Zeoli, Nelson Lived With Passion

By Tom Haley
THE RUTLAND HERALD
You might not have heard of Arnold College. The name vanished long ago when the Connecticut school became part of the University of Bridgeport.

Yet, if you ran into Hubbardton’s Nick Zeoli around the Lakes Region where he lived the last quarter of his life, you probably did hear about Arnold College. He loved regaling people with stories of Arnold football and teammates Andy Robustelli and Darrell Sawyer.

Robustelli was a defensive end for the New York Giants and Los Angeles Rams who was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1971. Sawyer was the legendary football coach at Brattleboro Union High School.

I believe it was in 1987 that I first met Zeoli. The Vermont camp for the Shrine Maple Sugar Bowl that year was at Green Mountain College and Zeoli was there watching practice. Sawyer was the Vermont athletic director for the Shrine Maple Sugar Bowl so it was a chance to make a connection with an old Arnold College teammate.

Zeoli was fiercely proud of his family and when one of his sons took a bicycle trip across the country, he called me, requesting I do a story on his son’s adventure.

I did. But it is Nick Zeoli’s life that is an unbelievable story.

He was Wilton (Connecticut) High School’s first football coach. He coached the football team for 13 years and was the school’s athletic director for 41 years before retiring in 1994.

He was so proud of Wilton High that he would brag about them at every meeting he attended.

It was the same way that Dave Nelson felt about Windsor High School. Nelson loved the Yellow Jackets, served as the public address announcer at their football games for years and enjoyed watching his sons and grandchildren wear the green and gold. He took great pride in the family lineage in the Shrine Maple Sugar Bowl.

Nelson’s sons Bill and Jeff Page played in the Shrine’s annual all-star high school football game against New Hampshire as did his grandson Dakota Page.

“Justin Page (another grandson) was a hell of a football player but he didn’t get selected for the Shrine Game. Sometimes, when you are at a Division III school, it’s a numbers game,” former Windsor High athletic director Bob Hingston said.

Hingston estimated that Nelson served as the public address announcer for Windsor football for at least 20 years.

“He also would run the scoreboard for JV games. He loved football. He was a big Windsor booster and he will be missed,” Hingston said.

Nelson also covered high school football games on both the radio and for various newspapers.

Nelson and Zeoli recently left us. Saying that they were lives well lived would be an understatement. Zeoli was 98 and Nelson 79.

Nelson lived his final years in Lebanon, New Hampshire but I, and so many others, will always think of Windsor when Nelson comes to mind.

When I went to the Zeoli ‘s log home in Hubbardton to do the interviews for the bicycle trip, I marveled at the scenery. He had a desk in front of an expansive window that overlooked the lake.

Nelson would have loved it. Being a shutterbug was one of his hobbies. He captured Upper Valley nature and he did it beautifully, posting gorgeous scenes on Facebook.

Zeoli was inducted into several Halls of Fame including the National High School Athletic Coaches Association Hall of Fame.

Zeoli liked to tell the story of how he helped Olympic decathlete Bruce Jenner (now Caitlyn) gain admission to college.

Jenner was diagnosed with dyslexia as a child and Zeoli says, was denied admission to many colleges in Connecticut.

Zeoli played a role in Jenner being accepted to Graceland College in Iowa where Jenner earned a degree in physical education in 1973.

Possibly the Wilton High athlete who Zeoli was most proud of was Kristine Lilly. It is little wonder that Zeoli frequently bragged about her: Lilly became one of the brightest stars on the United States Women’s National Women’s Soccer Team, scoring 130 goals.

Nelson loved sports and I worked with him at the Eagle Times in Claremont, New Hampshire.

His passions, it seemed to me, were football and auto racing.

If you are ever at Wilton High, you will notice Zeoli’s name on the field house.

Someday, Dave Nelson’s name might be attached to the press box on the Windsor High football field.

tom.haley @rutlandherald.com