Head football coach Homer Woodson Hargiss put him at quarterback where he remained until graduation four years later.

He also displayed skill in baseball and basketball, earning 11 varsity letters before his graduation in 1918.

Emporia State, like many schools, did not play football during World War II.

[4] Welch (along with Washburn University coach Dick Godlove) also coached an "all-star" team made up of Kansas players to play a similar squad from Missouri[6] in the "Mo-Kan Bowl" all-star exhibition game.

He served as a United States Army lieutenant in World War I[8] and took a leave of absence from teaching to serve in World War II as a captain and special services officer at Fort Riley.