I found it interesting to read posts on Jeff Nelson. Some were right on the mark while others seemed to come for people who didn't know Jeff at all. I was Jeffs High School Coach and do know him quite well. He did not have a great time in Oregon. He went there in the Fall of 1979 after a wonderful High School Career at Burbank High School. Almost all available housing at Oregon was occupied by "students" that enrolled at Oregon in hopes of training there to prep for the Olympic Trials of 1980. Jeff was housed in substandard housing to say the least. Not a great start! He did well in Cross Country, made the top 7 and was on the team when they finished 2nd in the NCAA'S. He later experienced a stress fracture that was much more severe than a "little tape and aspirin" could cure. His spring was a night mare with the injury and lack of support from the program.
In high school I don't think I ever met a more humble athlete. Jeff was very unassuming about his accomplishments and would never really talk about them. He was a motorcycle enthusiast and bass player. He like those things just as well as running. As far at the 140 miles a week of training as a routine, well that is only partly correct. We began the summer of 1978 at 50 miles per week and increased the volumn 10% per week, peaking at the 140 in the final week of August. We then cut back to a more normal routine, eventually scaling back to around 60 per week in early season tapering off to get ready for the meat of the season. Jeff did run for fun, and he did enjoy running a great deal. He and Lin Whatcott were like twins when they ran, having fun the entire time.
Jeff is still a great person, a great family man, and a good friend. To this day, he still doesn't say much about his running career. By the way, he only started running in the summer prior to starting his soph year at Burbank High School. When I first saw him run, I thought at the time he would be something special. It wasn't any one thing that stood out, except his demeanor, but there was something there. He proved me correct in the long run. We never trained on the track. We mostly ran the streets, the grass at McCambridge Park in Burbank, and the hills of Griffith Park in Los Angeles (right next to Burbank). Was his career a failure because he did not excell at Oregon? I don't think so. Very few had the success Jeff did in Track and Cross Country. Because running was not his most burning desire in life, the fact remains he was perhaps one of the all time greats in high school, if not the greatest.
It pains me to read things that are not particularly true about Jeff posted by people that didn't know him. This debate will rage on, but the fact remains he did run 8:36.3 for the National 2 mile Record at the Pepsi meet at UCLA in 1979 and actually still holds the 2mile record (it was broken on conversion from 3200 meters. Maybe someone did break it after the high school season was officially over. Jeff did congratulate German Fernandez following his fabulous California State Meet persormance a couple of years ago. Jeff always was a class act.