Nelson Townsend

Published January 15, 2015 This content is archived.

Nelson E. Townsend, former UB athletics director who guided the move of the athletics program from NCAA Division III to Division I, died Jan. 8 in Florida. Townsend collapsed before a meeting at Florida A&M University, where he was interim athletic director. He was 73.

He had been at Florida A&M for less than a month, taking over on Dec. 15 after the resignation of Athletic Director Kellen Winslow.

Townsend was at UB from 1987-98. In addition to overseeing the university’s move to Division I, he was chairman of the NCAA Olympic Liaison Committee and a member of the United States Olympic Committee. He was instrumental in bringing the World University Games to Buffalo in 1993 — the only time the games have been held in the United States.

Townsend stepped down from the UB athletics post after suffering a heart attack.

He served as athletic director at Florida A&M three times, previously holding the position in 1986-87 and 2005-07. Shortly after accepting the job in December, he hired Alex Wood, who served as interim head coach at UB, as head football coach at Florida A&M.

Over his 40-year career, Townsend also had served as athletic director at the University of Maryland-Eastern Shore — where he was inducted into the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference Hall of Fame and the University of Maryland-Eastern Shore Hall of Fame — and at Delaware State University.

During his tenure at Delaware State from 1979 to 1986, the Hornets win the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference Talmadge Hill Award as the league’s top overall men’s program in 1985 and 1986, and the school won a total of 15 conference team championships.

Townsend also helped move Delaware State from Division II to Division I and helped establish its athletics hall of fame.