Date of Birth      07/11/1955
Date of Death    08/23/1996

IN LOVING MEMORY OF Martin "Marty" DeWitt Nelson ... 

 “Of Youth, And Of Friends In Rancho”

Published Wednesday, September 4, 1996

The Grapevine Independent/Rancho Cordova

Written by Mike Marando

Friday evening past, a man named Marty Nelson passed away quietly in his father’s Rancho Cordova home.

He was 41 years old.  At the family’s request, funeral services were short and private.

Marty’s death surprised few.  He left a wife, and a six-year old son.

But to his friends, it was a time to reflect on a man who, despite his shortcomings, had a loving spirit and a kind heart.

And that’s how I know I’ll remember Martin DeWitt Nelson.

Growing up as a teenager in Rancho Cordova during the 1960s and early 1970s was a special time, and Marty epitomized

the era:  he had that long, blonde Swedish look on a wiry yet sturdy frame, a genuinely friendly smile, a partying nature

and a love for fast cars.  He thought of himself as a kind of (Mick) Jagger disciple,

and to a certain extent there was a little bit of Marty in us all.

Neighborhood chums included Pat Burke, Carl Johnson, John Johnston, Frank Salas,

Jay Putman,  Steve and Bob Morris, Dave “Gillman” Petersen, myself, and many others. 

He loved baseball and was a big fan of the Pittsburgh Pirates.

One time, Marty’s dad Raymond, drove a bunch of us to Candlestick Park to see the Giants and Pirates.

When we pulled in front of Frank Salas’ house to pick him up, Marty beamed ear to ear,

“Hey Frankie – two games today.  It’s a doubleheader.”

Marty owned and drove many cars – but none more famous than that dark burgundy

’68 GTO with the “J-BOO” license plates.

Marty was the premier long-distance cross country runner during one magical season at Mills Jr. High School in 1969.

Marty picked his spots for self-promotion, and he did it so well that his own bellowing of Scholarship Marty!

could be heard throughout Rancho Cordova.

A stellar career as a long distance runner could have been in Marty’s future. 

As it turned out, Marty hung his hat on that one campaign.

To this day, I can still hear him yell out Scholarship Marty!

Our circle of friends spent many a day rafting down the American River.

Marty had me thoroughly convinced that there indeed wee railroad spikes at the river in Clifton’s Cove.

And one summer’s day, we all swore we saw Giants’ first baseman Willie McCovey on a raft.

Or, we thought we saw McCovey, because Marty, rafting several yards upstream, said he saw him first.

When Marty got excited, everyone got excited.

Pat Burke, who quarterbacked the Mills Mustangs to a 5-0-1 record in the fall of ’69, said several years later

“if we’d had Marty, we would have won the Mitchell game.”  Burke was referring to a 6-6 standoff on

Halloween eve with the cross-town rivals, a game in which Nelson watched from the stands at Cordova Stadium.

In those days, we couldn’t play two sports simultaneously. Marty only kicked 40-yard field goals as a hobby

on Saturday mornings at Cordova Gardens Elementary School across from his home.

An extra point against Mitchell, he could have booted in his sleep.

We all went our separate ways during most of the 1970s, but reunited in 1981 when Steve Morris

(Cordova Class of 1971) assembled perhaps the most dominant adult softball team in Rancho Cordova history.

From 1982-83-84, his Shakey’s Pizza teams won nine straight individual league championships.

Those ballclubs featured people like the late Steve Keys,  Mike Hoffeditz, Jeff Gelein, Bob and

Steve “Dino” Morris, Burke, Rod Keys, Jerry Zepp, Gary Myas, and myself.

Our scorekeeper and perhaps biggest fan was Judy Gelein, who never gave us any slack in the scorebook.

And our catcher:  No. 50, Marty Nelson, nicknamed “the flea,” for his lightning-fast speed down the first base line.

For years, Mary’s trademark “peck hits” to the opposite side infuriated opponents.  In one game,

the left-handed batting Nelson reached base four straight times hitting two-hoppers to third base.

I’ll always remember Martin DeWitt Nelson on the ballfield:  wearing that dingy old Pirates hat,

the tattered uniform top with half the “Shakey’s’; moniker covered in that “stickum”-like substance,

and the 1960s-era baseball glove held together with chicken wire, epoxy glue and some type of stuff that

looked like gak – all the while flipping his bat on a ball and dumping it down the third base line for a single.

God bless you, Marty.

Mike Marando is a former Rancho Cordova resident.  He was a friend of Marty Nelson,

who was a 1973 graduate of Cordova High School and ran one year of cross-country

during his freshman year in 1969 at Mills Junior High.