Marty Gordon
Christiansburg High School will be seeking a new baseball coach this spring as Dale Nelson has announced his departure.
Nelson cited health uncertainties for both him and his eight-year-old son as the reason for stepping down.
“There are some health uncertainties that would take me away from the program, and I felt it wasn’t fair to the program and the kids,” he said.
Nelson met with his current players on Thursday and then personally called several former players on Friday.
He is a three-time All-County/All-City coach of the year with several River Ridge and Region 3D honors. Under Nelson, the program has won over 130 games in 10 years with several district and regional titles.
In 2022, Blue Demons finished unbeaten in the tough River Ridge District, and only had two regular season losses to teams outside the state of Virginia during a tournament in Tennessee.
But it’s the battle off the diamond, Nelson might have set a bigger example to follow. In the summer of 2021, he discovered a lump in the upper part of his mouth. At first like many individuals, he ignored it. Finally, he asked a doctor what the problem could be.
Nelson would be told he had Adenoid Cystic Carcinoma, a relatively rare form of cancer that most commonly develops in the salivary glands or other regions of the head and neck. It can also occur in other parts of the body, such as the breast, skin, cervix in females, prostate gland in males, and various other areas.
Nelson’s doctor took drastic action surgically removing the lump and part of his right lymph node. Part of his scalpella was removed and placed in the area where the lump was taken out.
From there, he had to undergo 38 grueling radiation treatments.
Most of the surgery and treatment was done at the University of Virginia Hospital in Charlottesville. He took time away from his teaching job at CHS, staying with family in Richmond so he could travel to and from UVA every day.
He credits the support of his wife, Stephanie, and the entire CHS baseball family for getting him through this ordeal.
This comes just a few years after Nelson had a non-cancerous tumor removed from his spinal cord.
“It’s been tough for the Nelson family,” he said a short time later.
All of this comes on the heels of his son being diagnosed with Muscular Dystrophy.
“My son will have to have future treatments, which will take us back to UVA Hospital, and I will need to be on the road a lot for that,” he said.
Nelson is proud of what the Christiansburg baseball program has accomplished. “I feel like I am leaving it better than when I came.”
“When I first met a group of young men in the Fall of 2014, I felt that this program was a sleeping giant. A group of players for 10 years have bought in to the process it takes to be successful on and off the field.”
Thirty-two players from his program have gone on to play collegiately.
“My recent health battles have made me take a step back from coaching and not be able to give the same energy and passion that this program deserves. I thank everyone for their support during my health battles and also your family support with our son’s health. Through all of this I still have given everything I could to this program, but it’s now time for me to step aside. I hope to still be around the program as a coach, but in a smaller capacity,” he said.
Nelson plans to continue to teach at the school.
