Triplett, the son of a postal worker, was born and raised in the Philadelphia suburb of La Mott, Pennsylvania, part of Cheltenham Township.

[2] His reputation as a talented high school football player, combined with his upscale address, prompted the University of Miami to offer him a scholarship sight unseen, under the assumption Triplett was white.

[2] Along with Dennis Hoggard, Triplett was one of the first African-Americans to take the field in a varsity football game for the Penn State Nittany Lions.

[4] Triplett returned to Penn State on November 11, 2015, to meet with head coach James Franklin and the team after their bye-week scrimmage.

[citation needed] Although Triplett was the third African-American chosen in the 1949 NFL draft, he was the first of the draftees to take the field in a league game.