After playing college football at Colgate (where he was a team captain in 1937) and in the 1939 Chicago College All-Star Game (despite missing much of the game with a leg injury, Wemple elected not to pursue a professional career as he hoped to either become a coach or a businessman.
Although he changed his mind in 1941 and signed with the Dodgers, he also enlisted in the United States Army Air Forces during the season.
[3] With World War II ongoing, the Army Air Forces summoned Wemple to active duty on January 13, 1942, and he received flight training in Georgia and Florida.
[2] In September, he joined Robert Neyland's Eastern All-Army team that played NFL teams in exhibition games to raise money for the Army's relief fund, but never played due to other service obligations.
[4][2] Serving in the Pacific War, he died on June 23, 1943, when his plane was shot down on the Hump air route in India.