He graduated from Newburyport High then spent a year at Governor Dummer Academy as a post graduate. He attended Bowdoin College from 1935-1939 where he excelled as a student and athlete winning nine letters in football, hockey, and baseball, captaining the football team in 1938, being elected as a Williamson All American tackle the same year and an All New England goalie in hockey.
During World War II Nels served as a Naval Officer on the staff of Admiral William “Bull” Halsey in the South Pacific. He married Kathleen A. Monaghan of Gardiner in 1947. Between 1948 and 1954 he taught and coached at MCI, Colby College and Williams College before returning to Bowdoin College as an assistant in football on the staff of Adam Walsh.
From 1959-1964 he was Head Coach of football at Bowdoin as well as starting a lacrosse program at the school in 1958. In 1960 and 1963 his teams won the Maine State Series defeating the University of Maine along with Colby and Bates. From 1965-1980 Mr. Corey was the Athletic Director as well as head football and lacrosse coach at the Hotchkiss School in Lakeville, Connecticut, where his teams were perennial championship contenders.
In 1980 he and his wife “Kaye” retired to Gardiner, Maine.
Nels Corey is a member of the Maine Sports Hall of Fame, the Bowdoin College Hall of Honor and in 1976 was awarded the Martin William Souders Award which had previously been given to such dignitaries as George Bush, former Massachusetts Governor Leverett Saltonstall and Daniel Hanley, M.D., former Bowdoin physician and Olympic physician.
There are endowed scholarships at both Hotchkiss School and Bowdoin College in his honor.
Nels is survived by his wife Kaye and sons Charles and Jeff, daughter-in- law Sarah, and three grandchildren Maggie, Nels and James. Following cremation a memorial service will be held on a later date at Bowdoin College.
Contributions can be sent to the C. Nelson Corey Scholarship, Bowdoin College, 4100 College Station, Brunswick, Maine 04011.
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