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Bryan Nelson’s statistics – 1,957 career points and 961 rebounds – and awards, the most prominent being the National Association of Basketball Coaches NCAA Div. III Player of the Year as a senior, speak for themselves, however, it was an intangible that made him one of The College of Wooster’s and North Coast Athletic Conference’s all-time greats.
“Bryan was a ferocious competitor,” said Wooster head coach Steve Moore. “Offensively, he had that ability to score around the basket that made him an excellent player … and he was an excellent rebounder on both ends of the court. He had all those traits and more, but it was his tremendous desire and will to win, and his leadership to motivate teams to compete along with him that separated him.”
It was evident right away that the 6-4, 220-pound post from Kettering, Ohio, had the skills – deceptive quickness, great hands, and a strong upper body among many others – to be highly successful. As a freshman, with averages of a league-leading 8.8 rebounds as well as 12.9 points, he helped the Fighting Scots to a perfect run through the NCAC – a 16-0 regular season record and three more wins en route to the tournament title – something no Wooster team has done before or since.
After taking NCAC Newcomer-of-the-Year honors, Nelson displayed progress as a sophomore (17.5 points, career-high 9.3 rebounds) and junior (18.0 points, 7.2 rebounds), and the awards continued to roll in. He was voted second-team all-district by the NABC as a sophomore, first-team as a junior, and first-team all-NCAC both seasons.
But it was his senior season when he truly left his mark. Fueled in part by the Scots uncharacteristic 2001-02 without an NCAC championship or NCAA Tournament berth, Nelson “conditioned harder than he ever conditioned, (taking) his off-season work and physical conditioning to another level, and it paid off,” according to Moore.
You could certainly make the argument that Nelson’s 2002-03 campaign, which saw him score 20.8 points on a .644 field-goal percentage and .885 free throw percentage to go with 8.6 rebounds, was the best individual season in Wooster men’s basketball’s tradition-rich history. After all, he was named the national Player of the Year, in addition being voted the best in the Great Lakes District and NCAC. Again, though, it goes back to his leadership that was most valuable as he seemingly put the team on his back at times and willed them to win after win.
The Scots captured the conference’s regular season and tournament championships, but most memorable was their run in the NCAA tourney as Nelson took them to a place – Salem, Va., for the “Final Four” – that no Wooster team had been to at that point, and did so in dramatic fashion. After squeaking by John Carroll University, Nelson put on a show for the home crowd both nights during the sectional round, including a 27-point, 15-rebound line to help get the Scots past Ramapo College of New Jersey 68-64, however, the celebration in Timken Gymnasium was slightly muted because he suffered a serious-looking injury with just over a minute to go.
Six days later in the national semifinals, Nelson nearly carried Wooster to another victory, scoring 29 points during a heartbreaking overtime loss to Williams College while playing with a significant brace to protect his severely sprained right ankle. His gutsy effort, which included another 29 points plus 11 rebounds in the third-place game, a Scots win, is still talked about when Wooster visits Salem.
Following his remarkable career with the Black and Gold, Nelson was a graduate assistant basketball coach at Findlay University while earning a master’s degree in human resource development. He then returned home to the Dayton area, held a couple of jobs in the business world before getting into administration in adult care, currently serving as the executive director of The Carlyle House.
Personally, Nelson and his wife Emily reside in Springboro, Ohio, with their two children Adeline (4) and Benjamin (1).