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Published Tuesday January 13, 2004 THE HERALD BANNER GREENVILLE, Texas
Ex-Husker QB Nate Mason dies at age 43
Nate Mason, a University of Nebraska quarterback from 1979 through 1983, collapsed and died Thursday night while on a long walk near his home in south Greenville. He was 43. Mason, a Greenville High School assistant coach who starred for the high school team in the 1970s before being recruited by Nebraska, quarterbacked the Lions in 1978 to a share of the district title with Plano. He then went on to the Nebraska where he played on three Orange Bowl teams and three Big Eight title teams. Mason was a backup for Turner Gill for most of his career at Nebraska.
He rushed for 63 yards and a touchdown in his first collegiate start as a junior during a 34-14 victory over Florida State in 1981. He also started in the next week's game against Penn State, but he aggravated an old ankle injury and missed the rest of the season after having surgery to remove calcium deposits. As a result of the injury, he was granted a medical hardship season and allowed to play in 1982 and 1983. During the 1983 season, he rushed for 222 yards and two touchdowns on 35 carries. For his NU career, he completed 16 of 44 passes for 239 yards and three touchdowns, with three interceptions. His career rushing marks included 491 yards on 106 carries and four touchdowns, with a 4.6-yard rushing average. He was the starting quarterback on Nebraska's 1979 freshman team, throwing for 346 yards and rushing for 144 yards during freshman competition.
Mason was assistant coach at Greenville High School for 15 years. He had also worked with the Boys and Girls Club of Hunt County and the Chamber of Commerce Youth Under Construction project for several summers.
Survivors include his wife, Diane; a son, Nate Jr.; and his mother, Claudia. His grandmother, Mae Dell Hubbard of San Ramon, Calif.; three brothers, John "Button" Mason & wife Debra of Dallas, John Nellius Mason & wife Marie of Garland, and John Mason Jr. & wife Sharron of Mesquite; two sisters, Tina Mason-Pitt of Houston and Lisa Mason-Hoskins & husband Rayford of Greenville; two sisters-in-law, Claudia "Nana" Anderson & husband Charlie of Greenville and Jan Lewis (Gran) of Greenville; brother-in-law Gerry Lewis & wife Karen of Atlanta, GA.; and a host of aunts, uncles, nieces and nephews, cousins and friends. He was preceded in death by his father, the late John Mason Sr., who was a star athlete at Carver High School in Greenville. Also by his father-in-law, mother-in-law, grandparents, one uncle, two aunts and a nephew.
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Lesalie Brown
Nathaniel was best man at my wedding. How appropriate for a good man to be a best man. He is truly missed by all of those he knew.Love and God Bless,
Lesalie Brown Hall
Tom Stuth
I knew Nate well from 3rd grade on. He was a super nice guy, an incredible athlete and grew into a wonderful man. The thing I liked most about him was that he never bragged about what he was good at, he just demonstrated it. He was always a gentleman.Billy Joe Stiggers
Nate was my friend and I miss him very much. Sometimes I just smile when I think what a GREAT Quarterback/PERSON he was...Renda Alexander (Loftin)
Nathaniel and I were neighbors through elementary, middle and high school. His birthday is the day before mine. Also my brothers is name Nathaniel Alexander.NATE was a good friend of mine. He was a good guy and would always make me laugh. He is missed and I pray God Blesses his family.
Love, Renda Loftin
Todd Hendrix
I remember some good times that I had whenever I was around Nate. He was truly a GREAT friend and someone that was genuine person all the time. On a few occasions while home on leave my brother and I would ride by his mother's house and they would be in the yard and we would stop for a while, thoses times with him will be sorely missed.Dan Reeder
Nate is one of the only guys I had kept up with after moving to Alaska. Whenever I would come home to Greenville, we would always hook up. The last time I was home, we met up at Applebee’s for a few beers. When we were first there, all Nate would do was drink water and I could not figure it out. I was harassing him for not drinking. After thirty minutes, he started having beers with me. He then told me he did not want to drink because some of his players were in the restaurant eating. He did not want them to see him drinking. That impressed me so much about Nate; especially after all the wild things we use to do in High School and breaks during college. That was such a little thing, but it impressed me so much about Nate. I knew how much he loved coaching ball and what it really meant to him. We spent the rest of the night driving the old oil top roads around Etter Lake Cemetery, smoking cigars, and talking about the old days. I wish I would have known that was my last night to see him. I think we had the best times when we were being recruited by SMU for football. Billy Stiggers, Ricky Simmons, Nate, Phil Weatherall, Laray Lane and I would head to the Cotton Bowl to watch them at their home games. Boy, how did we ever stay out of trouble.