Darren Milo Nelson is a former professional American football

American football

American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...

 player in the National Football League

National Football League

The National Football League is the highest level of professional American football in the United States, and is considered the top professional American football league in the world. It was formed by eleven teams in 1920 as the American Professional Football Association, with the league changing...

.

Nelson was selected by the Minnesota Vikings

Minnesota Vikings

The Minnesota Vikings are a professional American football team based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The Vikings joined the National Football League as an expansion team in 1960...

 in the 1st round (7th overall) in 1982 NFL Draft

1982 NFL Draft

The 1982 NFL Draft was the procedure by which National Football League teams selected amateur college football players. It is officially known as the NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting. The draft was held April 27–28, 1982...

 after graduating from Stanford University

Stanford University

The Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is a private research university on an campus located near Palo Alto, California. It is situated in the northwestern Santa Clara Valley on the San Francisco Peninsula, approximately northwest of San...

. He spent eight seasons with the Vikings; 1982–1989, before going to the San Diego Chargers

San Diego Chargers

The San Diego Chargers are a professional American football team based in San Diego, California. they were members of the Western Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League...

. Nelson would spend the final nine games of the 1989 season and the entire 1990 season with the Chargers. Following his year and a half away from the Vikings, Nelson returned to the team in 1991 and stayed there for the final two years of his career, 1991–1992.

Nelson was actually traded from the Vikings to the Cowboys as part of the infamous Herschel Walker Trade

Herschel Walker trade

The Herschel Walker trade, also known as "The Great Train Robbery", was the largest player trade in the history of the National Football League. It involved 18 players and draft picks...

 in 1989. However, after refusing to report to Dallas, he was subsequently flipped to the Chargers.

As a running back

Running back

A running back is a gridiron football position, who is typically lined up in the offensive backfield. The primary roles of a running back are to receive handoffs from the quarterback for a rushing play, to catch passes from out of the backfield, and to block.There are usually one or two running...

, Nelson was a threat as both a runner and as receiver out of the backfield. For his career, Nelson rushed for 4,442 yards, caught 286 passes for 2,559 yards and scored 23 touchdowns (18 rushing and 5 receiving) in 152 games. As of 2007, Nelson works with Stanford University as a Senior Associate Athletic Director

Athletic director

An athletic director is an administrator at many American colleges and universities, as well as in larger high schools and middle schools, who oversees the work of coaches and related staff involved in intercollegiate or interscholastic athletic programs...

 - External Relations/Development.