Champe, John L. (John Leland), 1895-

John Leland Champe was born in Elwood, Nebraska, on April 27, 1895 and graduated from high school in Friend, Nebraska in 1911. From 1917 to 1919 he was a member of the 36th Infantry of the U.S. Army. He rose to the rank of 1st Lieutenant but never actually served over seas in WWI. He received a B.A. in Mathematics from the University of Nebraska in 1921. On December 27, 1924, John Champe married Flavia Waters, a ballet teacher. Following an interest in anthropology he studied at Columbia University and received his Ph.D. in 1946.

In 1940, Champe became an instructor in anthropology within the Sociology Department at the University of Nebraska. John Champe became an assistant professor of Anthropology at the University of Nebraska - Lincoln in 1947, an associate professor in 1950, and a full time professor in 1952. He was Chairman of the Department of Anthropology from 1953 to 1961. He reorganised the University's Nebraska State Archaeological Survey to the Lab of Anthropology, which he oversaw until his retirement. He provided temporary housing for the Missouri Valley Project of the Smithsonian River Survey (SRBS) in 1946, thus making a direct and strong connection between the University and the SRBS. He was the sole anthropology instructor at UNL until 1948. He retired as a Professor of Anthropology and Director of the Laboratory of Anthropology at the University of Nebraska - Lincoln in 1963.

From 1954 to 1978, Champe acted as a consultant and expert witness on a number of court cases involving treaty disputes and land claims between various Native American tribes and the U.S. government.

John Leland Champe died of a heart attack on January 28, 1978.