MSU Billings Will Honor Nels Christiansen at Saturday’s Basketball Game (December 4, 2002)

BILLINGS, MT – MSU Billings will honor longtime teacher, coach, and official Nels Christiansen at halftime of the men’s basketball game on Saturday.  The Yellowjackets will be hosting Christiansen’s alma mater Chadron State College at 7:00 p.m. with a halftime presentation highlighting “Nels Christiansen Night.”

Christiansen is a native of Red Lodge, Montana, where he was a high school basketball star in the 1940s.  After graduating from Red Lodge, he received a scholarship to play basketball at Chadron State College in Chadron, Nebraska.  Bill Bruer, Christiansen’s high school coach, was a Chadron State graduate and guided Christiansen to Chadron after his senior year.

Nels was a four-year star for the Eagles, averaging double-figures in scoring in each of his four seasons.  He set the Chadron State freshman scoring record in 1948 when he averaged 12 points per game.  Over his four-year career, Christiansen scored 1,375 points in 92 games for a 15 points-per-game average.  He graduated from Chadron State in 1952 as the school’s all-time leading scorer.  Fifty seasons later, Nels is still the Eagles’ 11^th most prolific scorer of all-time.

Said one of Christiansen’s former teammates at Chadron, “Nels was the best 6-3 post man I ever saw.  He could out-quick bigger players and was also able to shoot hook shots over them.  He had an equally effective hook with either hand.”

The Chadron State basketball team posted a 58-34 record during Christiansen’s tenure, including an 18-8 mark in his senior season when he averaged 16.3 points per game.  That Eagles team captured the conference championship and went to the NAIA National Tournament, where they lost to eventual national champion Southwest Missouri State University. 

Christiansen had a lasting impact on Chadron State College, just as he would later have at Eastern Montana College and Montana State University-Billings.  According to Chadron State Sports Information Director Con Marshall, “I have lived around Chadron all my life and have been a sports fan forever.  I have heard numerous stories about Nels and we’re glad he graduated from Chadron, not only because he was a great basketball player for the Eagles, but because he apparently has been an outstanding educator at Montana State University-Billings and a fine citizen for the Billings area.”

Christiansen’s first teaching and coaching opportunity in Montana came in 1956 when he was hired by Harlowton High School.  He spent two years at Harlowton before moving to Billings to become a graduate assistant coach at EMC.  Nels finished his master’s in 1960 and immediately became a fulltime faculty member in the Department of Health and Physical Education. 

After working as an assistant track and field coach from 1958-1960, Christiansen took over the track program in 1960 and was the Yellowjackets’ head coach until 1972.  He also served as an assistant basketball coach from 1960 until 1974 under Mike Harkins, the Yellowjacket record-holder for career wins.  In addition to coaching track and basketball, Nels was also an assistant football coach under Bob Lee from 1965-1972.

The 1961-1962 season saw the Yellowjacket basketball team win its first conference championship in school history when the team captured the Montana Collegiate Conference title.  That championship signaled a new era for the Harkins and Christiansen-led Yellowjackets.  They followed the school’s first-ever championship with conference titles in 1962-63, 1963-64, 1964-65, 1966-67, 1967-68, 1969-70, 1970-71, 1971-72, 1972-73, and 1973-74.

After winning the MCC championship in 1963-64, the Yellowjackets went on to win the District #5 title and advance to the NAIA National Tournament in Kansas City where they lost to eventual national champion Rockhurst.  The 63-64 season witnessed another first in school history as KULR televised three of the Yellowjackets’ home contests.

In 1964-65, Eastern Montana College won its second-straight NAIA District #5 championship and advanced to the National Tournament for the second year in a row.  The Yellowjackets defeated Central Washington in the first round for their first National Tournament victory.  During Christiansen’s time with the Jackets, they would advance to the National Tournament at total of seven times.  In addition to the ’64 and ’65 seasons, EMC went to the National Tournament in 1966-67, 1967-68, 1969-70, 1971-72, and 1973-74.

After finishing his coaching career at EMC, Christiansen continued to teach for another 20 years, retiring in 1995.  In addition to his teaching and coaching at EMC/MSU Billings, Christiansen has also served as a valuable volunteer for the athletics program.  Since the first season of women’s basketball in 1973, Nels has been the scorers’ bench crew chief.  As most Yellowjacket fans know, that service continues today in his 29^th season as the Lady Jackets’ official scorer.

During his 35 years of service to Eastern Montana College, Nels was also involved with athletics throughout the state as a football official.  He officiated his first football game in 1948 in a case of being at the wrong place at the right time. 

“I was standing in the Athletic Directors office,” said Christiansen, “when someone from Oelrichs, South Dakota called the AD and asked if he had anyone who could officiate a football game.  He pointed at me and told me I was going to Oelrichs.  It turned out to be a six-man football game and I had never seen six-man football.  I found a rule book and read-up on it, and fortunately the other official had done some six-man games.”

That officiating career that began in 1948 spanned six different decades.  Christiansen became a member of the Montana Officials’ Association in 1956 and officiated high school and college football games until he retired in 1991.  Over that time Nels worked 10 state championship football games at the high school level.  In the last few years before he retired, he officiated numerous Frontier Conference football games and served as the liaison between the conference and the officials’ association.

Saturday night’s ceremony honoring Nels Christiansen will be the latest of several honors he has received over the years.  He is a member of five different halls of fame, including the Eastern Montana College/Montana State University-Billings Athletics Hall of Fame into which he was inducted in 1992.  In addition to his place in the EMC/MSUB Hall of Fame, Christiansen was a charter inductee into the Chadron State College Hall of Fame in 1983 and was also inducted into the Halls of the Montana Officials’ Association in 1991 and the Montana State Golf Association in 1999.  He has also been inducted into the National Football Foundation’s Hall of Fame and was awarded the Bob Chilton Award by the NFF for promoting football officiating.