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us, surmising that his family, sports fans, and friends in general would be interested in the article.The Double Take by Fred San-ner . . .Nelson Departs inShadow of [Via t son“In the hullabaloo that followed the breaking of the 70-foot shot put barrier last Saturday at College Station, the poignant swan song of another great Texas AM athlete was almost overlooked.For the last seven years, ever since he began helping Andrews High School relay teams make track and field news as a sophomore, the name of Ted Nelson has been a magic one in cinder-land.The Andrews and Texas AM record books are dotted with thename of this quiet, unassummingj runner who is rated in the 1965 AM brochifre as “the most de- jtermined runner on the squad.”' And that's the wav Nelson |•rwound up his career at CollegeStation Saturday. He helped the Aggies tie their own best school mark of 40.7 in winning the 440-yard relay and placed second by a hair to sophomore Jim Bankhead of SMU as he failed to defend his SWC 440 - yard dashchampionship.But his determination was | shown more in a losing effort, as he anchored the Aggie mile relay team to fourth. Hopelessly behind the first three teams—SMU, Rice and Baylor—when he took the final baton, Nelson didn’t concede defeat until their three an-. *chornien had crossed the finish. line ahead of him. He ran as if he were shooting for the record.Despite the fact that Nelson’s name is on the Aggie record books in seven separate events and he holds the SWC 440-yard mark of 46.6 seconds, there are those who have been critical ofthe Andrews senior.They are angry that he has never reached the potential that he gave promise of in high | sc hool, that his high school performances in some cases have been better than he has ever achieved in his four years at Texas AM. |Ted Hit Career Peak as Andrews SeniorAs far as we’re concerned, Ted Nelson reached his potentialApril 22, 1961, when as a senior he had a phenomenal aftet noon. That afternoon he ran the 440-yard dash in the then national record time of 46.5, and sped through the 220 dash on the straigtaway in 20.6.We maintain that Nelson reached his peak that afternoon andthat is is to the credit of theAggie quartermiler that he has been able to stay near that peak through four years of college.There are two reasons why Nelson the college athlete has not been able to surpass Nelson thehigh school superstar.In the first place, he stands only 5-10 and weighs only 158.Neither are the marks of the ereat quartermilers like Adolph
Newspaper Details
Andrews County News
Andrews, Texas, US
Sun, Jun 06, 1965
Page 1
Full Page
Clipped by
J M.
TX, USA 16 Dec 2020
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Andrews County News
