Jeff Nelson: How good was he?

I've known Jeff since high school. I wasn't at Oregon, so I can't attest to exactly what happened there. But the idea of Jeff being some sort of egomaniac who shows no respect for his teammates or a team's rules is absurd. He's incredibly respectful (was in high school, was after high school, is to this day), both of teammates and competitors; he's far too shy to ever be overtly rude (and if he didn't talk to teammates, it was shyness - not ego and hostility - that was the cause); and he was far too competitive and talented an athlete to fail in a great "system," no matter how strict. A great system finds ways to adjust for individual talents, because no group of top runners can train exactly the same. Jeff is (and was) a great guy, and he was a very talented runner. Oregon didn't work for him; god knows, it's worked for others - the two realities are not mutually exclusive.

Or we could just call Jeff some more names ... Loser.

Burbank Tom please tell us the real story of what happened to Jeff and his short stay at Oregon. What was the conflict with Nelson and Salazar, and why where the Oregon coaches seemingly forcing Nelson to run injured.

I have always been a big fan of Jeff Nelson and have wanted to know the true story of his carear after high school. I imagine Jeff was one of the most talented runners ever, with all the potential in the world had he been in a better system for his needs/personality. I have wondered even if Jeff were in the very best system for him personally if he would have been able to sustain world class status as it seemed he had alot of injuries. Jeff Nelson is my all time favorite high school runner.

Maybe it's just us SF valley kids that had a tough time surviving it. Yes, running, injured, even with "gasp" stress fractures, occured. You would try to get by with minimal injury recovery times and go with tape, dmso, whatever. It was no one's fault. everyone just wanted to be the best . I was out of the program by the time jeff got there(injuries, burnout ennui), but he was not the first to crash at Oregon. Another Valley kid, who was the second fastest hs 800 meter runner in the nation in '75 had similar woes and left the sport forever after his brief stint on a full ride in eugene. there are many who have a hard time in that amazing,but ultimately stressfull atmosphere. 4 full years as a Duck are an impressive accomplishment. Some of us just can't handle the cooker and find that getting out for a while is essential to our well being and sanity.

Who are you making reference to? I thought it might have been a reference to David Mack, but he wasn't from the valley; I think he went to Locke H.S., and he came in the same year as Nelson (79-80). That was a talented class (Nelson, Mack, Hill), but Hill was the only one to make it all four years. Mack had the better international career, but I would say that Jim's post-collegiate career was more successful (Sporthill company versus jail).

Jeff was a beast.

He was a fearless pace setter in cross country. That particular field at Mt Sac was deep.

Paul Medvin ran a great race himself. Medvin 2 time CA state mile champ, 4:08.9 as a jr. He had the fastest time in the mile that spring: 4:05.3(Also ran 4:05.6 & 4:06.3 & 4:06.9 & 4:07.3!!!) Frank Assuma (Age group star, Started running at 7 as did his twin brother.) State 2 mile champ as a sophomore: 8:52.9! Second to Medvin in the mile as a junior 4:09.2. Chuck Assuma 8:55.4 for 2 miles as a sophomore! As a junior Chuck ran 14:19.9 for 5,000m & 30:19.4 10,000m. Chuck ran 8:52.4 that spring.

Jeff Hess 4:12.5-mile 9:09.2-2mile & 9:08.9 steeple as a Junior. That spring he did 4:07.7-mile, 8:18.3 3,000 meters( Converts to 8:58 2 miles) 8:50.1 steeple.

Steve Strangio Mission San Jose: 9:06.1- 2miles as a junior and 9:04.8 that spring was a good cross country runner.

Ken Ernst 9:02.2

Jeff ran uncontested the whole way. He spanked them all.

Oregon was an adjustment for anyone. Bill McChesney went through the same things as Jeff.(Bill and Jeff got along).

Workouts are serious business and some take very seriously. There are Olympians from other countries there.

Some guys were jealous.

Being injured and being in Oregon isn't as fun as it seems.

It rains 85% of the time.

Dellinger wasn't the most personable coach.

Jeff is a nice guy and easy going.

When Jeff ran, he was a competitor.

Jeff just couldn't beat the injuries.

sounds like a good analysis to me, but i don't know much about jeff's stay at oregon except only to say that he did get injured a lot.

like socalpete, i know him fairly well and know how personable he is and was...in fact, the first time i met him was at the burbank invitational (as burbank tom refers to)and i was warming up for that same 2-mile race...my goal that day (as a junior) was to break 10 minutes. i had no idea who jeff nelson was at the time but 30 minutes before the race he and his teammate (lin whatcott) came up to me and introduced themselves; i guess they saw a short, skinny runner in myself and figured i was in their race. so we just talked a little. jeff was an unassuming guy and kind of reserved but still cordial; but it was lin who really took over the conversation. anyway, it was only about 5 minutes of chatting when jeff said "good luck" to me and went jogging off to warm up for our race...(or warm down. i think he had just run an anchor leg of 4:13 in the dm. i'm sure burbank tom could confirm that.) anyway, lin stuck around to chat some more with me and revealed that he and jeff ran fast two-mile races at jack-in-the-box a few weeks earlier(san diego indoor)...i asked lin what they'd run and he matter-of-factly replied "9:08"...and jeff ran 8:42. (can you imagine running 9:08 indoors and being #2 on your team?) needless to say, my jaw dropped to the ground! well, that year i was a bit green to the whole running scene (didn't know who the big guns were or the times they were running) but at that point i began following jeff nelson's running career for the rest of the '79 season. i'd comb through the 'the day in results' at the back of the l.a. times sports section every monday sunday/monday morning to check for jeff's name. i even started subscribing to tnf news. he had a huge influence on me. jeff gave me a new outlook on running after our first meeting in the spring of 1979 because of his friendly demeanor. i even remember thinking, wow, this guy's so good yet he's here talking to a mere mortal like myself...he made feel important. that race was rather interesting as the three of us all had our own little time-trials...jeff won in 8:58, whatcott was second in 9:28, and i broke 10 minutes for the first time in 9:43...i was really psyched and don't think i would've done that if i hadn't met jeff and lin that day.

i, too, have often wondered over the years about jeff's situation at oregon but i think it might be more revealing if we knew about what type of guy al salazar was.

Al thought Jeff was a "momma's boy" and that his failure at OR was due to being homesick.

Reading through the totality of all this- Jeff was clearly the undisputed HS 2M king, regardless of woulda, shoulda, coulda, conversions, any other BS factor you want to say about Rupp. He was far superior to Galen Rupp ever would be over 2m. As that Rupp fan said, UNDISPUTED.

If Webb had run 1/2 the mileage that Nelson ran he would have broken 8:30 for sure. Hell, if he just concentred on some deuces in the spring of his sr year (instead of the mile), he would likely would have broken 8:36. You don't think the day he ran 3:53 he coulda run an 8:35? sure he could have. And that was off of 50 miles a week. As the article says Nelson was consistently over 100 mile per and hit 140 sometimes. yeah, he ran "just for fun, as a hobby." Suuuure.....you don't run 140 a week in HS for "fun." He was driven, he was talented, and set the all -time HS record, and then his body broke down, he couldn't take the pressure and competition of Oregon, and he gave up. End of story. Why all the myth-making about him? Lots of great runners run too much too soon and get hurt and quit. Happens all the time. What's amazing is that his body lasted as long as it did. 140 a week in HS is no joke.

These old Jeff Nelson stories are great. I guess it is fun to wonder what could have been. Though I have never met Jeff Nelson I have heard stories, mostly all good ones. In one case I heard someone say about Jeff and Oregon, "give no respect and get no respect".. I agree with another poster that it would be intersting to hear how Salazar remembers all of this. In a purely hypothetical manner, I wonder how Salazar would have coached Nelson now that he has coached Galen Rupp.

I also heard that prior to the 84 Olympics in Los Angelas that quite a few of the local tracks were being used for training, etc.. Apparently Jeff was running very sparsely back then and during one of the Kenya/Ethoipan time trials/intervals??? Jeff ran right at or below 9 flat for 2 miles.

I'm talking about Marty Bayliss. Came to duckville in fall of 75, and never could adapt to the mileage and Atmosphere. He was out of Chatsworth High. I think he only had a year or so on the team, just like me, then moved on.

I remember reading about Jeff in a 1977? edition of Runners World when it was about running. RW did a small article on runners towards the end of the magazine and it showed Jeff's schedule:

5 in the morning

10 in the evening

It inspired the s--t out of me and I did it for awhile but I never, ever reached his times.

me, me, me, meeeee... wrote:

you don't run 140 a week in HS for "fun."

uh, jeff did run for fun...yes, he was driven but he loved running. his injury, by the way, is a result of one leg being one-half-inch (no exageration) shorter than the other, not because of the long mileage...it would've happened regardless.

Woulda, coulda, shoulda ... but didn't.

That's why they call it a record. Because no one else has run faster. End of story.

... except that if Jeff had only run 50 miles a week and had concentrated on his mile instead of his 2 mile, well gee, then maybe he could have broken Ryun's record himself!!! ... um, that's sarcasm, in case you didn't catch it....

I usually don't get into slamming people on these boards...but, Me me me What an Ass! Jeff didn't give up, he left a program that did not work for him. People transfer all the time, in and out of programs for a better situation. Jeff ran the next year at Glendale College and won the Cal State JC Championship in XC and ran 14:04 for the 5000 in track that year. His girlfriend at the time got pregnant and they got married and priorities changed. Running was no longer important and taking care of his family was. Unfortunatly in those days Nike did not throw a lot of money to track athletes, if they had maybe Jeff would have been able to continue on.

I do remember the day well that the Kenyan Olympic team did a time trial at Burbank High before the 84 LA Games. Jeff did jump in with them and run about 9:00 flat.

Lin Whatcott however went on and had a fine career at BYU and went on to run a 2:14 marathon.

I think one of Jeff's best races was in the 1979 World Junior Cross meet at Limerick, Ireland. Jeff placed forth in the world as a High School senior.

That is interesting about Jeff's one leg being an 1 1/2" longer. I had never heard that before. I wonder if that would have something to do with his running style, weigh up on his toes while leaning to one side.

IMO, Lindgren's 8:40.0 on an 11 lap to the mile board track, Virgin's 8:40.9 in 95 degree heat and Pre's 8:41.6 in high school only races are better performances.

otis wrote:

IMO, Lindgren's 8:40.0 on an 11 lap to the mile board track, Virgin's 8:40.9 in 95 degree heat and Pre's 8:41.6 in high school only races are better performances.

And yet, the record still stands 27 years later (even with the 18.6 meter "short course" that the 3200m provides).

Not sure what the 3200 has to do with anything.

Lindgren's 8:40.0 indoor mark still stands after 42 years!

Virgin's 8:40.9 is still the fastest two mile in a high school only race after almost 33 years!

I would be curious to see what they would have run in outdoor open two mile races.