Keith Miles, who served as the play-by-play announcer for FAMU
football for 30 years, said Townsend was an optimist.
“He didn't see the glass half empty,” Miles said. “He saw it half full. And he was trying to do
everything that he could through positive approaches to fill the glass.”
Marching 100 announcer Joe Bullard said that Townsend, who was in his third stint as FAMU AD, loved his job.
“I say the word true because he was back to make that orange
brighter and we know the green tighter,” Bullard said. “That was Nelson
Townsend.”
Two days before his death, Townsend had spoken to the 220
Club, an organization dedicated to supporting FAMU’s Department of Athletics.
He refuted the previous AD’s claim that the department was “broken” and “can’t
be fixed.”
Eddie Jackson, a former FAMU vice president for university
relations and president of the 220 Club, said Townsend was well liked in Rattler
Country.
“I don't know anybody who didn’t love Nelson Townsend once
they got to know him,” Jackson said.