June 2, 2006
EASTON, Pa. (www.lafayette.edu) - Lafayette football co-captain David Nelson '06 (Dover, Mass./Xaverian Brothers) is one of three recipients of the 2006 ECAC Award of Valor that will be presented during the ECAC Convention Honors Dinner on Sunday, Oct. 1.
The ECAC Award of Valor is awarded annually and was established in 1985 to honor Eastern College Athletic Conference student-athletes whose courage, motivation and relentless determination serves as an inspiration to all. The recipients of the Award of Valor exemplify strength of character, perseverance, and most importantly, accomplishment deserving recognition as being truly triumphant.
Joining Nelson as the 2006 recipients are Brian Benvie, a football player from Stonehill College, and Destiny Woodbury, an accomplished track athlete from the University of Rhode Island.
Nelson's incredible recovery from a near-fatal stabbing over Memorial Day weekend before his senior year was featured in the New York Times on Nov. 19, 2005, the day of the Leopards' 23-19 victory at Lehigh that secured a share of their second straight Patriot League championship.
Nelson was stabbed as he stepped between a man and his friends to break up a fight in downtown Boston. While they were just blocks from Massachusetts General Hospital, two cabs failed to stop for them before a third finally did. His chest cavity filled with blood following the stabbing and he lost all vital signs in the emergency room and lay, dead, for about five minutes. A nurse tore his shirt and chest open, stuck her finger in his heart, and massaged the heart back to beating.
Once he was stabilized, the doctors at Massachusetts General performed emergency heart surgery. He was kept for observation for four days, and remarkably, he was able to be in his brother's wedding the following Saturday.
Determined to return to the field with his teammates in August, Nelson worked out nearly four hours a day for a month and passed the team's conditioning test when preseason camp opened. Nelson, a four-year letterwinner, started all 12 games at fullback and was fourth on the team with 19 receptions for 212 yards and scored a pair of touchdowns.
Nelson was honored at the Lafayette football banquet in February as the inaugural recipient of the David Nelson '06 Award of Valor, which will be presented annually to a player who exhibits an exemplary amount of heart and courage as a member of the football team.
Nelson is the second Lafayette student-athlete to receive the ECAC Award of Valor, following basketball player Brian Burke in 2001. Burke missed two months of the 2000-01 season after suffering a punctured lung and severe internal bleeding during a Dec. 11 game at Fordham in which he had scored a career-high 24 points. Burke returned to the floor on Feb. 11 and scored 23 points in a win over Navy.
