Shane Meling, Sports Information Director at Texas A&M-Kingsville, recently wrote this profile piece on a CoSIDA legend - Fred Nuesch,
A CoSIDA Hall of Famer, Nuesch served nearly a quarter of a century as CoSIDA's Secretary and Digest editor. The
CoSIDA undergraduate scholarships are named in honor of Nuesch and current CoSIDA long-time treasurer Dave Wohlhueter.
by Shane Meling, Texas A&M-Kingsville SID
Mr. Fred Nuesch takes lots and lots of pictures, but you find out quickly that he does not want to have his picture taken. This is unfortunate because very few people get a chance to see what history looks like and that is exactly what Nuesch is, a piece of sports history.
Entering his 44th year working at Texas A&M-Kingsville (formerly Texas A&I), Nuesch is still as quick-witted and hard-working as he was when he started as the Sports Information Director in 1968. His experience in the newspaper business means that he still loves to be the first with a good story. An example of this would be that recently he became annoyed with me for saying that I might use a picture idea he suggested from the 2011 Lone Star Conference Football Media Day in my story for our website before he uses it in his weekly newspaper insert called Javelina Highlights. He becomes even more ticked off when he saw his picture idea on the front of the LSC website the next day.
The Malvern, Ark. native began his professional career at the Paris (Tex.) News in 1964 as the sports editor. Later on in his career, he would cover his beloved Javelina football team in Paris, France on a 1976 European trip to introduce football to the Continent. He has worked the Olympics, Goodwill Games, U.S. Olympic Festivals and World University Games in his distinguished career. He has been honored so many times by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) that it is hard to keep track. He served as secretary of the organization for 23 years. He is a member of the Lone Star Conference Hall of Honor, the NAIA Hall of Fame, the Javelina Hall of Fame and the Paris Junior College Hall of Fame.
Nuesch moved to Kingsville at the perfect time in 1968. In his first 12 years as the Javelina SID, the football team won six NAIA national championships, posted a 42-game winning streak and a 46-game streak without a loss. During that span, the Hoggies went 110-28-1 and had 24 players drafted into the NFL, including three first round picks and five second round picks.
Javelina football has a long and successful history in the small college ranks in both NAIA and NCAA Division II. Nuesch has covered some of the greats of the game including two legendary coaches in Gil Steinke and Ron Harms and numerous outstanding players, including future Pro Football Hall of Famers Gene Upshaw, Darrell Green and John Randle.
Nuesch had the opportunity to publicize arguably the greatest player in NCAA Division II history, Johnny Bailey. Bailey is still the only player to win the Harlon Hill Trophy three times as the national player of the year. He finished as the runner-up as a true freshman and in one of his campaigns, Nuesch mailed mini peppers local to the Kingsville area with a note to all the NCAA Division II SID’s saying that the only thing hotter than the peppers was Johnny Bailey.
Nuesch still works in his office that is tucked away in a far corner of campus, but it suits him. He has four rooms at the end of a hallway that contain mountains of media guides, game programs, pictures, stories and results dating back to the 1950s. I feel privileged to have been invited into those rooms where so many stories have been written and many more are waiting to be discovered again. It is a place that could easily be turned into a museum of Javelina history.
Nuesch officially retired in 2003 as the Associate Athletic Director of Media Relations, but he has not slowed down in retirement. He has continued to serve the Javelina athletic department in a part-time role, but still manages to get to all the home games and is actively involved in the decision-making process of the athletic department. The one thing that has changed is that he no longer treks up to the press box at Javelina Stadium, preferring to stay on the field to get pictures for the weekly Highlights.
It is sometimes hard to get the whole measure of a man, but Nuesch is one to be respected in all aspects of his life. He and his wife, Joan, are well known in the community and active in many different organizations around town. To me, he is a great friend and mentor. Despite all the accolades and awards he has won, he is still humble even though his accomplishments are enough for 10 men.
So if you make it down to South Texas this year for a game, be sure to say hello to the white-haired gentleman taking pictures and ask him a question about the history of the Javelinas. Just don’t ask to take a picture of him.