JAMES NEKOLA

Class of 1983
​Inducted in 2019

Jim was inducted into the SHSAA Packer Sports Greats in 2019.

Jim received four letters during his high school career; three in football and one in basketball.
 
During his football career, he lettered in 1980, 1981 and 1982.  He was All-Metro his Junior and Senior Years, named to the 2nd team All-State his senior year as a defensive tackle.  He was named a team captain his senior year.  As a Junior he was named South High Defensive Lineman of the year, and his senior year named South High’s Most Valuable Defensive Player.  He was selected to play in the 1983 Nebraska Shrine Bowl and was awarded a football scholarship to UNO.
 
Jim also played basketball at South starting as a center his senior year.  He lettered in the sport his senior year.  The team finished 2nd in the Metro Holiday Tournament his senior year.
 
While attending UNO, Jim lettered four years and was a starter on the team for all four years.  He was  an Honorable Mention for the North Central Conference as a sophomore Defensive Tackle in 1984.  He was a two-time All North Central Conference 1st Team Defensive Tackle his junior and senior years. 
 
Voted UNO’s outstanding lineman his junior and senior years.  Jim played on two North Central Conference championship teams, and played in the NCAA Division II Semi-final game in 1984 vs North Dakota State.
 
Jim graduated from UNO with a Bachelor’s degree in mathematics and earned his Master’s Degree in 1997 for Secondary Education.    From 1995-2008 he worked at Northwest High School as a math teacher.  From 2008 to the present – he is employed by Papillion-LaVista High school teaching Probability Statistics, Trigonometry and Geometry.

Jim was an assistant baseball coach at Bryan High for one year, was the head freshman football coach at Northwest for 12 years.