Coach Nelson: Sidelined No Longer

It was a phone call Dave Nelson had slowly been preparing himself for.

After his father was diagnosed with prostate cancer 22 years ago, the Minnetonka head football coach knew he had a higher risk of developing the disease. 

So the veteran coach became proactive, going in for regular check-ups and constantly keeping an eye on his Prostate-Specific Antigen levels, a protein produced by cells in the prostate gland.

Two years ago, he passed a biopsy with flying colors but his PSA levels still had doctors concerned.

“The normal guy is really low, like under one,” he said.  “Mine was 6.1 and it kept climbing and climbing.”

Doctors kept him under a watchful eye and Coach Nelson returned to his life, teaching, coaching football and spending time with his family.

It would be a brief return to normalcy.

On January 17th, his doctors called with the news Coach Nelson had been trying to outrun. He had prostate cancer.

“Whenever you are getting biopsied and what not, you know there is a chance of it,” he said.  “But when the surgeon says that c-word, it’s always somebody else that you hear about and when it’s you, you kind of look at the phone and it takes you… it’s a little bit of a shock.  But you deal with it and move on.”

It’s been that positive attitude – and the support of his family – that have gotten him through the last couple of months.

“He was really the one who pulled us through it,” said Nelson's son, Jesse.  “He was the one comforting us. He was the one saying, ‘Hey, I’ll be fine. We’ll get through this.’”

And so far, he’s stayed true to his word.

On April 7th, while the rest of Minnetonka High School was enjoying spring break, Coach Nelson and his wife Maureen headed down to Mayo Clinic in Rochester for his surgery.  He spent just one night in the hospital but returned to the clinic a week after his operation for a check-up.

“The doctor felt that it was very successful,” he said.  “I go back at the end of June to get another blood test.  Hopefully [my PSA levels] will be under one.  In fact, they want it to be under point-one.  And if it’s not, I guess we cross the next bridge."

After four weeks of recovering at home, Coach Nelson returned to Minnetonka High School on Thursday to finish off the school year and prepare for his tenth season leading the Skippers. And according to his son, it's this lifelong connection with football that has helped Coach Nelson down the road to recovery. 

“Football has taught him so many life lessons,” he said.  “It was just an attitude thing, that he was going to beat it."

Coach Nelson has garnered quite the following during his coaching career.  The family has been overwhelmed by the outpouring of support from the Minnetonka community – phone calls, emails, cards, and even home-cooked meals. 

But it hasn’t been reserved to those who work with the coach now.  Former players, students and colleagues from Blaine High School, where he spent 24 years teaching and coaching, have also reached out to the family.

“It’s just incredible, people taking the time,” he said.  “You don’t realize until you’re in those shoes how important it is and how much it means but it’s been overwhelming.”

The support even went viral after one of Coach Nelson’s former Blaine players started a Facebook group in his honor.  So far, over 3,700 Facebook users – including some strangers – have stopped by the page to send the Nelson family well wishes.

Sam Ebenreiter, who played on Coach Nelson’s MHS state championship team in 2004, was one of those visitors. 

“[Coach Nelson] had a big affect on a lot of people,” he said.  “He’s just one of those people, he truly cared about every person on the team and you knew he wanted everyone to succeed.”

Ebenreiter currently coaches girls’ basketball and will begin teaching this fall—a career path he links back to his time under Coach Nelson.

“He’s been one of the most influential people in my life,” he said.  “It doesn’t really surprise me that he’s beating it because if anyone is going to beat cancer it’s Coach Nelson.”