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Jeff Nelson (Penn State University), Lester Jordan Award
by Jim Seavey, Massachusetts Maritime Academy Director of Sports Information/CoSIDA Academic All-America®
Hall of Fame Committee member
The Nelson family: T.J., Hannah, Jeff, Julia and Joel.
Jeff Nelson’s near three-decade run as a member of the Academic All-America® Committee started with an opportunity. And that opportunity is one he gladly paid forward to countless student-athletes who were recognized for their achievements in the classroom, in competition and in the community.
During the 2017 CoSIDA Convention in Orlando, Nelson will receive some well-deserved recognition of his own as the 2017 recipient of the Lester Jordan Award presented annually by CoSIDA for exemplary service to the organization’s Academic All-America® program and the promotion of the student-athlete ideal. Yet if you ask him, his years of service were a longstanding labor of love.
“The Academic All-America® program embodies what higher education is all about,” Nelson, who is completing his 23rd year at Penn State and now serves as the Nittany Lions’ Associate Athletic Director for Strategic Communications, said. “Academics is clearly at the forefront of what we’re all about in higher education, and student-athletes know they have a great opportunity to follow their passion as they prepare to make an impact on society and their community.”
Nelson’s committee tenure began in the spring of 1986 when he was presented with the opportunity to become a district coordinator by then Chair and inaugural Jordan Award co-recipient Gregg Burke, who served as his supervisor at Holy Cross. Nelson became a national coordinator for basketball, and later baseball and track & field, and when Burke offered, he never hesitated.
“There was never any doubt about joining the committee,” Nelson said. “I am extremely passionate about the values the program represents. The reason we’re all in athletics is to help young people develop and grow, and it is always a thrill to tell a student-athlete, coach or a colleague that they or a student from their school have earned the honor.”
Like the profession as a whole, Nelson has witnessed the impact that technology has made on the Academic All-America® selection process. Back in the days of paper ballots, mailed letters and fax paper, the job of a district coordinator was much different that it is today with computerized nominations and ballots.
“There were definitely a number of late nights getting all of the nominations together, printed and mailed to everyone for voting,” recalled Nelson. “Technology has created additional opportunities for student-athletes and schools to be recognized, but one thing that hasn’t changed is realizing what an incredible honor it is to be selected as an Academic All-American, because student-athletes realize how difficult it is to achieve.”
Since arriving in State College in 1993, Nelson has continued the great tradition of Penn State student-athletes earning Academic All-America® recognition. The Nittany Lions currently rank fifth overall on the all-time list of Academic All-America® honorees and are fourth among FBS institutions behind only Notre Dame, Nebraska and Stanford. To say that is select company would be quite an understatement, and one special memory that Nelson has speaks volumes to the hard work, dedication, commitment and promotion that both the University’s student-athletes and staff have to all-around success.
“In 2008, our football team played in the Rose Bowl (against USC) after winning the Big Ten Championship,” Nelson said. “We had five Academic All-Americans on the field that day, four of which were first teamers. To me, that speaks to the quality of individuals that are recruited to play at Penn State not just in football, but in every sport.”
When reviewing the list of previous Jordan Award recipients, Nelson is “humbled” and “deeply honored” to be joining a group that includes Burke and another former committee chair, John Humenik — two individuals who he says were “critical to the development of the program.”
Nelson also points to other past Jordan Award winners such as Bernie Cafarelli of the American Athletic Conference, Bentley’s Dick Lipe, Ohio Wesleyan’s Mark Beckenbach and the great Brad Tufts of Bucknell University who he established relationships with early in his career and who remain committed to the program’s growth and success.
“I am honored to join a group of great people who have devoted themselves to making a difference in the lives of student-athletes,” Nelson said. “The Academic All-America® program is a very important part of our profession, and I’m incredibly humbled to have been a part of it.”
As humbled as Jeff Nelson is to receive this year’s honor, there are undoubtedly legions of Nittany Lions and Crusaders throughout the world that are forever grateful and thankful that he championed their cause both on and off the field of play.
And that is the true definition of promoting the ideals of the student-athlete.
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