PULLMAN, Wash. Accomplished mountaineer, athletic director, teacher and coach Larry Nielson (’76) will receive the Washington State University Alumni Association (WSUAA) Alumni Achievement Award on June 3.
Nielson is internationally known as the first American to climb Mount Everest (29,035 feet) without the use of supplementary oxygen.
Nielson is one Western Washington University’s most talented cross country and track and field athletes and holds the school record in the six-mile run. He completed his teaching degree at WWU in 1970 before earning a Master’s Degree in psychology at WSU.
An avid mountaineer, he has ascended the world’s highest peaks including Mount Everest and Peak Lenin (24,590 feet). He was the first person to climb Mount La Perouse (10,098 feet), Nepal’s Mount Lobouche, and the northeast face of Mount Kangchenjunga (28,169 feet), a feat accomplished without supplementary oxygen. He has climbed North America’s tallest peak Mount McKinley (20,320 feet) seven times and Mount Rainer (14,410 feet) 179 times.
After teaching at Washington Middle School in Olympia for twenty-six years, he accepted a position as teacher, coach and athletic director at North River High School in Cosmopolis, Wash., in 2000. There, he is credited with rebuilding the physical education program; he was instrumental in building a new track as well as raising donations for a future baseball facility.
Nielson coached six state champion track athletes at North River along with a number of other top ranked finishers. He was named Athletic Director of the Year for SW Washington B schools in 2007 and was inducted into the WWU Viking Hall of Fame in 2000.
The Alumni Achievement Award is the highest honor bestowed by the WSUAA. Since 1970, 487 WSU alumni have received the Alumni Achievement Award. The presentation is open to the public and will take place at North River High School. For more information, please contact Christina Parrish, assistant director of Alumni Engagement, at 509-335-6907 or parrishc@wsu.edu.