Martin Nelson

A 1913 graduate of Astoria High School, Martin “Cotton” Nelson can be called the school’s first outstanding athlete. He also can be called the school’s first great coach. Whatever you might settle on calling Nelson, you can be sure that he earned those monikers.

Nelson did not show up at Astoria High until his senior year. As a junior he was an all-city football player at Portland’s Washington High School. He finished second to teammate Arne Windnagle in the state 880 yard run in 1912, a race in which Windnagle would establish a national record of 1:56.4. Nelson’s father was transferred to Astoria during the summer to run a cold storage plant on Astoria’s waterfront, and the rest is history.

Nelson’s first football game as a Fisherman was a memorable one. With Astoria and Lincoln of Portland tied at 7-7, and time winding down, Nelson put through a 42-yard field goal, to give the locals the victory. In Astoria’s next game, a 10-6 win over Jefferson, Nelson suffered a broken collar bone and would have to sit out the remainder of the season, except for brief stints in two games. On New Year’s Day of 1913, Nelson and his Astoria teammates would host a barnstorming Wendell Phillips High School of Chicago, at the Astoria Football Club field, near what is today the Mormon Church.

Three weeks earlier, with Astoria well ahead of South Bend High School, coach Lawrence Rogers slipped Nelson into the contest for just one play, an attempt at a 47-yard field goal. Nelson drove his drop-kick between the uprights half a field away, and was quickly removed from the game. Nearly ninety years later, Nelson’s long boot still stands as a Fishermen school record.

That 1912 grid squad featured Brewer Billie and Bennie Burns, along with the swift Nelson, running from his spot at right half. In Nelson’s one year on the AHS basketball squad, the local cagers finished 4-2, ending the year with an 18-11 victory over Vancouver High School. Astoria’s isolation almost ended Nelson’s high school track career, but since he was the AHS team manager, he was able to make the most of the situation.

Prior to the Depression, a manager was a high school student that had many of the same duties of a present day athletic director. Nelson scheduled Portland Academy for a dual meet at the AFC grounds for Astoria’s first action. He helped Astoria defeat Academy 80-42, by winning the 440 (54.0), 880 (2:15.0), Pole Vault (9-6) and the discus (92-7). He scored second in the 100, high jump, broad jump, shot put and javelin. That’s nine events and 35 points. At the state track meet in Eugene, which was contested in the mud, Nelson turned in a winning time of 2:11.0 in the 880 yard run to become Astoria High’s first ever individual state winner.

In college he was a middle distance runner for the University of Oregon, where his time of 1:57.2 in the 800 yard run stood for years as a Duck school mark. After graduation and World War I, Nelson returned to Astoria High as a coach of football, basketball, baseball and track and field. His 1921 gridders were 4-0-1. He followed with marks of 6-1, 5-1-1 and 3-2-2. Not noted as having a basketball background, Nelson found coaching the Fishermen much to his and the community liking. His first team registered a 15-3 record losing to Ashland High School 28-27 in the State Tournament finale. That team was led by All-State tournament first team selections Algot Westergren and Ed Luoto.

A year later Nelson and his troops were in the final again, losing to University High School of Eugene in the title game. Westergren, who would later star at the University of Oregon, was the leading scoring on the 12-1 squad of 1923. In 1924 Nelson drove the locals to a 10-4 season, but did not qualify for the state tournament. The basketball team did win the Clatsop County League with an 8-0 mark.

Nelson’s fourth cage team was 16-3 losing to eventual state champion, Salem 22-12, in the first’ round of the state cagefest. George Anderson, who played varsity in each of Nelson four years at the Astoria helm, was the leader of the 1925 team, who were 12-0 at the new Patriot Hall on the campus of the Astoria High School. His four year overall hoop record was 53-11, one of the better career marks in Astoria High annals. In 1925, Nelson departed Astoria for the head football position at Jefferson High School in Portland. Nelson’s first Jefferson football squad was 5-0-3, giving up just one touchdown. But by 1927 the Democrats had slipped to 0-6-3, including a 13-0 loss to Astoria. Nelson would step away from coaching and into a career in elementary school administration. His departure from the coaching ranks at such a young age probably accounted for him living to be 94 years old.