Lindsey Nelson
Encyclopedia
Lindsey Nelson was an American sportscaster best known for his broadcast
s of college football
and New York Mets
baseball
.
for the Columbia Daily Herald newspaper
, and a stint in the U.S. Army
as a war correspondent and public relations during World War II
. He was the first play-by-play announcer for the "Vol Network" which was set up to broadcast the games of the University of Tennessee
.
"Mr. New Years Day" Nelson subsequently did the play-by-play of the Cotton Bowl Classic for 25 seasons on CBS
television, where he earned widespread recognition for his deep Southern drawl and signature opening greeting: "Happy New Year - This is Lindsey Nelson in the Cotton Bowl
in Dallas." For 13 years he was the syndicated television voice of Notre Dame Fighting Irish football
, and he called the Mutual Broadcasting System
's Monday night
radio broadcasts of NFL
games from 1974
to 1977
. Nelson also called NFL games for CBS television for many years.
Nelson began his national baseball broadcast career as one of Gordon McLendon
's radio announcers for the Liberty Broadcasting System
, which primarily did re-creations of games. After a stretch as an administrator with NBC Sports
, he began doing the network's baseball broadcasts in . Nelson also broadcast college football, NBA basketball, and professional golf and tennis during his NBC tenure.
with Ralph Kiner
and Bob Murphy
. All three men were inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame. When Chicago White Sox
pitcher and former Mets ace Tom Seaver
went for his 300th victory in August 1985, against the host New York Yankees
, Yankees TV flagship WPIX
had Nelson call the final half-inning of Seaver's history-making win.
, for whom he worked three seasons. He also worked with CBS Radio broadcasts of Major League Baseball
in . Nelson is remembered for being the announcer during the first NFL game, on CBS
, to feature the use of "instant replay
", which he had to explain repeatedly during the game, reminding viewers that "this is not live."
-colored or multi-colored plaid sports jackets. He reportedly owned 335 of them at one time. During a broadcast, his jackets often clashed with the set and produced a scintillation
effect in the broadcast image, when broadcast using the inadequate television technology of the era.
in 1979; induction into the New York Mets Hall of Fame
in ; induction into the American Sportscasters Association
Hall of Fame in 1986; the Tuss McLaughry Service Award for sports broadcasting in 1988; the Ford C. Frick Award
from the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1988; the Pete Rozelle Radio-Television Award
from the Pro Football Hall of Fame
in 1990; and an Emmy Award for Life Achievement in 1991.
The Tennessee Volunteers baseball
team's home field, Lindsey Nelson Stadium
, carries his name.
from active broadcasting he moved to Knoxville, Tennessee
to an apartment across the Tennessee River
from the University of Tennessee
campus from which he had a view of Neyland Stadium
, the Volunteers' home field, and wrote an autobiographical
memoir.
Nelson died of Parkinson's disease
on June 10, 1995, in Atlanta
, Georgia
.
Broadcasting
Broadcasting is the distribution of audio and video content to a dispersed audience via any audio visual medium. Receiving parties may include the general public or a relatively large subset of thereof...
s of college football
College football
College football refers to American football played by teams of student athletes fielded by American universities, colleges, and military academies, or Canadian football played by teams of student athletes fielded by Canadian universities...
and New York Mets
New York Mets
The New York Mets are a professional baseball team based in the borough of Queens in New York City, New York. They belong to Major League Baseball's National League East Division. One of baseball's first expansion teams, the Mets were founded in 1962 to replace New York's departed National League...
baseball
Baseball
Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each. The aim is to score runs by hitting a thrown ball with a bat and touching a series of four bases arranged at the corners of a ninety-foot diamond...
.
Early life and career
Born on May 25, 1919, in Campbellsville, Tennessee, Nelson broke into broadcasting in 1948 following a short career as a reporter in Columbia, TennesseeColumbia, Tennessee
Columbia is a city in Maury County, Tennessee, United States. The 2008 population was 34,402 according to U.S. Census Bureau estimates. It is the county seat of Maury County....
for the Columbia Daily Herald newspaper
Newspaper
A newspaper is a scheduled publication containing news of current events, informative articles, diverse features and advertising. It usually is printed on relatively inexpensive, low-grade paper such as newsprint. By 2007, there were 6580 daily newspapers in the world selling 395 million copies a...
, and a stint in the U.S. Army
United States Army
The United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services...
as a war correspondent and public relations during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. He was the first play-by-play announcer for the "Vol Network" which was set up to broadcast the games of the University of Tennessee
University of Tennessee
The University of Tennessee is a public land-grant university headquartered at Knoxville, Tennessee, United States...
.
"Mr. New Years Day" Nelson subsequently did the play-by-play of the Cotton Bowl Classic for 25 seasons on CBS
CBS Sports
CBS Sports is a division of CBS Broadcasting which airs sporting events on the American television network. Its headquarters are in the CBS Building on West 52nd Street in midtown Manhattan, New York City, with programs produced out of Studio 43 at the CBS Broadcast Center on West 57th Street.CBS...
television, where he earned widespread recognition for his deep Southern drawl and signature opening greeting: "Happy New Year - This is Lindsey Nelson in the Cotton Bowl
Cotton Bowl (stadium)
The Cotton Bowl is a stadium which opened in 1929 and became known as "The House That Doak Built" due to the immense crowds that former SMU running back Doak Walker drew to the stadium during his college career in the late 1940s. Originally known as Fair Park Stadium, it is located in Fair Park,...
in Dallas." For 13 years he was the syndicated television voice of Notre Dame Fighting Irish football
Notre Dame Fighting Irish football
Notre Dame Fighting Irish football team is the football team of the University of Notre Dame. The team is currently coached by Brian Kelly.Notre Dame competes as an Independent at the NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision level, and is a founding member of the Bowl Championship Series coalition. It is an...
, and he called the Mutual Broadcasting System
Mutual Broadcasting System
The Mutual Broadcasting System was an American radio network, in operation from 1934 to 1999. In the golden age of U.S. radio drama, MBS was best known as the original network home of The Lone Ranger and The Adventures of Superman and as the long-time radio residence of The Shadow...
's Monday night
Monday Night Football
Monday Night Football is a live broadcast of the National Football League on ESPN. From to it aired on ABC. Monday Night Football was, along with Hallmark Hall of Fame, and the Walt Disney anthology television series, one of the longest running prime time commercial network television series...
radio broadcasts of NFL
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...
games from 1974
1974 NFL season
The 1974 NFL season was the 55th regular season of the National Football League. The season ended with Super Bowl IX when the Pittsburgh Steelers defeated the Minnesota Vikings...
to 1977
1977 NFL season
The 1977 NFL season was the 58th regular season of the National Football League. The Seattle Seahawks were placed in the AFC West while the Tampa Bay Buccaneers were slotted in the NFC Central....
. Nelson also called NFL games for CBS television for many years.
Nelson began his national baseball broadcast career as one of Gordon McLendon
Gordon McLendon
Gordon Barton McLendon was a radio pioneer and pirate radio broadcaster. He has been coined the Maverick of Radio. McLendon is widely credited for perfecting, with great commercial success, the Top 40 radio format during the 1950s and 1960s which was first invented by Todd Storz and for developing...
's radio announcers for the Liberty Broadcasting System
Liberty Broadcasting System
The Liberty Broadcasting System was a U.S. radio network of the late 1940s and early 1950s founded by Gordon McLendon, which mainly broadcast live recreations of Major League Baseball games, by following the action via Western Union ticker reports. The sound effects were very realistic, and many...
, which primarily did re-creations of games. After a stretch as an administrator with NBC Sports
NBC Sports
NBC Sports is the sports division of the NBC television network. Formerly "a service of NBC News," it broadcasts a diverse array of programs, including the Olympic Games, the NFL, the NHL, MLS, Notre Dame football, the PGA Tour, the Triple Crown, and the French Open, among others...
, he began doing the network's baseball broadcasts in . Nelson also broadcast college football, NBA basketball, and professional golf and tennis during his NBC tenure.
New York Mets
In , Nelson was hired by the Mets, and for the next 17 seasons did both radio and televisionTelevision
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
with Ralph Kiner
Ralph Kiner
Ralph McPherran Kiner is an American former Major League Baseball player and has been an announcer for the New York Mets since the team's inception. Though injuries forced his retirement from active play after 10 seasons, Kiner's tremendous slugging outpaced nearly all of his National League...
and Bob Murphy
Bob Murphy (announcer)
Robert Allan Murphy was an American sportscaster who spent 50 years doing play-by-play of Major League Baseball games on television and radio. The Oklahoman was best known for announcing the New York Mets, from their inception in 1962 until his retirement in 2003...
. All three men were inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame. When Chicago White Sox
Chicago White Sox
The Chicago White Sox are a Major League Baseball team located in Chicago, Illinois.The White Sox play in the American League's Central Division. Since , the White Sox have played in U.S. Cellular Field, which was originally called New Comiskey Park and nicknamed The Cell by local fans...
pitcher and former Mets ace Tom Seaver
Tom Seaver
George Thomas "Tom" Seaver , nicknamed "Tom Terrific" and "The Franchise", is a former Major League Baseball pitcher. He pitched from 1967-1986 for four different teams in his career, but is noted primarily for his time with the New York Mets...
went for his 300th victory in August 1985, against the host New York Yankees
New York Yankees
The New York Yankees are a professional baseball team based in the The Bronx, New York. They compete in Major League Baseball in the American League's East Division...
, Yankees TV flagship WPIX
WPIX
WPIX, channel 11, is a television station in New York City built, signed on, and owned by the Tribune Company. WPIX also serves as the flagship station of The CW Television Network...
had Nelson call the final half-inning of Seaver's history-making win.
San Francisco Giants
In , Nelson moved on to the San Francisco GiantsSan Francisco Giants
The San Francisco Giants are a Major League Baseball team based in San Francisco, California, playing in the National League West Division....
, for whom he worked three seasons. He also worked with CBS Radio broadcasts of Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball on CBS Radio
Major League Baseball on CBS Radio was the de facto title for the CBS Radio Network's coverage of Major League Baseball. Produced by CBS Radio Sports , the program was the official national radio broadcaster for the All-Star Game and the postseason from 1976 to 1997.-Contracts:CBS first covered...
in . Nelson is remembered for being the announcer during the first NFL game, on CBS
NFL on CBS
The NFL on CBS is the brand name of the CBS television network's coverage of the National Football League's American Football Conference games, produced by CBS Sports.-Market coverage and television policies:...
, to feature the use of "instant replay
Instant replay
Instant replay is the replaying of video footage of an event or incident very soon after it has occurred. In television broadcasting of sports events, instant replay is often used during live broadcast, to show a passage of play which was important or remarkable, or which was unclear on first...
", which he had to explain repeatedly during the game, reminding viewers that "this is not live."
Fashion sense and style
Television broadcasts featuring Nelson were notable for his "loud" psychedelicPsychedelic
The term psychedelic is derived from the Greek words ψυχή and δηλοῦν , translating to "soul-manifesting". A psychedelic experience is characterized by the striking perception of aspects of one's mind previously unknown, or by the creative exuberance of the mind liberated from its ostensibly...
-colored or multi-colored plaid sports jackets. He reportedly owned 335 of them at one time. During a broadcast, his jackets often clashed with the set and produced a scintillation
Grid illusion
A grid illusion is any kind of grid that deceives a person's vision. The two most common types of grid illusions are Hermann grid illusion and the Scintillating grid illusion.-Hermann grid illusion:...
effect in the broadcast image, when broadcast using the inadequate television technology of the era.
Honors
Nelson's honors include induction into the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Hall of Fame in Salisbury, North CarolinaSalisbury, North Carolina
Salisbury is a city in Rowan County in North Carolina, a state of the United States of America. The population was 33,663 in the 2010 Census . It is the county seat of Rowan County...
in 1979; induction into the New York Mets Hall of Fame
New York Mets Hall of Fame
The New York Mets Hall of Fame was created in 1981 to recognize the careers of former New York Mets players, managers, broadcasters and executives. There are presently 25 members...
in ; induction into the American Sportscasters Association
American Sportscasters Association
American Sportscasters Association was founded in 1979 by broadcaster Dick London and associate attorney Harold Foner as a non profit association to represent sportscasters by promoting and supporting the needs and interests of the professional sports broadcaster.-History:In 1980, Louis O...
Hall of Fame in 1986; the Tuss McLaughry Service Award for sports broadcasting in 1988; the Ford C. Frick Award
Ford C. Frick Award
The Ford C. Frick Award is presented annually by the National Baseball Hall of Fame in the United States to a broadcaster for "major contributions to baseball." It is named for Ford Christopher Frick, former Commissioner of Major League Baseball...
from the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1988; the Pete Rozelle Radio-Television Award
Pete Rozelle Radio-Television Award
The Pete Rozelle Radio-Television Award, created in 1989 and named for the late longtime NFL commissioner, is bestowed annually by the Pro Football Hall of Fame "for longtime exceptional contributions to radio and television in professional football". Unlike the Baseball Hall of Fame's comparable...
from the Pro Football Hall of Fame
Pro Football Hall of Fame
The Pro Football Hall of Fame is the hall of fame of professional football in the United States with an emphasis on the National Football League . It opened in Canton, Ohio, on September 7, 1963, with 17 charter inductees...
in 1990; and an Emmy Award for Life Achievement in 1991.
The Tennessee Volunteers baseball
Tennessee Volunteers baseball
The Tennessee Volunteers baseball team represents the University of Tennessee in NCAA Division I college baseball.Along with most other Tennessee athletic teams, the baseball team participates in the Eastern division of the Southeastern Conference. The Volunteers play all on-campus home games at...
team's home field, Lindsey Nelson Stadium
Lindsey Nelson Stadium
Lindsey Nelson Stadium is a baseball stadium in Knoxville, Tennessee. It is the home field of the University of Tennessee Volunteers college baseball team. The stadium opened in 1993 and holds 3,712 people...
, carries his name.
Retirement and death
After his retirementRetirement
Retirement is the point where a person stops employment completely. A person may also semi-retire by reducing work hours.Many people choose to retire when they are eligible for private or public pension benefits, although some are forced to retire when physical conditions don't allow the person to...
from active broadcasting he moved to Knoxville, Tennessee
Knoxville, Tennessee
Founded in 1786, Knoxville is the third-largest city in the U.S. state of Tennessee, U.S.A., behind Memphis and Nashville, and is the county seat of Knox County. It is the largest city in East Tennessee, and the second-largest city in the Appalachia region...
to an apartment across the Tennessee River
Tennessee River
The Tennessee River is the largest tributary of the Ohio River. It is approximately 652 miles long and is located in the southeastern United States in the Tennessee Valley. The river was once popularly known as the Cherokee River, among other names...
from the University of Tennessee
University of Tennessee
The University of Tennessee is a public land-grant university headquartered at Knoxville, Tennessee, United States...
campus from which he had a view of Neyland Stadium
Neyland Stadium
Neyland Stadium is a sports stadium in Knoxville, Tennessee, USA. It serves primarily as the home of the Tennessee Volunteers football team, but is also used to host large conventions and has been a site for several NFL exhibition games. The stadium's official capacity is 102,455...
, the Volunteers' home field, and wrote an autobiographical
Autobiography
An autobiography is a book about the life of a person, written by that person.-Origin of the term:...
memoir.
Nelson died of Parkinson's disease
Parkinson's disease
Parkinson's disease is a degenerative disorder of the central nervous system...
on June 10, 1995, in Atlanta
Atlanta, Georgia
Atlanta is the capital and most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia. According to the 2010 census, Atlanta's population is 420,003. Atlanta is the cultural and economic center of the Atlanta metropolitan area, which is home to 5,268,860 people and is the ninth largest metropolitan area in...
, Georgia
Georgia (U.S. state)
Georgia is a state located in the southeastern United States. It was established in 1732, the last of the original Thirteen Colonies. The state is named after King George II of Great Britain. Georgia was the fourth state to ratify the United States Constitution, on January 2, 1788...
.