Not a lot of mention of his ability as a player, both in College, as a two time All American at Iowa, and as a Boston Celtic who has five championship ringx and won the championship with an amazing shot against the Lakers, that is considered legendary......
I remember listening to the Hawkeyes with Nelson on WHO radio in DM, as I have mentioned perhaps too many times. I was screaming and yelling at the radio when they almost beat Ohio State in Columbus. OSU had Jerry Lucas, John Havlivek, Larry Seigfreid, Mel Nowell and another starter whose name escapes me. Don outplayed Lucas in a one/two point defeat. This is when Ohio State really hated the Hawks especially because of the football rivalry between Forest Evashevski and Woody Hayes who got into a fistfight at a Big Ten conference meeting before the season.....
We won two Rose Bowls under Forest's leadership. Bob Jeter, Willie Fleming, Alex Karras, nobody wanted to go up against Alex, Randy Duncan quarterback from DM Roosevelt, Curt Mertz, All American receiver.....