Suffolk University Alumni Magazine 2008/2009 - (Page 35) Left: Coach Nelson teaching a class on the Theory and Practice of Athletics, exploring the history of sport from the Olympic games to the American sports of football, basketball, and baseball. son near the front, cheering “good hit” or “way to go Suffolk.” “That meant a lot.” “I’ve been here for about 11 years and I don’t think I ever beat him to work,” says Cary McConnell, assistant athletic director. “If I come in at 9, he’s been there for hours, and if I leave at 7, he’s still there.” “I am certainly one that is a big believer in discipline,” says Nelson. “And to this day, I consider loyalty to the institution and the program one of the highest characteristics one can bring to their responsibilities.” Inside his office, his loyalty to the post-dmitri goal of improving the lot of Suffolk—the athletes, the students, the institution—is represented by a massive framed newspaper blow-up from 1990. The headline: “Suffolk Says farewell to yMCA as Basketball Team finds home.” After three decades of all away games, the team had a proper home—a home built thanks to a group effort spearheaded by Nelson. “If you ask him to walk down the street, I guarantee that within five steps, he’s going to meet someone he knows,” says kenneth Greenberg, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences. “And then if you listen closely you’ll discover that he knows that person’s brother, their sister, and their children and family. his knowledge of people—because he connects with everyone—is pretty amazing.” It was this ability to connect with people that helped Nelson nurture and expand an athletic program that has often had to share fields with other local teams. his drive and commitment are the perfect match for Suffolk’s athletes—a mass of non-scholarship student athletes often competing out of love of the games, and riding the T to games in lieu of the plush division 1 team tour busses. Nelson knows all their stories. his ability to cite details is uncanny: team records, the scores of various games he coached, the spelling of the names of childhood friends, the alma mater and athletic background of an intern. And it’s not because he is a statistics guy, a number cruncher, or readying an autobiography. Coach Nelson just cares enough to remember. Dan morrell is a writer & editor in the creative Services office at Suffolk university. “to this day, I consider loyalty to the institution and the program one of the highest characteristics one can bring to their responsibilities.” www.suffolk.edu SUFFOLKARTS+SCIENCES//2008/2009 [35] http://www.suffolk.edu
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