Andrew Vaughan Nelson (born May 27, 1933) is an American former professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

player who was a

safety Safety is the state of being protected from harm or other danger. Safety can also refer to the control of recognized hazards in order to achieve an acceptable level of risk. Meanings The word 'safety' entered the English language in the 1 ...

in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...

(NFL) for the

Baltimore Colts The Baltimore Colts were a professional American football team that played in Baltimore from 1953 to 1983, when owner Robert Irsay moved the franchise to Indianapolis. The team was named for Baltimore's history of horse breeding and racing. It w ...

and

New York Giants The New York Giants are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Giants compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC East, East division. The ...

. He owns and runs a small BBQ establishment, Andy Nelson's Barbecue.

Early life

Andy was born in

Athens, Alabama Athens is a city in and the county seat of Limestone County, in the U.S. state of Alabama; it is included in the Huntsville-Decatur-Albertville, AL Combined Statistical Area. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city is 25,406. Hist ...

, where his father Guy was chief pitmaster for Limestone County. He was a four-sport athlete at Athens High School playing football, basketball, track and baseball, serving as co-captain of the 1951 team and winning letters for each of his four years he completed. Nelson played quarterback and defensive back for then Memphis State University. A four-year letterman (1952–1956), he gained All-American recognition in his senior season. In 1956, he led the Tigers to their first-ever bowl game, the

Burley Bowl The Burley Bowl was a postseason college football bowl game played from 1945 through 1956. It was held each year on Thanksgiving Day in Johnson City, Tennessee, at the city's Memorial Stadium, which was demolished in July 2010. The game was part of ...

Johnson City, Tennessee Johnson City is a city in Washington, Carter, and Sullivan counties in the U.S. state of Tennessee, mostly in Washington County. As of the 2020 United States census, the population was 71,046, making it Tennessee's eighth-most populous cit ...

, where they were victorious over East Tennessee State.

Professional career

Nelson was drafted by the

in the eleventh round of the

1957 NFL draft The 1957 NFL draft had its first four rounds held on November 26, 1956, at the Warwick Hotel in Philadelphia and its final twenty-six rounds on January 31, 1957, at the Bellevue-Stratford Hotel also in Philadelphia. This was the 11th year th ...

. Having played both quarterback and defensive back in college, the Colts made him a defensive player. Nelson started 12 games his rookie season, with 5 interceptions for 29 yards. The following season, Nelson would record 8 interceptions for 199 yards and 1 touchdown. The Colts would go on to win the

NFL Championship Throughout its history, the National Football league (NFL) and other rival American football leagues have used several different formats to determine their league champions, including a period of inter-league matchups to determine a true national ...

in what was the NFL's first sudden-death overtime game and has since become widely known as "The Greatest Game Ever Played". The Colts would repeat in

1959 Events January * January 1 – Cuba: Fulgencio Batista flees Havana when the forces of Fidel Castro advance. * January 2 – Soviet lunar probe Luna 1 is the first human-made object to attain escape velocity from Earth. It reaches the ...

and over his seven-year career with the Colts, Nelson would rack up 33 total interceptions for 378 yards and 3 touchdowns. The Colts traded Nelson to the

for the 1964 season, his last in the NFL.

Coaching career

Nelson spent two years as a player and defensive coach with the Harrisburg Capitols of the

Atlantic Coast Football League The Atlantic Coast Football League (ACFL) was a professional American football Minor league football (gridiron), minor league that operated from 1962 to 1973. Until 1969, many of its franchises had working agreements with National Football Leagu ...

, the Colts' farm team, where he led the league in pass defense before going on to be named the head football coach. Nelson went on to become Defensive Coordinator for the

Norfolk Neptunes The Norfolk Neptunes were an American football franchise based in Norfolk, Virginia that played in the Continental Football League from 1965 until 1969 and the Atlantic Coast Football League from 1970 to 1971. The team played at Foreman Field at ...

, winning a league championship in 1971, and then the Chambersburg Cardinals of the

Seaboard Football League The Seaboard Football League was an American football minor league that operated from 1971 to 1974.Bob Gill, with Steve Brainerd and Tod Maher, ''Minor League Football, 1960-85'' (McFarland and Co., 2002), pp84, 99-100 It folded during the 1974 ...

, winning another championship in 1973. Nelson was also defensive coordinator for

Philadelphia Bell The Philadelphia Bell was a franchise in the World Football League, which operated in 1974 and a portion of a season in 1975. The Bell played their home games in 1974 at JFK Stadium in South Philadelphia. The team logo was a representation of ...

in the

World Football League The World Football League (WFL) was an American football league that played one full season in 1974 in sports, 1974 and most of its second in 1975 in sports, 1975. Although the league's proclaimed ambition was to bring American football onto a w ...

from 1974–75.

Awards

Nelson was voted into the Limestone County Hall of Fame (2003) in Alabama and the Memphis State Hall of Fame (1976). He was selected to the NFL's All-Pro team in 1958 and 1959, and the NFL's Pro Bowl in 1960. He was selected by

Sporting News ''The Sporting News'' is a website and former magazine publication owned by Sporting News Holdings, which is a U.S.-based sports media company formed in December 2020 by a private investor consortium. It was originally established in 1886 as a ...

for their 1st-Team All-NFL in 1958, 1959 and 1960.

Family life

Nelson has seven children.

Restaurant

Andy Nelson's Barbecue is a

BBQ Barbecue or barbeque (often shortened to BBQ worldwide; barbie or barby in Australia and New Zealand) is a term used with significant regional and national variations to describe various cooking methods that employ live fire and smoke to cook ...

restaurant A restaurant is an establishment that prepares and serves food and drinks to customers. Meals are generally served and eaten on the premises, but many restaurants also offer take-out and Delivery (commerce), food delivery services. Restaurants ...

Cockeysville, Maryland Cockeysville is a census-designated place (CDP) in Baltimore County, Maryland, United States. The population was 20,776 at the 2010 United States Census, 2010 census. History Cockeysville was named after the Cockey family who helped establish the ...

. It is known for its

hickory Hickory is a common name for trees composing the genus ''Carya'', which includes 19 species accepted by ''Plants of the World Online''. Seven species are native to southeast Asia in China, Indochina, and northeastern India (Assam), and twelve ...

smoked Smoking is the process of flavoring, browning, cooking, or preserving food, particularly meat, fish and tea, by exposing it to smoke from burning or smoldering material, most often wood. In Europe, alder is the traditional smoking wood, but ...

BBQ. The restaurant regularly wins "Baltimore's Best BBQ" by ''Baltimore Magazine'' and the ''City Paper''.About Andy Nelson's Barbecue
His children mostly run the barbecue business today. The restaurant dining areas are lined with ''Best of Baltimore'' magazine covers and other awards. There are also numerous football mementos and photos, and various figurines and posters of pigs.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nelson, Andy 1933 births Living people Sportspeople from Athens, Alabama Players of American football from Alabama American football safeties Memphis Tigers football players Baltimore Colts players New York Giants players Western Conference Pro Bowl players