University of Vermont Athletics

Susan Nelson Knull 1970 - Basketball, Field Hockey, Softball, Tennis, Volleyball

A four-year letter-winner in women's basketball, Susan Nelson Knull was a fine all-around athlete who competed in a time when opportunities for women in sports were not as abundant as today. Nelson, a 1997 UVM Hall of Fame inductee, loved to compete, whether it was in basketball, tennis, softball, volleyball or field hockey - a sport she had never played before coming to UVM.

She was quarterback and split end on an intramural co-ed tag football team as a first-year student, and was one of two women who trained to be the first women ever to compete in the Kake Walk in 1969. At the last minute, the pair were denied the opportunity, "but just training for the event was the most physically exhausting concentrated few minutes of any athletic activity I have ever performed," she said.

A member of the Physical Education Majors (PEM) Club at UVM, Nelson won the Outstanding Senior Major Award in 1970 (the Gold Whistle Award). After graduating from UVM, she coached basketball for three years and field hockey for one year at St. Lawrence University for three years, and later coached softball and volleyball at Schenectady County Community College. Nelson received her master's degree in education from St. Lawrence in 1973, and an additional master's degree in library science from the University at Albany in 1992.

Currently a school library media specialist at Warring Magnet Academy in Poughkeepsie, she is still active in athletics. Her involvement with the Red Hook Raiders Booster Club has included stints on its finance committee and the Red Hook Save Our Sports (SOS) effort. Nelson is also active in the Red Hook United Methodist Church, where she is currently co-chair of the Pastor-Parish Relations Committee.

Nelson looks back on her UVM days with fondness. "My sport achievements (as well as my teammates') were accomplished during a time period when there was no money given to us through scholarships. We were a group of gifted athletes who loved to play sports for the pure fun and spirit of the game. Individual performance was not our goal, but rather to play well as a team. The reason we were so successful was the fact that we were not competing for statistics, individual recognition, scholarships, or professional post-college teams; we played together as a team against our opponents.

"To give an example of a situation which we just took for granted, as no college transportation was provided for away games, during my junior and senior years our method of travel to those games was Jean Condon driving her car and me driving a rented station wagon. Despite the lack of money in our programs, we always played with enthusiasm and pride for all of our sports."

Her former coach, Jean Condon, remembers Nelson well. "Susan brought to our teams strong values such as teamwork, balance of work and play, loyalty, commitment and respect for others. She had abundant natural game sense, and her intelligence was seldom matched on the court."

Nelson is the mother of two children: Morgan and Brandy.