Gavin Nelson recalled a conversation he had with teammate Ethan Kozlowski as the Tigers were preparing for the 2023-24 season.

The team was getting ready for their first season under new head coach Pat Wanamaker and Kozlowski, who was a senior at the time, mentioned that the new guy would be his third high school coach in four seasons.

The two talked about the difficulty in learning a new system, only to wind up dropping it and learning something new the following season — and Kozlowski remarked that it was tough.

Wanamaker has now completed two successful seasons at Northwestern Lehigh, and Nelson is glad that he and his staff remained intact.

One of the assistant coaches, Sam Yadush, had unknowingly inspired Nelson, who watched from the stands as Yadush scored his 1,000th point during the 2019 season.

At that moment, Nelson wanted to be able to replicate what Yadush had done and for his final two seasons at Northwestern, he would have Yadush to learn from.

When Nelson himself reached the 1,000-point club this past season, Yadush was one of the first to congratulate him, and was also one of the first people Yadush thanked for helping him to get there.

“When I watched him (Yadush), he kind of set the bar for me,” said Nelson, who led all Times News area boys players in scoring with an average of 19.25 points per game. “It was so great to get to have him as one of the coaches the last two seasons. We kind of understand each other, and he knows what it’s like to challenge yourself to get to that goal, so we talked a lot.

“He was more than a basketball coach for me, he really helped make me a better person off the court. Next to my family, Sam has probably helped me more than anybody.”

Nelson’s road to scoring 1,000 points and beyond has had a winding path.

Early on, a friend of his mom’s got him interested in lacrosse and for a while, that was what Nelson wanted to do when he got to high school.

Basketball was fun, but lacrosse was what Nelson took to until he reached middle school and watched another athlete have success — his older sister Emily.

Emily Nelson was a triple-jumper on the track and field team at Northwestern, and her little brother took it all in.

“I remember watching her and everything else going on,” said Nelson, this year’s Times News/Lehigh Valley Health Network Boys Basketball Player of the Year.

“Somehow, I became hooked on the high jump and would spend a lot of time watching that, and I got hooked on learning how to do that.”

By middle school, Nelson had traded in the lacrosse equipment, and would wind up focusing on basketball and track and field, specializing in the high jump.

Not only was Nelson good at both sports, but he went to states as a member of the basketball team and for the high jump.

This season, Nelson helped the Tigers post a record of 24-4, which included a Colonial League championship and a district runner-up finish. He’s also one of the favorites at states in the high jump after moving from 16th in 2023 to third last season with a jump of 6-6 at the PIAA Championships.

When it came time to pick a school and a major, Nelson was realistic.

He felt his odds of finding scholarships for track were better than finding one for basketball. Plus, he had grown to love track more than he did basketball and decided that was his route.

As for a major, Nelson again relied on having watched someone. This time, it was his dad, who is a physical therapist.

The academics came compliments of his mom, who never allowed her kids to slack when it came to learning.

She gently reminded her kids that bad grades could ruin all of their sports activities. She stressed being prepared and no matter how busy they were, studying was a must.

“My parents really influenced me,” remembers Nelson, who will major in exercise science and do track and field at Monmouth in the fall.

“They were always supportive, and I would go to work sometimes with my dad and seeing what he did for a living really made me want to follow in those footsteps.

“My mom made it clear how important the academic side was and never allowed me to slip. She was always right there to help and to guide me.”