He was National AAU runner-up at both 158 and 175 pounds in 1927. The next year, Lloyd Appleton concentrated on one weight class, and won a silver medal in the Olympic Games.

In high school, his sports were baseball and basketball, but when he entered Cornell College of Iowa and encountered renowned coach Dick Barker, his wrestling skills soon became evident. He was undefeated as a collegian, competing against Missouri Valley, Big Ten and Midwest Conference opponents from 158 pounds to heavyweight.

He won the National AAU title at 158 pounds again in 1928, along with the Olympic trials and the Olympic silver at Amsterdam.

For the next six years, he was taught sciences and mathematics at prep schools in Maine and Massachusetts and at each of those three schools he organized a wrestling program. As a 175-pound wrestler, he won New England championships and the National YMCA title in 1931-32, and made the Olympic team again, as an alternate.

Starting in 1936, he served 19 years as wrestling coach at the U. S. Military Academy, and remained at West Point 16 more years as a professor of physical education, the first civilian to attain that rank. Not only did he develop consistent winners among his varsity teams, but in his course of "Wrestling for Military Leadership" he taught the sport to some 15,000 cadets. During the late 1950s, he established wrestling programs for U. S. troops in Europe, organizing and conducting clinics for coaches and officials who were preparing for the military championships.

Throughout his coaching and teaching career, he played an active role in such organizations as the Boy Scouts, the YMCA, the American Heart Association and state and local health organizations.

As an athlete of exceptional achievement, and as a humanitarian who used the values of wrestling to better the health and happiness of young people, Lloyd Otto Appleton is honored as a Distinguished Member of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame.