Former NBA coach and University of Iowa alum Don Nelson, who passed away Aug. 9 at age 86, hosted some legendary poker games with celebrities, including one that continued after a player in the game died.
“Nellie,” who coached 31 seasons in the NBA between 1976 and 2010, retired to Hawaii where he took up poker regularly. Singer and guitarist Willie Nelson, along with actors Owen Wilson and Luke Wilson, were among the regulars in his game.
The Game Never Stops
About five years ago, as Nelson said in a 2023 interview on YouTube with Rick Quan, a player in the game, Greg Booth, died during the game. But that didn’t stop the table, which included Woody Harrelson, from continuing to play poker.
“I told the guys, Greg would want you to play on. He was a live life at its fullest,” Nelson explained.
Nelson, part of five NBA titles with the Boston Celtics as a player, said the infamous game was “something they’ll never forget for the rest of their life,” referring to those who continued to play after Booth’s death.
“They put him on the porch and they laid him there,” Nelson said of the deceased poker player. “Everybody put a $20 chip in his pocket, and that’s where he lay until they came and got him.”
Nelson, known most for his coaching tenures with the Golden State Warriors and Dallas Mavericks, was quite the poker enthusiast. Poker Hall of Famer Erik Seidel, a 10-time WSOP bracelet winner, shared a hilarious story about meeting the late basketball coach.
Nellie’s poker games were mostly mid-stakes. He told WRAL News in an interview that pots would get up to $3,000 or so. Willie Nelson, no relation, “never saw a card he didn’t like,” the former NBA coach said.
Nelson was a star at Iowa in the early 1960s before a 14-year career in the NBA where he was mostly a solid roleplayer on some championship teams. He moved on to a long coaching career, winning 1,335 games, second-most in history.
The longtime coach suffered a stroke in Texas and was moved to hospice care a few weeks before his passing.
