Career
Erxleben was from Saint Louis, Missouri and competed for the Missouri Athletic Club. In March, 1912, Erxleben was one of "twenty of the best distance runners in the middle west" scheduled to participate in a 20-mile indoor marathon at Riverview Rink in Chicago, Illinois. Posting a time of 2:36:30, he finished ahead of runner-up Forshaw with Sidney Hatch in third.
According to The Washington Times, Erxleben was also selected by the United States Olympic Committee to represent the team in the 10,000 meters flat, but there is no record in the official report of the 1912 games that he participated in the event.
Conditions for the marathon at the run on July 14, 1912 have been described as "very hot" and even "horrific", with only half of the 68 starters finishing the race. Late in the race, seven Americans ran in the top twelve positions, including Erxleben in ninth, resulting in one report to suggest that they may have acclimatized better to the heat than the Northern European competitors.
Erxleben went on to finish in eighth place, the fourth American, with a time of 2:45:47.2. He was one of 42 American Olympians who returned to New York aboard the Red Star Lincolnshire ocean liner Vaderland on July 31, 1912.