NFF National Scholar-Athletes
The first player in NCAA history to rush for more than 1,000 yards and catch more than 50 passes in one season, Darrin Nelson would accomplish the feat three times during his standout career at Stanford. In 2014, he became the 18th Cardinal player to be inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame.
A 1981 First-Team All-American, Nelson ended his career as Stanford’s all-time leader in rushing yards (4,033), receptions (214), scoring (242), and touchdowns (40), and he finished his career as the NCAA leader for all-purpose yards, which remains a school record at 6,885. The only four-time First-Team All-Pac-10 selection in Stanford history, he became the first freshman running back in conference history to rush for more than 1,000 yards in a season. A finalist for the 1981 Heisman Trophy, Nelson held nine of the top 12 single-game rushing performances in school history at the end of his career, and he led Stanford to wins in the 1977 Sun Bowl and 1978 Bluebonnet Bowl. Honored for his all-around achievements as an NFF National Scholar-Athlete in 1981, Nelson was also a First-Team Academic All-America and academic all-conference selection.
Selected in the first round of the 1982 NFL Draft by the Minnesota Vikings, Nelson played 11 seasons with the Vikings and San Diego Chargers. The Los Angeles native finished his professional career with 4,442 rushing yards, 2,559 receiving yards and 23 touchdowns, and he led the league with 4.9 yards per carry in 1987.
A member of the Stanford Athletics Hall of Fame and College Football Hall of Fame, Nelson was coached by Bill Walsh and Paul Wiggin (a College Football Hall of Fame player from Stanford), and he played alongside Hall of Famers John Elway and Ken Margerum. Currently serving as a Senior Associate Athletics Director at the University of California, Irvine, he previously worked in the same position at Stanford as well as a community relations liaison between Stanford Athletics and various governmental agencies in the Palo Alto area.
