David M. Nelson

For other people named David Nelson, see David Nelson.

David M. Nelson
Sport(s)	Football
Biographical details
Born	April 19, 1920(1920-04-19)
Place of birth	Detroit, Michigan
Died	November 30, 1991(1991-11-30) (aged 71)
Place of death	Newark, Delaware
Playing career
1939–1941	Michigan
Position(s)	Halfback
Coaching career (HC unless noted)
1946–1947 1948 1949–1950 1951–1965	Hillsdale Harvard (backfield) Maine Delaware
Administrative career (AD unless noted)
1951–1984 1989–1991	Delaware Yankee Conf. (commissioner)
Head coaching record
Overall	105–48–6
Bowls	1–0
Statistics
College Football Data Warehouse
Accomplishments and honors
Championships
1 NCAA College Division National (1963) 1 Yankee (1949) 3 Middle Atlantic (1959, 1962–1963)
Awards
NFF Distinguished American Award (1984) Amos Alonzo Stagg Award (1989)
College Football Hall of Fame Inducted in 1987 (profile)

David Moir Nelson (April 29, 1920 – November 30, 1991) was an American football player, coach, college athletics administrator, author, and authority on college football playing rules. He served as the head football coach at Hillsdale College (1946–1947), the University of Maine (1949–1950), and the University of Delaware (1951–1965), compiling a career record of 105–48–6. During his 15 years as the head coach at Delaware, he tallied a mark of 84–42–2 and gained fame as the father of the Wing T offensive formation. From 1951 to 1984, he served as Delaware's athletic director.^[1] In 1957, Nelson was named to the National Collegiate Athletic Association Football Rules Committee and in 1962 became its Secretary-Editor, a position he held for 29 years until his death, the longest tenure in Rules Committee history.^[2] In this role, he edited the official college football rulebook and provided interpretations on how the playing rules were to be applied to game situations. Nelson was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame as a coach in 1987.

Early years and college

Nelson was born and raised in Detroit, Michigan. Upon graduation from Northwestern High School in 1938, Nelson enrolled at the University of Michigan. As a 5'7", 155-pound halfback, Nelson played football for Fritz Crisler in the same backfield with fellow Northwestern alumnus, Forest Evashevski, and 1940 Heisman Trophy winner Tom Harmon. In 1941, Nelson led the Wolverines in rushing, averaging 6.3 yards per carry.

Nelson earned a Bachelor of Science degree in 1942 before serving as a lieutenant in the United States Naval Air Corps during World War II. He was awarded three battle stars for his service. After the war, Nelson returned to Michigan as assistant baseball coach, earning a Master of Science degree in 1946.^[2]

Coaching career

Nelson was head football coach at Hillsdale College in Michigan from 1946 to 1947, assistant football coach at Harvard University in 1948, and head football coach at the University of Maine from 1949 to 1950. While at Maine, Nelson began to develop the Wing-T formation.^[3]

When he took over at Delaware in 1951, Nelson continued to develop the Wing-T along with his assistant coach, Mike Lude, and eventual successor, Tubby Raymond, who joined the Delaware staff the fourth year of the Wing-T offense. Delaware's success included winning the Lambert Cup, awarded to the top small-college team in the East, in 1959, 1962 and 1963. The 1963 team also finished the season as the top small college team in the nation in the United Press International poll. When Nelson retired from coaching after the 1965 season, his career record was 105–48–6.^[1]

Nelson's Wing-T formation was adopted by a number of other teams, including Evashevski's Iowa Hawkeyes, who won the Rose Bowl in 1957 and 1959 using the formation. Others who used the Wing-T with success included Paul Dietzel with LSU, Frank Broyles with Arkansas, Ara Parseghian with Notre Dame, Jim Owens with Washington, and Eddie Robinson of Grambling State.

Nelson also brought a unique football helmet design to Delaware. In the 1930s, Nelson's future college coach, Crisler, was the coach at Princeton University and was looking for a way to allow his quarterback to easily locate pass receivers running downfield. At the time, there were no rules requiring schools to wear jerseys of contrasting colors, and helmets were dark leather, so distinguishing teammates from opponents at a glance was difficult. Crisler hit upon the idea of a helmet with a winged pattern on it and had the leather dyed in Princeton's black and orange colors. When Crisler moved to Michigan in 1938—the same year Nelson arrived—he used the same design with Michigan's school colors. Nelson brought the same design, in the appropriate school colors, to Hillsdale, Maine, and Delaware. Delaware continues to use the "Michigan" helmet design to this day.^[4][5]

Books and awards

Nelson authored a number of books on football, including Scoring Power with the Winged-T Offense (co-authored with Evashevski, 1957), The Modern Winged-T Playbook (with Evashevski, 1961), Football: Principles and Plays (1962), Championship Football by 12 Great Coaches (1962), Dave Nelson Selects 99 Best Plays for High School Football (1966), Dave Nelson Selects the Best of Defensive Football for High Schools (1967), and Illustrated Football Rules (1976). Nelson's final book, The Anatomy of a Game: Football, the Rules, and the Men Who Made the Game, was a year-by-year chronicle of how the collegiate football playing rules evolved from 1876 to 1991. It was published posthumously in 1994.^[2]

Nelson's awards include the National Football Foundation Distinguished American Award (1984) and the American Football Coaches Association's Amos Alonzo Stagg Award (1989). He was inducted into the Delaware Sports Museum and Hall of Fame in 1978 and the College Football Hall of Fame in 1987 for his coaching achievements.^[3]

Head coaching record

Year	Team	Overall	Conference	Standing	Bowl/playoffs
Hillsdale Chargers () (1946–1947)
1946	Hillsdale	7–1
1947	Hillsdale	7–0–2
Hillsdale:		14–1–2
Maine Black Bears (Yankee Conference) (1949–1950)
1949	Maine	2–4–1		T–1st
1950	Maine	5–1–1
Maine:		7–5–2
Delaware Fightin' Blue Hens (NCAA College Division Independent) (1951–1957)
1951	Delaware	5–3
1952	Delaware	4–4
1953	Delaware	7–1
1954	Delaware	8–2			W Refrigerator
1955	Delaware	8–1
1956	Delaware	5–3–1
1957	Delaware	4–3
Delaware Fightin' Blue Hens (Middle Atlantic Conference) (1958–1965)
1958	Delaware	5–3	2–3	5th (University)
1959	Delaware	8–1	5–0	1st (University)
1960	Delaware	2–6–1	1–4	6th (University)
1961	Delaware	4–4	3–2	T–3rd (University)
1962	Delaware	7–2	5–0	1st (University)
1963	Delaware	8–0	4–0	1st (University)
1964	Delaware	4–5	3–3	4th (University)
1965	Delaware	5–4	3–3	4th (University)
Delaware:		84–42–2	26–15
Total:		105–48–6
National Championship         Conference Title         Conference Division Title

References

1. ^ ^{a b} "1997 Hall of Fame Inductees: DAVID M. NELSON". Athletics Hall of Fame. University of Delaware. Athletics Media Relations. http://www.bluehens.com/sportsinfo/hall_of_fame/1997/davidnelson.html. Retrieved October 22, 2011. 
2. ^ ^{a b c} "David M. Nelson Papers". University of Delaware Library Special Collections. January 19, 2011. http://www.lib.udel.edu/ud/spec/findaids/nelsond1.htm. Retrieved October 22, 2011. 
3. ^ ^{a b} "David "The Admiral" Nelson". College Football Hall of Fame. http://www.collegefootball.org/famer_selected.php?id=60006. Retrieved October 22, 2011. 
4. ^ "Michigan's Winged Helmet". The Regents of the University of Michigan. http://www.umich.edu/~bhl/athdept/football/helmet/mhelmet.htm. Retrieved October 22, 2011. 
5. ^ Woulfe, Tyler (September 22, 2004). "Using their heads: Story of the Tiger helmet; Current look a throwback to an original '30s design". The Daily Princetonian. http://www.dailyprincetonian.com/archives/2004/09/22/sports/10787.shtml. Retrieved October 22, 2011. 

External links

• David M. Nelson at the College Football Hall of Fame
• David M. Nelson at the College Football Data Warehouse

Persondata
Name	Nelson, David M.
Alternative names
Short description	American football player, coach, college athletics administrator, author
Date of birth	April 19, 1920
Place of birth	Detroit, Michigan
Date of death	November 30, 1991
Place of death	Newark, Delaware