Frank Thayer Nelson (May 22, 1887 – July 16, 1970) was an American

athlete An athlete is most commonly a person who competes in one or more sports involving physical strength, speed, power, or endurance. Sometimes, the word "athlete" is used to refer specifically to sport of athletics competitors, i.e. including track ...

and

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

player who competed in the

1912 Summer Olympics The 1912 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the V Olympiad () and commonly known as Stockholm 1912, were an international multi-sport event held in Stockholm, Sweden, between 6 July and 22 July 1912. The opening ceremony was he ...

. He was born in

Detroit, Michigan Detroit ( , ) is the List of municipalities in Michigan, most populous city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is situated on the bank of the Detroit River across from Windsor, Ontario. It had a population of 639,111 at the 2020 United State ...

and died in

Grosse Pointe, Michigan Grosse Pointe is a city in Wayne County, Michigan, Wayne County in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the city had a population of 5,678. Grosse Pointe is an eastern suburb of Metro Detroit along La ...

. Nelson competed for the United States in the

held in

Stockholm, Sweden Stockholm (; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, most populous city of Sweden, as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in the Nordic countries. Approximately ...

in the pole vault, where he won the silver medal. At the same Olympics, he competed in the baseball event, which was held as

demonstration sport A demonstration sport, or exhibition sport, is a sport which is played to promote it, rather than as part of standard medal competition. This occurs commonly during the Olympic Games but may also occur at other sporting events. Demonstration sport ...

. Nelson was one of four Americans who played for the Swedish team. He graduated from Lawrenceville, class of 1906, and Yale, class of 1910. He was a lifelong member of the Les Cheneaux Club on Marquette Island in northern Lake Huron. Nelson also attended the all-boys Detroit University School from 1900 through his junior year, 1905. The school is now known as University Liggett School, located in Grosse Pointe Woods, Michigan. Nelson's classmate, John Neil Patterson, DUS '06, was a member of the 1908 USA Olympic team as a high jumper (7th place) and a hurdler. Nelson was a late replacement in the pole vault competition for Paul Maxon, another 1906 DUS graduate.

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* * 1887 births 1970 deaths American male pole vaulters Olympic baseball players for the United States Athletes (track and field) at the 1912 Summer Olympics Baseball players at the 1912 Summer Olympics Olympic silver medalists for the United States in track and field Medalists at the 1912 Summer Olympics 20th-century American sportsmen {{US-polevault-athletics-bio-stub