Concordia University Chicago Athletics

Thomas Nahnsen ’55 – Nahnsen played basketball, football and baseball at Concordia, lettering three years in each. The Cougar basketball team went 48-20 during his three years with the team, and Nahnsen led them to an important feat in team history in the 1954 Concordia Invitational Tournament, the first played in Seward, Nebraska. He led the team in scoring in both games to help the Cougars win twice on their arch-rivals’ floor and bring home their first CIT tournament title.

            
Nahnsen would go on to teach and coach for 41 years after graduation in the LCMS educational system. He served as athletic director at St. John’s College in Winfield, Kansas (1970-79), Concordia Seminary in St. Louis (1980-86) and Lutheran High School in Springfield, Illinois (1986-95). Nahnsen coached numerous sports at these three institutions as well as at Walther Lutheran High School, and he received four Coach of the Year awards, including the 1974 NJCAA Regional award for soccer in the state of Kansas.

            
Nahnsen received his B.S. in education from Concordia in 1955. He earned his M.S. in education from Northern Illinois University in 1962.