Born August 6, 1918, San Diego, Calif.

In 1947, Cordner Nelson, along with his brother, Bert (also in the Hall of Fame) began publishing Track & Field News. Over the years, the magazine earned the sobriquet "The Bible of the Sport." Nelson served as editor through 1969 and continues to be a reporter for the magazine. During his years with T&FN, Nelson covered every Olympic Games from 1952 through 2000 as well as AAU, USATF and NCAA championships and U.S. Olympic Trials starting in 1948. Long before the advent of technical publications in the U.S., Nelson began to research and write on the subject of technique. He introduced to the U.S. many of the advanced training methods used by the Europeans. His interest in the literature of training, technique and theory eventually led to the founding of Track Technique in 1960. Nelson originated world ranking procedures in 1947. Today, the rankings are widely accepted world-wide as the most authentic ranking of international athletes. Nelson is still actively writing about track and field. His published works include The Jim Ryun Story, Runners and Races, The Great Ones, The Milers, Track's Greatest Champions and The Advanced Running Book.