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Lloyd Van Nest was a two-sport star, tabbed with all-Ohio distinction in football and basketball, during what some might say was the golden age of Wooster athletics. A three-year letterwinner in both, Van Nest played on teams that went 23-3 on the gridiron and 32-14 on the hardwood.
While there were few statistics tracked back then and less honors awarded than today, it is apparent that Van Nest was highly thought of. The Wooster High School product matriculated to the College and became the starter at left guard as a sophomore on the 1920 football team, which was crowned Ohio Conference champions during an undefeated season (9-0), and the Index commented that he was “tall, rangy, powerful. Much promise for the future.”
In 1921, Van Nest took over as the primary starter at right end, similar to the modern day’s receiver but with significant blocking responsibilities, and Wooster had a successful 6-2 season. Labeled as “fleet of foot,” in the Voice, he remained at the position for the 1922 campaign, accounting for a couple of touchdowns and at least one defensive interception while helping the team to an 8-1 mark. That won Van Nest a place on the All-Ohio Conference football team.
The 1924 Index may have summed up his football career best. “With an ideal build for an end, ‘Swig’ certainly made good at the job with the emphasis on the ‘good.’ He could pull down the forward passes when it seemed that they would go to the ground for want of someone to reach them. He played an excellent defensive game and was an expert at working on the opposing linemen.”
As successful as he was in football, basketball may have been Van Nest’s better sport. At 6-4 and 180 pounds, according to one source, he held a significant size advantage at the time. Another author said then-coach L.C. Boles “discovered considerable talent” in Van Nest, who started the majority of his sophomore season, which was highlighted by beating a previously undefeated Mt. Union College squad 32-26 in the finale.
After not contributing much offense in 1921, Van Nest became a go-to scorer at times as a junior for what most historians judge to be the best Wooster team of the school’s first 30 years of basketball. Wooster won the Ohio Conference and took just one blemish on its record (14-1).
Van Nest’s senior season saw him captain an inexperienced squad to a winning record (10-8). He averaged 11.3 points, including reaching the 20-point mark four times, and was an all-Ohio selection at forward.
Van Nest, who was a member of the Ruskin Club (poetry) and Toastmaster’s in addition to his athletic activities at Wooster, graduated and briefly coached/taught at Norwalk High School and Heidelberg College before moving on to Columbia University’s graduate school of business.
Van Nest worked in the cement industry for 28 years, beginning as district sales manager at Lehigh Portland Cement Company. He joined Penn-Dixie Cement Corporation with offices in New York, working his way up the ladder to vice president and general sales manager.
Van Nest passed away in New Rochelle, N.Y., at the relatively young age of 55. He and his wife, Zua, had a son, J. Philip Van Nest, who received an Ivy League education at Yale University and went on to a successful career as president of an automotive parts distributor in northern California.