Photo by Savannah Schmidt.
David Nilsson, Briarwood Christian School’s new Head of Athletics, stands in Briarwood’s stadium.
David Nilsson has stories a sports fan could listen to for days. He scrolls through his phone, looking for a picture. He’s sure it’s in there because he was just organizing his pictures on his computer the night before.
He turns his phone around to show the picture: a mob of Major League Baseball all-stars surrounding Ted Williams, the Boston Red Sox legend, on the field in Fenway Park in 1999. There is Ken Griffey Jr., Tony Gwynn, Mike Piazza.
“And there’s me on the outside,” Nilsson said. “So that’s kind of one of those photos that you don’t look at for 20 years and then you go through your files, you look at stuff and you’re like, that’s me. Oh man, what am I doing there, you know?”
However modest, Nilsson earned his spot on the field that night. He was selected as an MLB all-star and played eight seasons with the Milwaukee Brewers.
Nilsson is a born and bred Australian, one of only 38 Australians to ever play in the major leagues.
After his playing career was done, he went back home to Australia, where he was raising a family. He remained heavily involved in the sport, scouting and coaching the Australian national baseball team.
And then Gus Martin, the superintendent of Briarwood Christian School and a fellow Australian, began messaging him. The school was looking to fill a position that would oversee the development of all the sports teams at the school as head of athletics.
Another detail to know about Nilsson is that he’s a steadfast Christian — a conversion that happened when the Brewers were playing in Seattle in 1995.
“God, you know, changes your heart,” Nilsson said. “God pursues you and that’s the best way to explain it.”
So, Martin asked Nilsson if he would ever consider taking a position at a high school 9,000 miles away, in a part of the United States that Nilsson had never visited. After discussing it with his family, Nilsson said yes.
“I was very clear that God was pursuing me and my life had lined up really well, and I was definitely feeling led to come here,” Nilsson said.
But, that didn’t make moving a whole family across continents less of a huge undertaking.
“There’s no downplaying the enormity involved,” he said. “You sell everything. You have nothing. I’ve nothing at home in Australia and we turn up with suitcases, so you’re hopping off the plane and you’re starting from scratch.”
Nilsson has settled in now, just two months after arriving. He lives just down Alabama 119 from the school and has been embraced by the Briarwood community.
“I couldn’t have asked for more,” Nilsson said. “People have been warm, welcoming, just gracious to myself and my family. So, it’s been great so far.”
