Evening star., 1936-11-28
Going Back TO OIiphant.

Going Back TO OIiphant.
1T is refreshing to meet man oc-
casionally who thinks the greatest
| foot ball player of all time was neither
Jim Thorpe Of Carlisle, nor George
Gipp of Notre Dame nor Ernie Nevers
of Stanford
Mai. Lawrence "Biff" Jones, the
Oklahoma mentor. who formerly tu-
tored great Army and Louisiana State
teams, and has Just been detailed By
! the War Department to attend the
4 Army's Command and General Staff
/ School at Fort Leavenworth starting
next September, is that man. I re-
Gently asked "Biff" whom he regarded
the greatest foot bali player he ever
saw "Oliphant," he boomed in quick
reply.
ollie was a stubby. hard-tUisted
blond boy who stood only 5 feet
inches tall, but weighed 1876 pounds
when he came to West Point in 1914
from Purdue. When you first saw
him then his rugged build suggested
that of blocker, Today he would
lloNC IAlN pAlySIOdL Vial dIlC4lSI Va
blocking back or running guard.
His Confidence Supreme.
VET, under Coach Charley Daly's
polishing, ne became an un-
stoppable ball carrier who could hit
with tremendous impact of the tall
back position from the single-wing
formation DAILY used. played with
Ollie at Army two years at left tackle
and our line always worked hard
for him. We knew if We didn't
move he'd run right up our backs.
"Oliphant had supreme confidence
In himself. II has been suggested
that he loved the spotlight and was
grand-stander Even we're that
so, I'm sure nobody who ever played
with Ollie. or witnessed his perform
ance under fire. ever held that against
him. because, no matter how good
he thought he was, to my way of
thinking he was not overrating his
ability.
Despite the fact that he was always
in the glare of the spotlight. he never
Z 0oNhCO I44C dA Va P4 aNlINNg IlOl
did he ever cease trying to improve
himself in the fundamentals of the
game. All through the week he
worked as had as the greenest fresh
man
Another proof of his greatness is
the fact that, although every OPP
ponent pointed for him right up to
his Ia Af
tie him up. A good illustration Of
this occurred in 1916. when Army
was playing one of the most powerful
Notre Dame teams it has been my
privilege to see Oliphant had been
pretty we'll bottled up on his running
! during the first half, which ended
with Notre Dame leading, 10 to 3.
However. in the second half. the
versatile Oliphant suddenly began
shooting beautifully thrown forward
passes TO Gene Vidal and broke up
the game. Army winning, SO to 10.
His Durability.
1T IS remarkable also that he never
got hurt although playing IN the
day Of extremely rough foot ball. This
was because he naturally was rugged
and tough, always in superb condl-
| ton through faithful work and knew
how to take care of himself on the
field.
Ollie was equally good through
the line, off tackle or around end.
thanks to his remarka bic build and
tremendous speed. He ran with high
knee action and had a paralyzlns,
stiff arm. I've seen tacklers all setl
to stop him in the open field. only
to have Ollie give them the well known
works by just plain running over
them.
This was illustrated in the Army
Navy game in 1915, one of the men,
orable incidents of my playing days.
Although I strongly suspect the kick
of man for Navy had instructions
to keep the ball away from OH
phant, the first kickoff settled square,
ly in his arms and he Immediately
proceeded to spread destruction all
over the Polo Grounds, running over
man after man until he wound up
under a pile on the Navy S-yard
line. And the Navy player who made
the tackle was carried of the field,
An All-Around Athlete.
"OLLIE could do anything He was
a sharp blocker, could punt ex-
cellently, place-kick or drop-kick Ill
any league and was a fine defensive
player.
He was good at any sport he under.
took. He was a great college base
ball player. was lettered in basket
ball and was good boxer Although
he had never had a pair of skates
before going to West Point. he even
made a letter on the Army ice hockey
team. I still can see him rushing like
puck down the ice with foot ball tac-
tics. not skating. but just using his
blades as a check against falling as
he ran down the rink on the inner
soles of his skating shoes. 1t was q
new contact game for him and he rev.
eled in it.
Where is he now? He has a very
responsible executive position in the
New York Office of one of the largest
life insurance companies in America.
He had too much supreme confidence
in himself to be failure at any
thing"
tcopyrisht. 1885. by the North American
Newspaper Alliance. Ine.)