Elmer Harold Burnham (September 8, 1894 – March 9, 1977) was an American football coach and all-around athlete, known particularly for his basketball skills both in college and in amateur YMCA play in Indiana.

[3] Before coming to Purdue, Burnham coached football at Central High School in South Bend, Indiana, for 16 seasons, tallying a mark of 118–30–8.

"[12] Decades after his playing days ended, Burnham was called "an exceptional athlete, possibly the best West Newbury High ever had," who could have done well in a much larger school.

[19] Burnham returned to Springfield in the 1915-16 school year to complete his physical education training,[20] where he won letters in football, baseball, tennis, and basketball,[21] starring particularly in the latter.

[23] At the time of Burnham's graduation, Springfield offered only a three-year program: in 1935 he completed coursework to obtain a bachelor's degree in physical education from Notre Dame.

[28] In Rochester, New York, he was viewed as "a quiet, modest man," respected and admired by those on his teams: "There has been a lot of silly talk about the character building purposes of football.

[21] Opened in 1913, Central High was an important South Bend institution: a place of civic pride not only in its impressive size and architecture[31] but also for its successful sports teams.

[21] With the exception of the school years 1917-18 (when he served as a sergeant in the 309th Trench Mortar Battery during World War I)[32][33] and 1920-21 (when he returned to West Newbury, staying with his parents and working with his father in the family dairy)[34] Burnham coached steadily at Central High School until 1935, becoming a South Bend institution himself: as one columnist stated, "Many of the young, successful business men of South Bend today received their early training from Elmer Burnham.

"[45] As Burnham was leaving in 1935 to coach at Purdue University, South Bend held a testimonial banquet in his honor, attended by 400 friends and admirers.

[47] As the 1942 football season approached, sportswriters noted that Purdue's morale had improved with the new coaching staff and the introduction of new formations and plays,[57] but warned that the Boilermakers faced a daunting schedule.

Burnham and Purdue's athletic director considered suspending football that year,[61] but in April spring drills proceeded with the knowledge that many players could be gone before the season started.

This gave Purdue not only the Old Oaken Bucket, but also an undefeated season and a tie with the University of Michigan for the Big Ten Conference championship.

One writer summed up: "The only punch Indiana was able to display in the vicinity of Purdue's goal line ... was a roundhouse right to [Purdue quarterback] Sam Vacanti's jaw, swung by [Indiana quarterback] John Cannady on the last play of the game...."[70] In May 1944, Burnham accepted the positions of head football coach and associate professor of physical education at the University of Rochester,[71] a private research university in upstate New York, which offered him more money and job security.

[72] Unlike Purdue, Rochester provided no scholarships, subsidies of room and board, or other enticements for premier athletes and even with the hiring of a Big Ten coach, had no intent to become a major football powerhouse—which Burnham said he preferred.

[74] In Burnham's first season, an important victory against Colgate University reassured Rochester fans that the "graying and fatherly pigskin professor from Purdue" could provide a respectable team with as many or more wins as losses.

[75] In his seventeen years coaching at Rochester, Burnham exceeded those expectations, even though, because studies came first, practices were short in duration and often sparsely attended.