Oliphant, 85, is calm and good-humored. Over the course of his career, he resisted making friends with politicians and his non-nonchalance is still evident. A resident of Santa Fe since 2004, Oliphant retired six years ago because of his deteriorating eyesight.
In 1964, Oliphant accepted a job with The Denver Post.
Within three years, he was syndicated with the Los Angeles Times and the winner of the Pulitzer Prize.
“Oliphant, you’re a no-good son of a bitch.
Why don’t you go back to where you [expletive] came from.”
Such memories — we lived in the Springs and got four newspapers a day: The Rocky, the Post, the Gazette-Telegraph and the Sun. Oliphant was absolutely the king, but was still only one of what was more cartoonists than newspapers, commenting on both national and local issues in both news and sports.
The Rocky and the Sun are long gone today, along with the days when newspapers staked their place in the community by employing brilliant cartoonists. (I won’t name them for fear of leaving someone out — that’s how many there were!)