Male Athlete of the Year: Elias Nissen

SPRINGVILLE – It would have been the easy thing to do. It's what most kids would do.

College is upcoming, so let's take it easy this summer, maybe head to the beach or just hang out with friends. Get a good workout done in the morning and have the rest of the day for fun, sun and relaxation.

That's not Elias Nissen.

The guy decided 'fun' and 'sun' meant spending his last summer at home playing baseball for the Springville Orioles. Not an outrageous choice until you consider he hasn't played since he was a freshman.

'It does seem a little funny doing it again now,' Nissen said. 'But it's just because all of my buddies are playing. One last hurrah with them. Just enjoy it, the last sport.'

The last sport from someone who played them all during a prolific and seemingly endless career. He received four varsity letters each in football, basketball and track and field, with this his second in baseball.

He's the school record holder in basketball career points, rebounds, blocked shots and field-goal percentage. Remember that former NBA player Al Eberhard is from Springville.

He's the school record holder in the long jump. His football numbers are borderline outrageous.

He accomplished so much and impressed so many people on and off the court/field/diamond/track in Springville and elsewhere, a website was created to chronicle his achievements. It also acted as an electronic resume for The Gazette's 2014 Male Athlete of the Year award.

The site was created by Springville Principal and head boys' basketball coach Nick Merritt, who fashions himself as sort of a techy. It worked.

Nissen has been chosen AOY in a vote of Gazette sports staff members. The soon-to-be University of Northern Iowa football player is the first Springville graduate to win the award, which is in its 32nd year and honors the late Jack Ogden, a former Gazette sportswriter.

'Elias is, without a doubt, one of the best kids I have ever been around,' Merritt said. 'You know about him as an athlete, but he is as high-character, high-moral of a person as you will see. He is willing to be around and mentor our younger kids here.

'Just a joy to be around, and that would have been the case regardless of whether or not he played sports. He is a better person than he is an athlete, and that is saying something.'

Bill and Pamela Nissen's third and final child was supposed to be taller than 6-foot-6. A lot taller.

'Seven foot,' he said. 'My dad is 6-10, so my doctor was telling me I would probably grow that tall or taller. But I plateaued a little bit and haven't grown much since.'

Despite his height, Bill Nissen never played basketball, only football at Cedar Rapids Washington High School. Elias' uncle, Jim Nissen, Bill's brother, also was a gridiron guy for Iowa State.

Grandpa Ray Nissen, Bill and Jim's dad, played basketball in the 1950s for UNI. Growing up, hoops were heaviest in Elias' heart, too.

He was tall, played a lot, did the AAU thing. But something happened on the way to what he figured would be a college basketball career.

Not only did he stop growing, he came to love another.

'I kind of adapted to football and grew to like that more,' he said. 'Probably my sophomore year into my junior year, I really started to enjoy that more. Especially then this year, I was like 'Yep, this is what I want to do. Definitely.''

You don't see many 6-6 running backs, especially 6-6 running backs that can run the 40-yard dash in 4.5 seconds. Nissen was virtually impossible to tackle in the wide-open Eight-Player game, as his remarkable statistics show.

He ran for 2,218 yards and 48 touchdowns for a Springville team that lost to eventual champion Don Bosco in the state playoff quarterfinals, averaging an astounding 12.7 yards per carry. Throw another 11 scores in there via reception, return and interception, and that's 59 TDs in 12 games.

'The weight room is where it all came from,' said Springville football coach Joe Martin. 'Yeah, you can always outrun people, but eventually you are going to get hit. It's the work he has put in lifting weights. He put his heart and soul into playing football. It's definitely his work ethic that has made him what he is.'

What he is going to be at UNI is a tight end. He'll red-shirt this season to try and adapt to a new position and a new game.

Nissen played only one year of 11-man football growing up, that in sixth grade. He's very aware of the huge challenge upcoming.

Those who know him have no doubts he'll obliterate that challenge.

'That's the biggest question I get. What is the biggest difference between Eight-Man and 11-Man?' Martin said. 'I played at Cedar Rapids Prairie for Craig Jelinek, and we ran the exact same schemes we ran there. He'll learn the plays and the schemes easily enough. The biggest thing for him will be the blocking aspect. He is used to the defensive players being in front of him and trying to avoid them. Now they will be right there in front of him.'

'I know it'll be a big adjustment, especially being a tight end. I mean, I've run the ball my whole life,' Nissen said. 'I haven't done much blocking, so it'll be good to have that red-shirt year, to be able to adjust to all that. Fundamentally, I think the games are the same. But it will be a lot different, especially going to a top-notch program like UNI. It's going to be a wake-up call for me, a good challenge. I'm excited for it.'

When it was all said and done, Nissen also received scholarship offers from Western Illinois, two-time defending FCS champ North Dakota State and FBS member Wyoming. He liked Western's coaches, the allure of playing for a championship program.

Cedar Rapids Xavier's Daniel Vega and Cole Turner lobbied him hard to join them at Wyoming. But UNI won out.

'I just couldn't picture myself anywhere else,' he said.

'He's going to be successful in whatever he does,' said Springville track and field coach Tyler Husak. 'Not just athletically, but in life.'

Nissen's senior track season was sabotaged by early and late left hamstring injuries. He pulled it initially in an April meet, rested, came back for districts but pulled it again.

Not what he envisioned.

'Quite an anti-climactic track season it was,' he said. 'I had high expectations going into it, so it just kind of sucked not being able to do much.'

'He was the only senior we had out of 15,' Husak said. 'A good leader, he really helped me out. When some of the boys would start screwing around, he would always get them back on the same page. I looked at him as an extra coach.'

The hamstring issue forced him to miss the first few weeks of Springville's baseball season, but he's hitting a respectable .286 in 10 games and is seven for seven in stolen bases. The Orioles have another week left in their regular season, with the playoffs following.

Whenever they're done, Nissen will finally be done. Gone, but not forgotten anytime soon.

Maybe never forgotten. Eberhard's jersey hangs inside the Springville gymnasium as a reminder of one of the school's all-time greats.

You wouldn't be surprised if Nissen's is there some day, too.

'He wants to be known as the person rather than the athlete,' Martin said. 'The sky is the limit for that kid.'

'While his presence will be missed at Springville, we know he'll represent our school, community, and his family very well moving forward,' Merritt said.

'Hopefully I've left my mark well here. Left some sort of legacy,' Nissen said. 'Hopefully my name is something remembered 30 years from now. I think that would be cool.'

Name: Elias John Nissen

School: Springville

Birthdate: December 3, 1995

Family: Father, Bill; mother, Pamela; brother, Noel; sister, Maryanna

High school career: Earned 14 varsity letters: four each in football, basketball and track and field, and two in baseball. First-team all-state pick by the Iowa Newspaper Association as a senior in football and basketball. Had 4,600 career yards and 112 career touchdowns in football, including 2,218 rushing yards and 48 rushing TDs as senior. Compiled 1,321 points and 838 rebounds in basketball career, both school records. School record holder in long jump.

Future plans: Will play football at tbe University of Northern Iowa. Plans to study either business or criminology.

Male voting results

1. ELIAS NISSEN, Springville (6) 51

2. PARKER HESSE, Waukon (3) 42

3. JOSH EVANS, Linn-Mar (3) 39

4. DEREK JACOBUS, C.R. Kennedy 22

5. MATT NELSON, C.R. Xavier (1) 13

Others receiving votes: Quinn Cannoy (Marion), Alijah Jeffrey (Linn-Mar), Wyatt Lohaus (Iowa City West), Daniel Pike (Monticello), Trey Ryan (Mount Vernon).

Others nominated: Tristan Beyer (Cedar Rapids Prairie), Jacob Bjornsen (Cedar Rapids Washington), Adam Hawkins (BGM), Jacob Hay (North Cedar), Michael Melchart (Monticello).