AINSWORTH – It would be hard to find a sports fan in Nebraska who hasn’t heard of Carter Nelson.

Ainsworth kid. Husker football recruit. Sixfoot-5, 225 pounds. Great athlete.

A household name around the state, Nelson’s the modern-day version of an early 1970s Tom Kropp from Aurora or an early 1980s Bill Jackman from Grant. Small-town kids with big-time talent.

Is Nelson the real deal? For most, that will be determined beginning this fall, once Nelson arrives at Nebraska and puts on a Husker uniform and plays in front of 85,000 fans at Memorial Stadium.

Others, maybe opponents he’s faced at the Class C and D levels of Nebraska high school sports (the classifications for schools with the smallest enrollments), have seen enough. Some around Ainsworth, the town of about 1,600 people in north central Nebraska where Nelson grew into high school, don’t need to see further proof. They are all convinced.

“There’s not anything athletically I’ve not seen him able to do,” Ainsworth High football coach Jessi Owen said. “In football, we moved him all over the field, plus he was our kicker and punter. In basketball, he’s dunking and going between the legs (while in the air).

“He’s the only 6-5, 225-pound kid I’ve seen that can do a backflip.” Nelson’s exploits to this point have been well-documented. But what’s the back story? When did it become apparent there was a special athlete growing up in Ainsworth?

The story begins in Wisner, another small town but about 30 miles east of Norfolk on Highway 20 instead of 140 miles west of it. The Nelson family – father Jake, mother Sandi, older sister Kaitlyn and Carter – left Wisner for Ainsworth before Carter’s fifth-grade year.

Jake and Sandi are educators and coaches. Jake teaches math and Sandi is a reading intervention specialist.

Jake’s family is originally from Central City. Sandi’s side of the family – the Keplers – is from the Bassett area in Rock County, about 18 miles down the road from Ainsworth.

“We moved from Ainsworth to Wisner for two reasons,” Jake said. “We wanted to teach in the same school and wanted to be closer to family. At the time, we had lived three hours from both our families, but Sandi’s side is in and around Bassett. So now only one side is three hours away.”

When asked who passed down the athletic gifts to the kids – Kaitlyn in November finished her second season of volleyball at Northeast Community College in Norfolk – Jake and Sandi were modest. Jake graduated from Central City High in 1995 where he played football and basketball and once qualified for the state track and field meet in the discus. He humorously said he wasn’t very good at basketball. Sandi played volleyball, basketball and was on the track and field team at Rock County High, where she graduated in 1995. “I just played,” she said good naturedly. Push a little harder, and Sandi points to her father, Clifford Kepler, a standout at Bassett High in the late 1960s before it became Rock County High and now North Central High after a merger. He held the school record in the high jump for years, clearing 6-4 in the days before Dick Fosbury’s “flop” transformed the event. Kepler went one leg first and then twisted over the bar with the other leg trailing – the “western roll” technique. Kepler also helped Bassett to a Class C state basketball championship in 1967. His parents’ coaching careers surely set Carter on an athletic path. He was always around sports growing up. Jake is currently the head boys basketball coach at Ainsworth. Sandi is the head coach of the girls basketball team. “Ever since I’ve been young, I’ve been playing sports,” Carter said. “Both my parents are coaches. Instead of going to day care, I’d go to the gym.

“I have a lot of good buddies that I met during my early years of basketball, track, wrestling and swimming. So many great memories.”

Jake was Carter’s coach in just about everything early on. “It’s been our thing,” Carter said. From third-grade hoops on, his father was there, pushing Carter to excel.

“It’s always been a bit difficult to have dad as your coach,” Carter said. “As a coach he’s pushing me more, but I’m glad he did.”

Jake makes no bones about it. Yes, he coached his son hard and early. “In basketball, I’m way tougher on him so I think he’ll be prepared for tough coaching in the future,” Jake said. “We’ve spent a lot of time together in gyms and on the field.”

Besides, it wasn’t hard for Jake to realize that there would be some serious coaching in his son’s future.

Throughout Carter’s early years, there were many “wow” moments. Besides the natural athleticism, he showed dedication and work ethic.

While in kindergarten, Carter saw much older boys running hurdles, so he would hurdle, too. His goal was to clear the hurdle without hitting it. He kept going until he got it right.

“Carter’s athletic ability stuck out early on,” Jake said. “With going to high school practices with both mom and dad from preschool on, he was always doing stuff with the older kids.”

When Carter was 6, he learned to do a flip off the diving board. Jake estimated he did about 40 before deciding to stop.

“He was always doing stuff like that at a young, young age,” Jake said. “So we always knew there was a possibility of something. We just didn’t know what.”

Jake remembered a time when Carter was in the second or third grade back in Wisner. “We had snow overnight before Easter and we were woken up to a scraping sound. It was Carter out scooping the driveway early so he could shoot hoops.”

Owen, the Ainsworth football coach, said it was the way Nelson moved his large frame that stood out to him. “He was in fifth grade when I got (to Ainsworth),” Owen said. “When I walked in the gym he was in there shooting hoops. He had a ball in his hands 24/7. The way he moved so fluidly, you just knew he was going to be special.”

Owen remembered Nelson clearing 4-8 in the high jump in the fourth grade. But it soon got even better. “He had a dunk in each game consistently in seventh and eighth grade. He’s a special talent.”

Nelson spoke highly of all his coaches in a recent interview, but he made extra mention of former basketball coach Sean Sterkel who lit his fire for basketball in his elementary and junior high years. “I’ve always looked up to all my coaches,” Nelson said. “But coach Sterkel, my fifth- through eighth-grade years, was really a mentor. He pushed me and helped me fall in love with basketball.”

Sterkel now coaches boys basketball at Bridgeport. His memory of his time in Ainsworth and coaching Nelson hasn’t faded. Sterkel raved about the youngster’s ability, but also about his intelligence and competitiveness. “Carter understands the intricacies,” Sterkel said. “He understands if a ball is hit hard to the shortstop, he can turn two; if it’s hit slowly, he has to take the runner at first.

“This goes for all sports. He has a tremendous feel to go along with a boatload of athleticism.”

Sterkel recalled an eighth-grade basketball game when he challenged Nelson to pick up the defensive intensity. “I challenged Carter to guard in the full court; dominate the guy in front of you,” Sterkel said. “Carter took the game over defensively and shared the sugar with his teammates from that moment until the end of the game. It was a big win at that time for our eighth-grade team.”

That season, Nelson recorded 12 dunks in eight games. Early in Nelson’s high school career, Ainsworth scored a big win over North Platte St. Patrick’s at the Broken Bow Optimist tournament. Sterkel remembered walking into his principal’s office and telling him Nelson would be a Division I athlete. The principal was skeptical, but Sterkel knew Nelson’s competitiveness and drive would get him there.

“He’s a fierce competitor. We’d go to Snow Valley Basketball School (a long-running skills camp that operates in California and Iowa) and he dominated the camp between his sophomore and junior seasons.”

Nelson possesses multisport ability in an era when many athletes choose to specialize in one sport. In football, he finished his career with 128 receptions for 2,346 yards and 43 receiving TDs. He was the honorary captain of the Eight-Man 2 all-state team in both the Omaha World-Herald and Lincoln Journal Star. He was also a consensus four-star recruit nationally.

In basketball, he’s eclipsed 1,000 points in his career. But it’s in track and field where he first began to receive national notoriety. As a 16-year-old sophomore he cleared 7-0 in the high jump at the O’Neill Invitational, raising eyebrows around the state. At the same meet, he broke Ainsworth High’s school records in the 200 meters and discus.

Jake remembered the day. He was on the other side of the track coaching daughter Kaitlyn in a throwing event. “I heard the announcement that he was going to jump 7 feet,” he said. “Everyone was watching. I could tell he cleared it by the cheers. It was quite a moment.”

As a freshman, Nelson cleared 6-8. He won Class C high jump gold as a sophomore by going 6-10 at the state meet. He placed fourth in the Class C 200 and tied for fifth in the pole vault that year – a head-scratching variety of events that signaled to some an elite level decathlete in the making.

He played Legion baseball when Ainsworth fielded a summer team. On the golf course, he smashes mammoth drives as if he’s in a long-drive competition.

One of his best displays of athleticism may have come on a missed dunk in a high school game. It doesn’t show up in any highlights, but Carter attempted a betweenthe- legs dunk on a fast break. Height wasn’t a problem, but the ball went halfway down then popped back out, costing the Bulldogs two points.

“It was so unbelievable I couldn’t even be mad at him for missing it,” Jake said. “It’s one that’s been shown to many coaches around the nation on our visits and their jaws all dropped.”

Carter regrets not completing the play. “That was one I kind of wish I had back,” he said. “The ball rolled around the rim several times before falling out. It would’ve been a highlight reel dunk.”

In college, Nelson will focus on football, where he shined playing eight-man. He attracted attention from some of the nation’s best programs, and big-name coaches found their way to Ainsworth to see him. His senior season saw the Bulldogs finish 9-1. He played all over the field: quarterback, slot, tight end, linebacker. A constant playmaker, he was a nightmare for the opposition.

“We’d always spend our first series figuring out what they (opponents) were doing,” Owen said. “We’d move him to five different spots. We saw everything from man press, blanket man, with zone cloud over the top, to a spy on him when he was at QB.”

Nelson accounted for 41 touchdowns. He rushed for 19, caught 14 and threw for eight. A grown man among boys on most Friday nights. So how does he go from playing eight-man high school football to the Big Ten? How will his skill set translate?

He’ll be good, Owen said.

“I think the biggest misunderstanding most people have is that he has to put on size in the Big Ten,” Owen said. “He’s going to be positionless to start. He’s a tough matchup anywhere. Coach Rhule and coach Satterfield will have a lot of different ways to utilize his skills.”

Nelson said he’s excited by the challenge. He’s embracing everything that comes with it, including being a true “positionless” player entering the fray. “Some parts might be easier, some more difficult,” he said. “I just know I’m doing everything in my power to make it a good and smooth transition.”

Nelson stepped onto bigger stages recently, competing in the All-American Bowl in San Antonio in early January and the Polynesian Bowl in Honolulu. Both games featured some of the nation’s biggest names.

Nelson not only held his own, he had standout moments in the practices as well as the games. “It was an amazing experience to do something like that,” he said. “The people that put these events on are really dedicated to what they do. It’s a firstclass experience for us.”

Nelson was joined in San Antonio by future Husker teammates Grant Brix of Logan, Iowa, and Gibson Pyle of Houston, both offensive linemen.

Owen and his staff attended the game. The Ainsworth contingent erupted with cheers following Nelson’s 17-yard catch in the third quarter. He spun away from tacklers then used bruising physicality to finish the play, dragging four defenders with him.

“There was a large group of us that trekked down there,” Owen said. “We just erupted when he made that catch. Everyone on the sideline looked up at us.”

Nelson further opened eyes at the Polynesian Bowl later in January. He was named a top performer on Day 2 during practices. He finished the game with a team-high 65 receiving yards on three catches.

He shined along with Husker quarterback signee Dylan Raiola, who threw for 111 yards. The duo had Husker fans envisioning a deadly QB-WR combo. Future Husker offensive lineman Preston Taumua of Waipahu, Hawaii, also performed well in the game.

For Nelson, the games and practices were memorable on several levels. “To be able to play 11-man football was great,” he said. “And to really form bonds with your teammates was really cool.”

He also said playing with and against the nation’s top players was eye-opening – in two ways. Yes, there are things he needs to work on, but he also learned he fits in well with the best.

“There’s been so many people who say, ‘He’s only doing this stuff because he’s playing kids that are a lot smaller than him,’” Nelson said.

Nelson is a once-in-a-lifetime talent for Ainsworth High. The name Jesse Carr also resonates. Fifteen years ago, Carr lit up the scoreboard for the Bulldogs basketball team before having a strong career at Colorado State. There have been other Bulldogs who went on to excel at Nebraska on the football field. Roger Brede, an end, lettered in 1957 and 1959 in the Bill Jennings era. Mark Hagerman was a place-kicker on NU’s great 1983 team that was upset by Miami in the Orange Bowl.

Now, with his high school contributions nearly in the books, Nelson’s time is near.

He can hardly wait. “I think I’m fairly versatile and can help on different levels,” Nelson said. “I’m definitely excited to see how they use me.”

When asked about his legacy with the Bulldogs, Nelson was humble, gracious and reflective. It wasn’t about his numbers, awards, medals or trophies. “I really want to leave a legacy about my personality,” he said. “About being a role model for the little kids in the community. I hope people say that’s who I was.”

Owen said all you have to do is look around to see the Nelson effect. “He’s going to have a positive impact around here for years to come,” Owen said. “In football, we hadn’t had a winning season in 20-some odd years. The culture wasn’t great. Carter helped turn that around.

“Now we have kids arguing at recess who gets to be Carter Nelson. The football culture here at Ainsworth now is definitely a positive one.”

Surely in Aurora there are still whispers of Kropp. And in Grant, they still speak of Jackman’s exploits. All indications are that Nelson will be in the same class. In Ainsworth, his name won’t be forgotten. Now a bigger stage awaits.