Pressure of a growing cotton business has persuaded Nils V. Nelson '18, Varsity backfield coach for the past three years, to decide in favor of giving up football so that he may devote all of his time to commercial ventures.
"I love football and I love to coach it. My work at Harvard has been most pleasant and I have enjoyed working with Eddie Casey," Nelson asserted when he announced his intention of not returning as a Crimson mentor next fall. He expressed regret that his business forced his retirement but he felt that the ten weeks each year that he had devoted to football interfered too seriously to warrant his continuance in office.
Swede Nelson came to Harvard in the fall of 1931 when Casey took up the reins of Crimson football, but when Casey was the Freshman coach, Nelson has assisted him informally. He has worked with the backfield and had complete charge of blocking and tackling. William J. Bingham '16, Director of Athletics and Head Cocach Casey are now faced with the task of choosing a successor to Nelson and have already begun to confer on the proposition. Their decision will be announced sometime this winter but will probably not come until after the meeting of collegiate coaches during the Christmas recess.
IT was also learned yesterday that Nelson's absence was not the only gap that would be left in the Harvard backfield next fall, for it is likely that Charles H. Bradford '26 would be forced to give up his position as a result of a desire to devote all of his time to business. This loss would mean that, in addition to securing a new backfield coach, Bingham and Casey would have to look around for an available head line coach. It is possible that there will be even more changes in the coaching staff, since Edward H. Bradford, Jr. '26, end coach, is also considering giving up coaching for business. In the event of this change Wesley Fesler, All-American and from Ohio State University will have sole charge of the end situation.
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