Emmy winner at ESPN started at area tech school
Submitted Photo
STAPLES -- Eric Nelson doesn't aspire to be a talking head on ESPN's "SportsCenter." He is happy as the show's graphics guru.
Nelson, a 1997 graduate of the Photographic Imaging Technology program at Central Lakes College, is an Emmy Award winner for work on a graphics team at the world's foremost sports-based network.
The Evansville, Minn., native, now living and working for ESPN in Bristol, Conn., is part of a network team that makes your TV screen transition from the announcer to statistics. When something dances across the screen or when scores are updated live, his group is making it happen.
He and his team work with the Sunday football programs and other segments on "SportsCenter."
Nelson recently took a two-week hunting vacation in Minnesota, joined for part of that time by his former CLC instructor, Bruce Fuhrman. After bagging some bluebill ducks near Alexandria, Nelson agreed to make a presentation to current photo imaging students on the Staples campus.
Nelson described one of his early career highlights -- a recent trip that found him working in Kuwait, where his team produced a live "SportsCenter" for the troops in Iraq before returning to Connecticut.
"He brought his Emmy with and described the work that goes into winning one of them," said Fuhrman, noting Nelson is an avid photographer who chose to refine his career path toward the burgeoning TV graphics field.
"He came to CLC for the photography and found the training contributes to skills desired in many facets of many industries," said Fuhrman.
"The program at CLC educates students in capture and output systems, image composition, graphics, presentation, imaging science and workplace skills," said Nelson. "It was interesting and fun and I'd recommend it to anyone. There are careers out there."
After graduating from CLC, Nelson obtained a bachelor of science degree with more imaging education at Alabama State University.