Nelson honored by national award

By DAVID ERICKSON

Whitefish Pilot

Terry Nelson, the head coach of the Whitefish High School boys and girls golf teams, was named the National Boys Golf Coach of the Year for 2007 by the National High School Athletic Coaches Association on May 28.

This award follows the third unbeaten season and state title in a row for Nelson’s boys team. His girls team also won the 2006 Class A state title.

Nelson was nominated for the award by a national committee. He was one of 20 coaches nationwide, all from different sports, who won the award this year.

Nelson has won the Montana Coaches Association’s Coach of the Year award 10 times. Earlier this year, Nelson was named to the Montana Coaches Association’s Hall of Fame. Nelson was also named Golf Coach of the Year in 2006 by the National High School Athletic Coaches Association.

Nelson has overseen the Bulldogs girls and boys golf program for the past 23 years. During that time, the school has taken home 20 state titles and 42 divisional titles.

The girls have won 13 of those state titles, with seven in a row from 1993 to 1999. The boys won three in a row from 2004 to 2006.

Nelson’s teams last year swept the 2006 boys and girls Class A state team titles. It was the third time Nelson’s teams had accomplished a sweep, with the other two coming back in 1988 and 1990.

Nelson is modest about the award.

“All those kinds of things are great honors for our program,” he said. “They reflect the quality of our kids.”

He has been involved in coaching golf for about 25 years, he says, and he attributes much of his success to having a great junior golf program in Whitefish.

Nelson has managed more than 20 invitational tournaments, six divisional tournaments and five state tournaments. He has also represented Montana on the U.S. Golf Association’s Green Section National Committee.

This year, Nelson was recognized by Golf Digest magazine as the individual winner of the 2007 Junior Development Award. The story was in the May issue.

His induction ceremony to the Montana Coaches Association’s Hall of Fame will be held Aug. 2 at noon at the Great Falls High School auditorium during the M.C.A.’s annual awards banquet.

Does Nelson see any end to his program’s dominance of the state?

“Well, all of our girls from the 2006 State Championship team are coming back next year, so I’d say our chances are pretty good,” he said.