UPDATED 8/28 WITH MEMORIAL SERVICE INFORMATION

MINNEAPOLIS -- Legendary Augsburg College athlete, coach and instructor Edor Nelson '38, who led the Auggie football and baseball teams during a four-decade span, died on Wednesday morning. He was 100.
 
Nelson died nine days after celebrating his centennial birthday with hundreds of Augsburg alumni, friends and student-athletes at a ceremony on the Augsburg campus, where a new video scoreboard was unveiled on the outdoor athletic field that bears his name, Edor Nelson Field.
 
"Last week we celebrated Edor's 100th birthday in the company of more than 200 of his former students and friends. I'm personally grateful that we were able to recognize his legacy by dedicating our new scoreboard in his honor on the Edor Nelson Field," said Augsburg College President Dr. Paul Pribbenow in a message to the campus community on Wednesday.
 
"Few people in Augsburg's history could claim as long and lasting an impact on this college as Edor Nelson," Pribbenow said. "He touched the lives of many here at Augsburg through his years as football coach, his years as baseball coach and his support in building the wrestling and men's hockey programs at Augsburg. We hold in our thoughts and prayers Edor's sons, Auggies Bruce '71 and Bob '68, his immediate family, and all who loved him as part of Augsburg's extended family."
 
A memorial for Nelson will be held on Friday, Sept. 5 at Nokomis Heights Lutheran Church in south Minneapolis (5300 10th Ave., S., Minneapolis, MN 55417). Visitation will be from 12 to 1 p.m., with the memorial service following at 1 p.m.
 
Nelson coached Augsburg's baseball team from 1946 to 1979, leading the Auggies to seven Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference championships during his tenure. After serving a year as an assistant football and basketball coach, he was named head coach of Augsburg's football team in 1947, serving in that role until 1969. He had a 55-120-9 record as Augsburg's football coach, the second-most wins in school history.

 

In addition to coaching baseball and football, he helped to start Augsburg's wrestling program in 1949, coaching the squad until 1963. His team won Augsburg's first MIAC wrestling title in 1961. He also helped to re-start the Augsburg men's hockey program, coaching in the 1956-57 season.
 
Nelson was an instructor in Augsburg's Health and Physical Education department from 1946 to 1978.
 
"Our thoughts and prayers go out to the whole Edor Nelson family, especially his sons Bob and Bruce, who are also Augsburg alumni," said Augsburg Athletic Director Jeff Swenson '79. "As we mourn the loss of Edor, we also celebrate an exceptional 100 years of life. I'm so grateful that we had a chance to honor Edor on his 100th birthday last Monday. It's an event that all of us in the Augsburg community will remember forever."
 
A native of Dawson, Minn., Nelson graduated from Augsburg in 1938. He was a three-sport athlete at Augsburg, playing baseball, football and basketball, earning all-conference honors in baseball and basketball. He moved to Lamberton, Minn., after graduation, teaching and coaching baseball and basketball. His Lamberton baseball team won the state title in 1939 and finished second in 1940.

 

In 1940, Nelson was drafted into the U.S. Army -- he said in a 2008 Minneapolis Star-Tribune interview that he was the first individual drafted from his home county, Lac qui Parle -- and was trained at the Cavalry Officer Candidate School at Fort Riley, Kansas. While at Fort Riley, he played on the post's football team, earning All-Midwest honors as a center on the U.S. Army championship football team in 1943.

During World War II, he served as an infantry officer as a member of the 43rd Cavalry Reconnaissance Squad, part of the Third Cavalry in General George Patton's Third Army. Shortly after D-Day, his group was deployed to France. Nelson was captured by the Germans on Oct. 20, 1944 and spent several months in prisoner of war camps in Germany and Poland before an escape and eventual liberation.
 
Upon his return to Minnesota, he earned his master's degree at the University of Minnesota in 1947, after joining the Augsburg faculty and coaching staff.
 
In 1984, Nelson and former Augsburg men's basketball coach and athletic director Ernie Anderson '37 were honored with the naming of the new college outdoor athletic field as Anderson-Nelson Field. In 2001, the field was renamed as Edor Nelson Field, after the college renamed the Si Melby Hall main competition court in Anderson's honor.
 
Nelson was born on Aug. 18, 1914. He and his wife, Dorathy, were married in 1941 and had two sons, Bob and Bruce. Dorathy Nelson died in 2011 at age 95.