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| Position: | Fullback | ||||||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||||||
| Born: | (1917-02-04)February 4, 1917 Redondo Beach, California, U.S. | ||||||||||||
| Died: | September 22, 2006(2006-09-22) (aged 89) Tucson, Arizona, U.S. | ||||||||||||
| Height: | 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) | ||||||||||||
| Weight: | 200 lb (91 kg) | ||||||||||||
| Career information | |||||||||||||
| High school: | Redondo Union (Redondo Beach, California)[1] | ||||||||||||
| College: | Arizona | ||||||||||||
| NFL draft: | 1939: 1st round, 10th pick | ||||||||||||
| Career history | |||||||||||||
| Career NFL statistics | |||||||||||||
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Walter Ring Nielsen (February 4, 1917 – September 22, 2006) was an American footballfullback who played for theNational Football League (NFL)'sNew York Giants during the1940 season.
A native ofRedondo Beach, California, Nielsen attracted interest from theArizona Wildcats andUSC Trojans college football teams. Because he believed the Arizona environment would be better for hisasthma, he spurned the local Trojans and accepted anathletic scholarship to play for the Wildcats.[2][3] Nielsen played for Arizona from 1936 to 1938, and gained the nickname "Hoss" early in his career.[2] In his first two years, under head coachTex Oliver, he joined fellow future NFL running backTom Greenfield as part of a team known as the "Blue Brigade". The Wildcats had win–loss records of 7–2 and 5–2–3 in those seasons.[3] Nielsen was named to the Little All-American team in 1937, before a knee injury affected him the next year. In 1939, the Giants selected him with the 10th pick in theNFL draft, making him the first Wildcats player to be taken in the first round of a draft.[2][4]
Although the Giants signed Nielsen in July 1939,[5] he spent the 1939 season as a member of the minor league Jersey City Giants, reportedly due to a case ofhay fever.[2] In 1940, Nielsen rushed for 269 yards in 73 attempts during the nine games he played in, and his average of 3.7 yards per carry was ninth in the NFL. In addition, he caught two passes for 17 yards and scored one touchdown.[1] He accounted for the Giants' first score in a 37–21 loss to theChicago Bears on October 27, with a one-yard run.[6]
After 1940, Nielsen did not play another NFL game. He entered theUnited States Army,[3] and participated in World War II; two days after theNormandy landings, he entered France viaOmaha Beach. One newspaper reported that Nielsen went on to join "in a reconnaissance mission", along with "driving armored cars ahead of the Allied tanks to scout out Nazi positions."[2] Following a period in "private business" later in his life, Nielsen died at the age of 89.[2] Nielsen has been named to Arizona's Football Ring of Honor.[7]