Lindsey Nelson



Lindsey Nelson (May 25, 1919 – June 10, 1995) was an American sportscaster best known for his broadcasts of college football and New York Mets baseball. He spent 17 years with the New York Mets and three years with the San Francisco Giants. For 33 years Nelson covered college football, including 26 Cotton Bowls, five Sugar Bowls, four Rose Bowls, and 14 years announcing Notre Dame games. He is in 13 separate Halls of Fame. Fans remember a talented broadcaster, an expert storyteller, and a true sports enthusiast. From his colorful jackets to his equally colorful broadcasts, Nelson established himself as one of the industry's leading sportscasters.

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, Tennessee for the Columbia Daily Herald newspaper, and a stint in the U.S. Army as a war correspondent and public relations specialist 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.

Affectionately known as "Mr. New Year's Day," Nelson subsequently did the play-by-play of the Cotton Bowl Classic for 26 seasons on CBS television, where he earned widespread recognition for his Tennessee drawl and signature opening greeting: "Happy New Year; this is Lindsey Nelson in the Cotton Bowl in Dallas." For 14 years he was the syndicated television voice of Notre Dame football, and he also called the Mutual Broadcasting System's Monday night radio broadcasts of NFL games from 1974 to 1977 in addition to 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 recreations of games. After a stretch as an administrator with NBC Sports, he began doing the network's baseball broadcasts in 1957. He also broadcast college football, NBA basketball, and professional golf and tennis during his NBC tenure.

New York Mets
In 1962, he was hired as the lead broadcaster by the expansion New York Mets, and for the next 17 seasons did both radio and television with Ralph Kiner and Bob Murphy. All three were eventually 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, the Yankees TV flagship station WPIX had Nelson call the final half-inning of Seaver's history-making win.

San Francisco Giants
In 1979 Nelson moved on to the San Francisco Giants, for whom he worked three seasons. He also worked with CBS Radio broadcasts of Major League Baseball in 1985. He is remembered for being the announcer during the first NFL game on CBS to use "instant replay", 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 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. But he figured that if fans could see rather than just hear broadcasts, he might as well give them something interesting to talk about.

Honors
Nelson's honors and awards include induction into the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Hall of Fame in Salisbury, North Carolina in 1979; the New York Mets Hall of Fame in 1984; 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 many more. He was awarded an Emmy Award for Lifetime Achievement in 1991.

The Tennessee Volunteers baseball team's home field was named Lindsey Nelson Stadium after him.

Retirement and death
After his retirement 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 entitled Hello Everybody, I'm Lindsey Nelson, his landmark opening phrase.

Nelson died of Parkinson's disease on June 10, 1995, in Atlanta, Georgia.