Nelson Wallace "Nels" Nitchman (December 21, 1908 – March 4, 1991) was an

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team wit ...

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...

, and

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding ...

coach. He served as the head football coach at

Union College Union College is a Private university, private liberal arts college in Schenectady, New York. Founded in 1795, it was the first institution of higher learning chartered by the New York State Board of Regents, and second in the state of New York, ...

Schenectady, New York Schenectady () is a city in Schenectady County, New York, United States, of which it is the county seat. As of the 2020 census, the city's population of 67,047 made it the state's ninth-largest city by population. The city is in eastern New Yo ...

, from 1936 to 1940, at

Colby College Colby College is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Waterville, Maine. It was founded in 1813 as the Maine Literary and Theological Institution, then renamed Waterville College after the ...

in 1941, and at the

United States Coast Guard Academy The United States Coast Guard Academy (USCGA) is a service academy of the United States Coast Guard in New London, Connecticut. Founded in 1876, it is the smallest of the five U.S. service academies and provides education to future Coast G ...

from 1946 to 1958. Nitchman was also the head basketball coach at Union from 1933 to 1941 and at the Coast Guard Academy from 1942 to 1954, tallying a career

college basketball In United States colleges, top-tier basketball is governed by collegiate athletic bodies including National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), the United States Collegiate Athleti ...

mark of 130–146.

Coaching career

Nitchman was the head football coach at the

New London, Connecticut New London is a seaport city and a port of entry on the northeast coast of the United States, located at the mouth of the Thames River in New London County, Connecticut. It was one of the world's three busiest whaling ports for several decades ...

. He held that position for 13 seasons, from 1946 until 1958. His coaching record at Coast Guard was 45–43–5.

Death

Nitchman died on March 4, 1991, in

Waterford, Connecticut Waterford is a town in New London County, Connecticut, United States. It is named after Waterford, Ireland. The population was 19,571 at the 2020 census. The town center is listed as a census-designated place (CDP) and had a population of 3,07 ...

Head coaching record

Football

References

1908 births 1991 deaths American men's basketball players Coast Guard Bears baseball coaches Coast Guard Bears football coaches Coast Guard Bears men's basketball coaches Colby Mules football coaches Union Garnet Chargers baseball players Union Garnet Chargers men's basketball coaches Union Garnet Chargers men's basketball players Union Garnet Chargers football coaches Union Garnet Chargers football players {{1940s-collegefootball-coach-stub