Washburn University Athletics

Larry Elliott - Basketball (1956-59) and Football (1956-58)
Coached Baseball (1967-79) and Coached Football (1974-78; 1984-89)
A multi-faceted athlete, Larry Elliott played basketball and football for the Ichabods from 1956-59 and then returned to his alma mater to coach football and baseball over a span of 20 years.

Elliott debuted as starting quarterback his sophomore year in 1956 in a 34-6 win over Emporia State in front of over 6,000 people at WU. He was 6-of-8 for 165 yards and he scored three touchdowns himself. He led the team in passing that year and ranked fourth in rushing. His senior year he earned all-CIC honors.

After the football season ended Elliott jumped right into basketball as a three-year letterman and three-time all-Central Intercollegiate Conference team member. His senior year he led the team with 10 points a game and became the only athlete named all-CIC in both football and basketball.

Elliott also played professional baseball for the Los Angeles Dodgers organization and also earned quite a reputation as a fast-pitch softball player. He was the Kansas MVP three times and the regional MVP in 1968.

After graduating from Washburn in 1959, Elliott coached football, basketball, baseball and track and field at Silver Lake High School. He won five conference titles in football and three in basketball and he amassed a 94-15 record as skipper of the baseball team.

In 1967, Elliott started his college coaching career as the Ichabods baseball coach. In 13 years he went 188-174. As of 2020, his .519 winning percentage is the third-highest and his wins total ranks second all-time.

While still coaching the baseball team, Elliott became head football coach in 1974. He took over a team that struggled through mediocrity the previous two years and turned the Ichabods from a three-win team in 1973 into an 8-3 team the following year. The Ichabods played in their first bowl game that year as they defeated Millikin, 21-7 in the Boot Hill Bowl in Dodge City, Kansas. The eight wins that year tied a school record that stood until 2005.

Elliott’s leadership again led WU to the Boot Hill Bowl in 1974 and he finished his first stint as head football coach with a 28-22-1 record over five years.

Elliott returned to the sidelines in 1983 as WU's offensive coordinator and then again he took over as head coach in 1985 and coached until 1989. He went 30-29 in those five years and finished his career 58-51-1. Again in 1986 the team totaled eight wins as he coached them to an NAIA playoff game and then a postseason appearance in the Aztec Bowl, played in Mexico City, Mexico.

In 1983, as offensive coordinator, he coached his son, Mark Elliott to a Central States Intercollegiate Conference championship. Mark, one of Washburn's all-time leading passers, later went on to be a part of the radio broadcasting team for Ichabods football and basketball and Lady Blues basketball.

Elliott’s work with the football team helped revive the Ichabods after they were rumored to be dismantled just a few years before he started coaching.

One of Elliott’s most memorable moments at Washburn was as a football player in 1958. The Ichabods were playing Eastern New Mexico in their home opener and Elliott was knocked around and sent to the bench groggy early in the game. After watching his fullback play quarterback in his place, Elliott came back in the second half and returned the opening kickoff 96 yards for a touchdown and then threw two touchdowns in the first 10 minutes of the half. The Ichabods went on to a 26-0 win.