Former Hawkeye Don Nelson Passes at 86

IOWA CITY, Iowa – Former University of Iowa men’s basketball student-athlete Don Nelson passed on Aug. 9.  He was 86.

Nelson played for the Hawkeyes from 1959-62, where he led the team to 45 victories across three seasons.  He was a third-team All-American in 1962, a two-time first-team All-Big Ten honoree and the team Most Valuable Player in 1960, 1961 and 1962. 

He departed the program for the NBA with 1,522 points, averaging 21.2 points per game in 72 career games.  He left as the program’s all-time leading scorer and his scoring average ranks fourth in the Iowa record books.

In 1960-61, Nelson averaged 23.8 points and 10.6 rebounds as Iowa finished as the Big Ten runner-up.  As a senior, he averaged 23.8 points and 11.9 rebounds

Nelson returned to Iowa City and officially graduated on May 12, 2012, receiving his bachelor’s degree in physical education 50 years after leaving campus for the NBA.

Nelson was a longtime player and coach in the NBA.  He won five NBA championships, playing with the Boston Celtics and his No. 19 was retired by the franchise in 1978.

As a coach, Nelson, the second all-time winningest coach in NBA history, held the record for most wins (1,335) for 12 seasons (surpassed by Gregg Popovich in 2022) and is one of only two coaches to be named NBA Coach of the Year three times (1983, 1985, 1992). He spent over 40 years of his life as a player, coach and general manager.

He led teams to 18 playoff ap­pearances during his NBA coaching career where he amassed 75 playoff wins and is one of only two NBA coaches to win 250 games with three different teams. He also coached Dream Team II to a Gold Medal in the 1994 World Championships.

Nelson, who was named in 1996 as one the NBA’s 10 Best Coaches of all time, is the only coach with 1,000+ wins and multiple NBA championships as a player, where he won five titles with the Boston Celtics (1966, 1968, 1969, 1974 and 1976).

Nelson was inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame in 2012.  He was inducted into the Iowa Athletics Hall of Fame in 1989.