Jim Nicholson graduated from Denison in 1927 and starred in football, basketball and track. Nicholson played during the years in which Denison was part of the rugged Buckeye Athletic Association with Ohio University, Miami University, and the University of Cincinnati, among others.
Nicholson was named to the All-Buckeye and All-Ohio football and basketball teams, and left DU as the school record holder in the half-mile. As a senior, he helped the DU basketball team capture the Buckeye Athletic Association Championship in basketball.
In 1930, he became the University of Toledo’s first full-time head football coach. He upgraded the schedule and instituted organized recruiting, eventually building UT into a powerful and respected football program. In 1935, his final season, the Rockets finished 6-2-1, including a 63-0 win over arch rival Bowling Green that led to a 13-year cessation of the rivalry between the two schools.
Nicholson helped design the Glass Bowl, and after his retirement as coach he participated in reorganizing the Varsity “T” Club. He later became an industrialist and civic leader in the City of Toledo.
