Ron Nelson

Holly Nelson had no idea what she was getting into when she and her husband Ron, accepted teaching positions in Lusk 40 years ago. “I never dreamed that when we left Chadron State Ron would be in coaching this long,” she said. At that time, if you wanted a job you coached whatever they said you would and Ron ended up as an assistant wrestling coach under Jerry Oestman.

He hadn’t been much of a wrestler when he was younger so this was a new experience for the most part. “Jerry would wrestle with the little guys and I’d have the bigger ones kicking my butt,” said Ron. “It was an interesting time, but I learned a lot from him. He was a great coach and a great official.”

40 years being in the same community naturally gives way to generations of wrestlers growing up in Lusk with a familiar face. One of Ron’s earliest freshmen was a skinny kid named JD Wasserburger. JD wrestled for four years under Oestman and Nelson and began an officiating career that spanned 20 years. He is now entering his 16th season as Ron’s assistant and has seen three sons come through the program. “One of the unique things about wrestling is the generations- past dads, granddads, thats where the base is,” said JD. On the current Tiger roster there are eight second generation wrestlers. “And freshman Ian Zerbe is a third-generation one, his grandpa wrestled here before Ron arrived, if you can believe that,” added JD.

When Oestman retired following the 1982 season and Nelson took over the program, his son Dean was a sophomore. “He was pretty intense as a head coach back then, there wasn’t any favoritism, he wanted the best out of everyone,” said Dean. Dean’s son Jathan is now a Tiger freshman wrestler this year and the father thinks grandpa likes it but won’t say. “He’s a little tougher on his own kids, but I think it’s really exciting for him,” said Dean.

The team started off on a remarkable run in 1983 that continues to this start of another new season. 255-93 dual record, 26 conference championships, 19 regional championships, five state runner-up finishes, four state championships, 40 individual state champions, 32 state runners-up, 18 conference coach of the year awards, six state coach of the year awards, NFHS Northwest coach of the year, WCA all-star coach twice. His dual record against Wyoming 2A schools is an astounding 175-1. “That’s the most amazing thing I think, compare it to ten consecutive perfect football seasons,” said JD. The list of accolades goes on but you won’t ever hear him talking about his awards. “He doesn’t really like all the hoopla, he’s a humble, private guy,” said Laurie Wasserburger. When asked, Ron just smiles “It’s about great parents, great kids, and great assistant coaches, I’ve been blessed to be in this position.”

Decades of success led to Nelson being nominated for the National Federation of High School Coaches Association, the organization that oversees high school sports across the entire country, National Coach of the Year honor. Nominated once before, Nelson traveled to the national finalist banquet in the Minneapolis/St. Paul area after the 2008 season. He finished second in the voting, but was truly honored to be recognized. “It was a good experience, it’s nice to be recognized by your peers,” said Ron. Holly added, “There was some tremendous competition and that he was included with those great people is quite an honor.”

The following is a collection of comments from former wrestlers under Ron Nelson: Dane Dowen: Coach Nelson was a tough and fair coach that inspired me and pushed his wrestlers to be the best they could be. The “Never Quit” mentality! I had the honor of wresting for him from 1986-89.

Jason Wasserburger 1997 - 2000: The look on his face after we finished winning his first State Championship ever was priceless. I remember when I was younger thinking that this man never smiles. That night, you couldn’t turn off his smile. It was a great ride back to Lusk that night, celebrating the whole way.

As an official now instead of one of his wrestlers, I still get treated like one of his kids. He has always been supportive of me since graduating NCHS and I always seem to get great advice from him. He has done so much for all the young men who have wrestled for him both on the mat and off of it. He will be hard to replace when the time comes.

Shawn Johnson 1987: I actually started wrestling in third grade because of Mrs. Nelson. I was in her class and the way she talked about it made me want to start. After losing the paperwork multiple times she always got me new ones and got me signed up. With Coach Nelson, I always thought his greatest ability was in handling his wrestlers. By the time I got to high school I’d wrestled a lot so it wasn’t so much about learning technique as the preparation, conditioning, and the mental edge. Coach Nelson, throughout the 1987 season, always had the ability to make me dig a little deeper. Every time I hit my wall and thought I wouldn’t get better he would, with a frown, smile, yell, or pat on the back push me forward to perform better. He knew what buttons to push on what day. He certainly shared in my state championship and I keep a little piece of him when I coach now. Shawn

Ty Baker 1989-92: What an old fart! He was a great inspiration to me. I think people who pay for “Life Coaches” just didn’t have real coaches like Ron when they were growing up.

Mark Thompson: I wrestled under Coach Nelson in junior high from 1986-1988 and in high school from 1989-1992. One of many memories includes him slapping the wrestlers on the ass on their way out to start the match. Sometimes it was hard enough the wrestler would stumble which always gave a good laugh for the other Tiger Wrestlers watching.

Mr. Nelson was very passionate and I feel he was hurt just as much as the wrestlers were when a match was lost. That has to be hard because he essentially wrestles every match.

He is very fair and gave everyone a fair chance. I never saw him treat any one wrester better than another. We were always a team no matter who joined. Wrestlers who weighed the same all had a chance at varsity by wrestling the other wrestlers of the same weight. The wrestler who won was varsity.

He is a GREAT coach and deserves the awards.

Dean Jordan (1984-87): I like many other wrestling “has beens” owe a ton of our “glory days” stories to Coach Ron Nelson. He truly is a fixture in the history of our lives. He is truly the face and especially voice, that first comes to mind when I think of wrestling.

I had the unique opportunity to wrestle for Ron, coach with him, and coach against him. It’s fair to say he kicked my rear in all those situations. He was the first wrestling coach I ever had, doing grade school wrestling camps for 1st-5th graders. He and Coach Oestman taught us wrestling fundamentals, competitiveness, and love of the sport. I spent 12 years in his system, and I truly grew up under his guiding hand. I can’t express how much I gained from him and how I carry his life-lessons with me. He not only taught me how to be a successful wrestler, but to be a successful person. He is one of those rare people that inspires fear, dedication and love out of his student-athletes. He inspired me to become a teacher and coach myself, and I did my best to emulate him in my career. I can only hope that I had a fraction of the impact on young people’s lives that he had on mine and so many others.

On a lighter note, I speak from experience when I say Ron has a “unique” voice. In a gymnasium full of hundreds of people, his voice has always the only one I heard. This posed a problem for me when I coached against him, because I was always looking around to make sure he wasn’t yelling at me! I’m quite sure that those of you who reffed his matches and used to wrestle for him can attest to that as well.

He also has a “unique” set of facial expressions and body language. Even if I was able to tune out his voice (which is impossible), I could pretty much tell you exactly what he is thinking and saying if I could see him. Those of you that have had him scowl at you, know what I’m talking about. However, I also know what most inspired me to be a better wrestler and a better person, was that Coach Nelson truly cares for his team members. He’s the first to tell you what you did wrong, what you did right, and to pat you on the back when you really need it. One of the key reasons his teams are so successful is that he loves his wrestlers, and they love him. They will do anything to succeed for him. That’s what it truly means to be a coach, and we’re all lucky to have had him in Lusk for 40 years.

Congratulations Coach Nelson for sticking with it for 40 years. Thanks for all you have done, and continue to do. You’re the best, and we love you.

Ryan Rapp: Mr. Nelson (never been able to call him Ron even when I reffed for him!!) has been one of those role models that so many only get to read about. He was my wrestling coach through junior high wrestling and high school (96-2000). He was instrumental in helping me become the person I am today. Mr. Nelson was always there to tell you what you did wrong, but most importantly the first in line to tell you what a great job you had done. It was always understood that you perform academically long before you would ever have the opportunity to perform athletically.

When I decided to go back to school to try for a PhD I officiated my final state tournament in Casper in 2008 (Someday I may ref it again). It is an unwritten tradition for officials to give there whistle to the winning wrestler of their final match. Nothing against the winning wrestler and to be honest I don’t even remember the match, I thought it would be more fitting to give it to the man who provided the strongest influence to me in the sport I love. My achievements as a wrestler and a wrestling official can be directly attributed to Mr. Nelson for his dedication to me as a wrestler an official and a member of the wrestling community. As I walked off the mat after completing my officiating duties I was looking for Mr. Nelson, usually some where on the floor of the Event Center, he was no where to be found!! He made it really difficult to give him the small token of my appreciation. I finally spotted him, he was back in the stands sitting next to his wife, Mrs. Nelson in the middle of all the Lusk fans and wrestlers. So I climbed the stands (which if you have ever been there, they frown on greatly) walked up the stairs. He was giving me a look I’ve seen before...what the heck are you doing......I shook his hand, explained to him the tradition and told him thank you for everything he has done for Lusk wrestling and everything he had done for me and that I wanted him to take the whistle.

Some might think that was corny or unimportant, but I thought it was important to do and I was swarmed with emotion. To this day I don’t know exactly how he felt about it, but knowing him, I am relatively sure that he appreciated the gesture as much as I felt honored to give it to him.

(Writers note: A special thank you to all who contributed to this story, especially Kit Nelson-Cooper for her time on the photos and notes. I know dozens of other wrestlers that echo the thoughts above, with their congratulations to Coach Nelson and this great moment in Tiger Wrestling. I apologize for not contacting more of you for your contributions.)

For the complete article see the 12-02-2009 issue.

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