Albert "Bert" Nelson (born November 17, 1921, in

San Diego San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the eighth most populous city in the United State ...

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

– January 9, 1994) was an American publisher and writer. In 1948, after graduating from the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

he was a co-founder of ''

Track & Field News ''Track & Field News'' is an American monthly sports magazine founded in 1948 by brothers Bert Nelson and Cordner Nelson, focused on the world of track and field Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running ...

,'' along with his brother Cordner. The upstart magazine's first headquarters were Cordner's garage in

San Bruno San Bruno (Spanish for " St. Bruno") is a city in San Mateo County, California, United States, incorporated in 1914. The population was 43,908 at the 2020 United States Census. The city is between South San Francisco and Millbrae, adjacent to ...

. The magazine covers the sport of

track and field Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping eve ...

and other aspects of the umbrella of

athletics Athletics may refer to: Sports * Sport of athletics, a collection of sporting events that involve competitive running, jumping, throwing, and walking ** Track and field, a sub-category of the above sport * Athletics (physical culture), competi ...

. The monthly magazine has declared itself to be "The Bible of the Sport". Bert had run the 880 yard dash in high school and continued to the cross country team at Berkeley. Returning from the Navy after

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

he first got his feet wet starting a small newspaper before the brothers began the magazine. Bert became one of the top writers of the sport. Starting in 1960 he established TAFNEWS Press, which went on to become the nation's leading track and field publisher. The company has over 100 titles. The first of those was the ''Little Red Book.'' Within the sport, the book was as important as Chairman Mao's Book, but this book provided conversions between the

metric system The metric system is a system of measurement that succeeded the decimalised system based on the metre that had been introduced in France in the 1790s. The historical development of these systems culminated in the definition of the Interna ...

that are used in the sport worldwide and the

imperial units The imperial system of units, imperial system or imperial units (also known as British Imperial or Exchequer Standards of 1826) is the system of units first defined in the British Weights and Measures Act 1824 and continued to be developed th ...

that are still common in America. The next book was the ''Little Gold Book'' which converted decathlon scores. Nelson was inducted into the

National Track and Field Hall of Fame The National Track and Field Hall of Fame is a museum operated by The Armory Foundation in conjunction with USA Track & Field. It is located within the Armory Foundation (the former Fort Washington Avenue Armory) at 216 Fort Washington Avenue, ...

in 1991.USATF – Albert (Bert) Nelson
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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nelson, Bert 1994 deaths 1921 births Businesspeople from San Diego American male journalists American magazine editors American magazine founders Sportswriters from California Track and field athletes from California 20th-century American non-fiction writers Sport of athletics journalists Track and field people from California 20th-century American male writers 20th-century American businesspeople University of California, Berkeley alumni United States Navy personnel of World War II