is son Of Marion f. Oil
phant. Of Bruceville, Ind. He was born
at Bloomfield. that sta.e, twenty-five
wears ago. He was a leader in ath-
ietics among the boys of his town at
an early age, and attended the Wash
ington GndD High School for three
years. He left Washington and went
to the Linton (Ind.) High School, from
which institution he was graduated in
1910, and went TO Purdue University,
at Lafayette.
During his high school course he
captained the football, baseball, basket
ball and track teams. In high school
football he kicked eighty-four out of
eighty-seven trials for goal from touch
down. His athletic career at Purdue
is interesting. As q freshman he was
ineligible for varsity athletics, but
made the football, baseball, basketball
and track teams Of his class and was
a member Of Purdue's sll-class and all
star teams in each Of these sports dur
ing that year.
In his sophomore, junior and senior
years he continued 20 distinguish him.
self in all these four branches OF
sport, and during the two last years
at Purdue was the almost unanimous
choice Of Western critics as halfback
on the Conference eleven. He cap
tainod Purduc's baseball and basket
ball teams in 1913, has the Purdue rec