Tom Nelson was one of the finest all-around baseball players to come out of the Windsor-Essex region. A two-time Olympian, he has as many national championships to his credit as any athlete from the area.

Born and raised in Windsor, Tom was introduced to the game through the Windsor Little League system before blossoming in the Mic Mac program under the likes of former WECSHOF inductee the late Father Cullen. A very good-hitting and slick-fielding second baseman with great hands and range, Tom was a key component of three Canadian championship Mic Mac teams while a junior. After graduating from Walkerville Collegiate Institute. He attended Indiana State University on a full-ride baseball scholarship. While with the Sycamores, he continued to compete locally with the Windsor Chiefs and would be an integral part of four Canadian championship teams with the powerhouse Chiefs of the 1980s.

Tom’s world class baseball skill set was recognized early on by the Canadian national program. He spent most of the 1980s representing Canada at numerous international tournaments, highlighted of course by the 1984 Los Angeles and 1988 Seoul Olympics where Tom batted .417 and .340 respectively, in helping Canada win gold medals at both Games. Tom was also a member of Team Canada at several World Baseball Championships, played in three Intercontinental Cups, and in 1984 was the Canadian Federation of Amateur Baseball’s Player of the Year.

A champion at every level who played the game with utmost skill and class, Tom Nelson’s prowess on the national and international stage made his hometown proud, and now rightly places him among the region’s other baseball greats as a 2016 inductee to the Windsor / Essex Sports Hall of Fame, in the Athlete category.