Nelson, David M., 1920-1991

Renowned football rules authority and former University of Delaware coach and administrator, David Moir Nelson was born April 29, 1920, in Detroit, Michigan. From 1935 to 1938 Nelson attended Northwestern High School in Detroit, where he was a three-sport athlete, playing basketball, baseball, and football.

In 1938 Nelson accomplished a boyhood goal by enrolling at the University of Michigan. An outstanding student and athlete, the 5’-7” and 155-pound Nelson played halfback in the same Michigan backfield as tailback Tom Harmon, quarterback Forest Evashevski, and fullback Bob Westfall. Coached by the legendary Fritz Crisler, Nelson led the team in rushing during his senior year, averaging 6.3 yards per carry.

Following his graduation from Michigan with a Bachelor of Science in 1942, David Nelson served as a lieutenant in the U. S. Naval Air Corps during World War II, providing photograph intelligence in the Aleutian Islands and later aboard the U.S.S. Yorktown. While on the Yorktown he participated in bombing raids over Tokyo and provided air support for ground troops at Iwo Jima (1945) and Okinawa. Awarded three battle stars for his service, Nelson was called “The Admiral” by his shipmates, a nickname which was to stick throughout his life.

After completing his military service, Nelson returned to the University of Michigan as an Assistant Baseball Coach and a graduate student, receiving a Master of Science degree in 1946.

Nelson’s career as an intercollegiate football coach began at Hillsdale College in Hillsdale, Michigan, where he served from 1946–1948 as the Head Football Coach and as the Director of the Department of Physical Education. During his brief tenure Nelson rebuilt the athletic program and secured funding for the renovation of the fieldhouse. Hillsdale College honored Nelson’s achievements in 1991 by awarding him an honorary Doctor of Physical Education degree.

After two successful seasons at Hillsdale, Nelson became an Assistant Football Coach at Harvard University in 1948. Under Head Football Coach Art Valpey, Nelson was responsible for the backfield.

Experiencing a desire to return to being a head football coach, Nelson left Harvard in 1949 to become the Head Football Coach and Assistant Professor of Physical Education at the University of Maine-Orono. While at Maine, Nelson began to develop the Winged-T (or Wing-T) football formation.

The development and perfection of the Winged-T formation continued during Nelson’s coaching career at the University of Delaware. In 1951, Coach Nelson accepted the dual position of Director of Physical Education and Athletics and Head Football Coach at the University. As Head Football Coach at the University of Delaware Nelson established a gridiron dynasty, which won three Lambert Cups and the UPI National Small College Championship in 1963. When he retired from coaching in 1966, his overall coaching record was 105-48-6, with a record of 84-42-2 at the University of Delaware.

Nelson’s Winged-T formation was adopted by a number of prominent football coaches, including Nelson’s former Michigan teammate, Forest Evashevski, who coached his University of Iowa team to Rose Bowl victories in 1957 and 1959 using the formation. Others who used the formation with success were Paul Dietzel at Louisiana State University, Frank Broyles at the University of Arkansas, Ara Parseghian at Notre Dame, Jim Owens at the University of Washington, and Eddie Robinson of Grambling State University.

At the University of Delaware, Nelson served in a number of academic and administrative roles, several of which overlapped. In addition to coaching from 1951–1966, Nelson was Associate Professor of Physical Education (1951–1970); Professor of Physical Education (1970–1990); Professor Emeritus (1990–1991); Director of Physical Education and Athletics and Recreation (1951–1984); Dean, College of Physical Education, Athletics and Recreation (1981–1990); and Special Assistant to the President (1989–1990).

During Nelson’s forty years at the University of Delaware, the athletic program was strengthened and expanded (particularly the women’s athletic program) and a 75-acre intercollegiate athletics complex was created. The complex, which included a new stadium, the Delaware Field House, Carpenter Intramural Sports Building, two Ice Arenas, and baseball and track facilities, has been described as one of the best physical education and athletic facilities in the East. Nelson was instrumental in enlisting the support of R. R. M. Carpenter, Jr. for these extensive projects.

David Nelson’s service and accomplishments extend beyond the University of Delaware and football coaching. Nelson served on numerous NCAA committees, such as the Television Committee, the Division II Football Selection Committee, as well as leading the Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference as its President in 1959 and 1970. He was also active in the American Football Coaches Association, the Football Writers Association, and the Yankee Conference, for which he was named the full-time Commissioner in 1989.

Above all else, Nelson was a nationally recognized expert on intercollegiate football rules, serving on the National Collegiate Athletic Association Football Rules Committee for 35 years and as the committee’s Secretary-Editor from 1962 until his death in 1991. His term as Secretary-Editor was the longest tenure in Rules Committee history.

As Secretary-Editor, Nelson recorded and distributed the Rules Committee’s minutes, edited the football rules books and technical manuals published by the NCAA, and served on the Rules subcommittees responsible for equipment and sports injuries and safety. He was also the committee’s liaison with the National Association of Collegiate Commissioners, the American Football Coaches Association, the National Collegiate Athletic Association, the National Football Foundation and Hall of Fame, and other organizations using NCAA football rules.

Nelson’s duties required him to comment on the rules to the national media and to conduct sessions at football clinics, during which he explained annual rule changes and points of emphasis. Such clinics were conducted throughout the United States and overseas. Furthermore, he maintained an extensive correspondence with individual coaches and officials on particular rule changes or implications, as well as offering his interpretation of the application of the rules to particular game situations.

In addition to Nelson’s writing and editing for the Rules Committee, he was a gifted author of gridiron textbooks and newspaper commentaries on football and athletics. Beginning with Scoring Power with the Winged-T Offense (1957), which Nelson co-authored with Forest Evashevski, Nelson wrote a number of books exploring the Winged-T formation, the game of football, and the rules governing football play. Some of these titles include 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).

David Nelson’s final book, The Anatomy of a Game: Football, the Rules, and the Men Who Made the Game, is the first football history to chronicle year-by-year how playing rules developed the game. The Anatomy of a Game was published posthumously in 1994 by the University of Delaware Press.

Nelson’s writing extended to articles, syndicated columns, and book reviews. His articles appeared in Scholastic Coach, Football Today, Referee, Look Magazine, Athletic Journal, NCAA News, and The New York Times . “Breaking the Rules” and “Official Football,” his two syndicated columns appeared in newspapers throughout the country in the 1960s and 1970s.

Nelson also wrote scripts for and narrated several football-related films, including Monday Morning Quarterback, A Matter of Attitude, Best Plays of 1963, and Football Code, as well as collaborated on numerous NCAA films, which were related to football rules. In addition, between 1968 and 1972, he provided analysis and color commentary for weekly college football games for ABC Sports.

Nelson’s stature among his peers is illustrated by the numerous awards and honors accorded him, including the National Football Foundation and Hall of Fame Distinguished American Award (1984), the University of Michigan Medal of Honor (1986), induction as a coach into the National Football Hall of Fame (1987) and the Delaware Sports Hall of Fame (1978), the American Football Coaches Association Amos Alonzo Stagg Award (1988), and the Ben Oosterbann Award (1989).

David Nelson died on November 30, 1991, in Newark, Delaware, survived by his wife Shirley Risburg Nelson and three children.

Johnson, Steven G. David M. Nelson: Football Player, Football Coach, Football Rules Editor. Newark, DE: University of Delaware thesis, June 1991. Biographical information is also derived from resumes, correspondence, press releases, and articles in the collection and from the University of Delaware Archives.

From the guide to the David M. Nelson papers, 1936–1991, 1951–1991, (University of Delaware Library - Special Collections)