Robert "Duke" Nelligan

University of Maryland Women's Gymnastics Head Coach

1979 - 2009

Gymkana Assistant Coach

1981 - 2006

Honorary Member Inducted 1989

Having been associated with gymnastics and gymnastic competition for much of his life, Robert Nelligan came to the University in 1979 to take over as coach of the Women's competitive gymnastic program. At the time, the team was experiencing severe coaching and morale problems.  Bob, or "Duke" as he is generally known, had his work cut out for him.  As he explains,

"The team had had a problem in terms of who the athletes were going to answer to, the assistant coaches who knew more about gymnastics or the head coach who paid the bills. So that caused some real friction."

Duke managed to bring the team together and form it into one of the most respected teams in the country.

But almost from the start, Duke also became interested in what was going on with the Gymkana Troupe. 

I was already aware of Gymkana when I came back, because I was here in 1973.  I was familiar with what they did in terms of gymnastics.  I was familiar with what the group was all about and the very first thing I did was introduce myself to Dr. Kramer.

My statement to Dr. Kramer was that I was interested in learning more about how this fit into the whole gymnastic picture.  I was interested in trying to figure out a way that the team could use the facility in such a way that we didn't become a burden. We would come in and ask Dr. Kramer if it was ok to use the spring floor because we didn't have one.  And then it was, "Well, could we do a little bit of bars?", because our bars were already antiquated at that point. This went on for two years. 

Over time, an arrangement was made in which Gymkana and the Women’s gymnastic team shared the gym.

In 1981-82, Duke was accepted into the graduate program. Dr. George Kramer became his advisor.  As it turned out, Dr. Kramer and Gymkana would have a big impact on Duke's philosophy about gymnastics. 

I think I came in with a very one sided approach to what gymnastics should be all about... I mean I understood certain gymnastic things, certain competitive things, because that was my major... But when I came here, one of the things that I started to realize was that there were more ways of motivating people. That when you didn't have the very best athletes, you couldn't use typical approaches to things. And it opened my eyes to other possibilities. 

Also Dr. Kramer made me more cognizant of training women as athletes, not as women.  And yet I don't know that people would recognize that automatically because he always had a kind of unique way of dealing with women in the Troupe.  But I became more and more aware of the fact that if I used his approach with the women, we could have a very strong women's program. And they responded really well to it.  It became pretty much commonplace later on as women's gymnastics evolved, but initially it was quite different. Most people thought college athletes were out to pasture, they were over the hill, there was nothing for them to really do... So I think I learned a lot from how the Gymkana people responded to what I was trying to do.

As the years passed, Duke became more and more involved with the Gymkana Troupe, especially providing his coaching expertise to the women on apparatus. A demanding coach, known for such sayings as "Go Hard or Go Home.", he expected only the best of Gymkana's women, and usually was able to get it. But the benefits were not all one way. 

"As I started getting farther and farther along in our program (the Women's competitive team), my job was no longer to get the ethereal pluses. I was supposed to win. That's what my job was. I think one of the comments that I made is that athletes don't get used, they get caught up in other people's dreams. And that's what I started to sense, was that the athlete was no longer in control of where things were going, but rather the machine was. The drive to get to the next level. The drive to validate the coach and the monies that are put into it and things like that. And at some point I was questioning whether or not that's what sport was all about. I thought it was the journey. And it really bothered me that the stressors were mounting and the journey was not what I was enjoying.

So it was great to get that satisfaction from the Gymkana program. It was refreshing because the effort that you got was usually from the heart.

When Dr. Kramer retired and Dr. Joseph Murray took over as Troupe director, Duke's relationship with Gymkana continued. And Duke found that he and Dr. Murray had a thing or two in common. 

When it came to our programs, we always did what we felt was best. There's one incident that I always like to bust Dr. Murray on and that is once when the travel trampoline didn't have a full set of pads on it. So Dr. Murray took the pads off of one of the trampolines in the gym. 

I was teaching trampoline in there at the time and I made some kind of snide comment, like,  'See, we're not quite as different as people think we are, are we?'

"And he said, 'What do you mean?' 

I said, 'What's more important, the class program or Gymkana?' 

"And he said, 'I don't understand.' 

I said, 'Well, you took the pads off the last trampoline.' 

"Yeah?' 

"I said, 'Well, who's more important?'

And he said, 'Obviously Gymkana.'

We always laughed about that. We're not so different. What we're trying to do is not so different.

One of the few coaches not to have first been a member of a Gymkana Troupe, Duke had nevertheless given of himself in helping the Troupe for almost three decades. 

In recognition of his service the members of the 1988-89 Gymkana Troupe made him an honorary member.  At that time, the troupers saw a side of him that they had never seen before. The often brusque and usually sarcastic Duke broke down in tears.