Don Nelson
High School Honors
Earned 7 letters at Lincoln: 1 in Football, 2 in Basketball, and 4 in Baseball.
Post-High School Career
Portland State University, 3-year letterman 1971-1973. Played City- League baseball 1970-1985 with Aden-Josie and Kuzman Lumber.Career HighlightsTaught PE at four different elementary schools in Portland education for 30 years; at Cleveland, coached JV and Freshman Baseball for 39 years, Varsity Soccer seven years and many more years of JV/ Freshman for boys and girls. Babe Ruth Baseball Coach in the Cleveland district for many years. Ron Pheister Assistant Coach of the Year, 1989-1990; PIL Assistant Coach of the Year, 2011; Merit Award from Active and Old Timers Baseball Association for Summer Baseball Clinics, 2012; and NW Baseball Coaches Merit Award, 2007.
Commentary
First and foremost, I would like to say thank you to Frank Frangipani and Jerry Gatto for their support. They were responsible for bringing me into the Cleveland family. They believed in me enough to take a chance on hiring me. Not only did they bestow upon me two coaching positions, they were also instrumental in helping me to land a teaching position with PPS.
During my tenure I had the opportunity to work with 10 outstanding coaches. Each coach had a different approach to coaching but they still allowed me to incorporate my style to teach and develop our student athletes. Game skills and having fun were a top priority of mine. We’re not here for a long time so we better have a good time.
To all the athletes that I have had a privilege to coach, thank you. The impact you had on my career and my life is immeasurable.
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