Buffalo law professor Nellie Drew fields sports questions
Books on athletics captivated the future sports executive and academic at a young age.
Helen “Nellie” Drew directs UB’s Center for the Advancement of Sport.
Helen “Nellie” Drew is a professor at the University at Buffalo School of Law and director of UB’s Center for the Advancement of Sport.
Drew is also an avid sports fan whose background includes serving as associate in-house counsel and corporate officer to Buffalo’s NHL team, the Sabres.
Drew took part in Sports Literate’s five-question Q&A.
Do you have a short list of sports books that are your all-time favorites?
Wow – how to condense the list! I think the first sports book I read was "Paper Lion" by George Plimpton. A classic, not to be missed. I also read Joe Namath's tongue-in-cheek, "I Can't Wait Until Tomorrow . . . 'cause I Get Better Looking Every Day." I read these while in middle school, and I think it was the first time I began to view sports literature as something beyond the sports sections of the newspapers that I consumed every syllable of.
"Legal of Denial" is a must-read. Mark Fainaru-Wada and Steve Fainaru's compelling account of the evidence about football and brain damage will change the way you view contact sports.
"Moneyball" by Michael Lewis is a thorough recounting of how analytics caused a seismic shift in Major League Baseball.
"Game Change" by Ken Dryden is a thoughtful, compelling examination of how the NHL has changed over the past decades – and not necessarily for the better.
"Counsel in the Crease" is special to me because it was written by my mentor, Bob Swados, and his career was simply epic.
Robert O. Swados wrote about his career as a lawyer and key adviser to the Buffalo Sabres in “Counsel in the Crease.” Swados was a career mentor to Nellie Drew.
The overwhelming favorite for me has to be "A Spin of the Wheel: Birth of the Buffalo Sabres," by Ross Brewitt. I was an 18-year-old college student at Harvard who was devastated by the massive trade of Danny Gare, Jim Schoenfeld and Derek Smith to Detroit for Mike Foligno, Dale McCourt and Brent Peterson in 1981. So, I sat down and wrote a handwritten letter to the Sabres’ president, Seymour H. Knox III, a Yale alum.
I informed Mr. Knox that even a Yalie should have known better than to make this deal. (Obviously, Mr. Knox was far more well versed in hockey personnel than I was.) By return mail, I received a very nice handwritten note from Seymour, thanking me for my fandom, wishing me the best of luck and enclosing the Brewitt book.
Six years later, I met Seymour, and I began working as outside counsel for the Sabres. Ten years later, he was my boss, and someone I will always revere as a tremendously good, kind, caring person. I still treasure the book – and, of course, the story of how the Sabres won at the roulette wheel!
Required reading
Do you assign some sports-related books to your law students, and do any seem to resonate with them?
Actually, I mostly assign cases and online materials reflecting current issues in sports law. I have an assignment this week for one course that includes an excerpt from Mark Poloncarz's book, "Beyond the Xs and Os: Keeping the Bills in Buffalo," because of its relevance for our discussion of the negotiations for the new stadium.
The problem, if you will, as a sports law professor is that the issues arise so quickly that there isn't time for a typical book or textbook publication timeline. I abandoned textbooks at the JD level well over a decade ago because they were out of date often before they were in print.
A sporting chance for students
Is there a waiting list to get into your classes at UB’s School of Law? I would think sports law would be extremely popular.
Unfortunately, we occasionally do run out of room in a sports law class. I try very hard to allow as many students as possible into the foundational courses (Sports Law 1 and 2), which are the prerequisites for some of the other, higher level offerings. In fact, I took Sports Law 1 remote this semester specifically because I wanted to ensure that we didn't close anyone out. But the specialized courses, like our Practicum and the blog group, which publishes ublawsportsforum.com, by definition must limit enrollment to allow for as much one-on-one interaction as possible.
Filling up on sports media
What is your sports media diet like – do you consume television, print, websites or podcasts?
All of the above. It is interesting to talk to the students, whose media consumption often varies from mine. I follow several industry services, media publications (the former New York Times sports section was a favorite – boo!), The Athletic, ESPN, WGR, Twitter, Netflix documentaries, etc. If it's out there, I try to find it.
My husband calls me a "sports law nerd." Fair enough. I start each class with a "hit list" of sports law issues in the news – and there are always so many!
The path to professordom
If you had not become a law professor, might you have had another sports-adjacent career?
Well, the professor thing was an accident. I began my career with my dream job – outside counsel to the NHL and to the Sabres. I then went in-house with the Sabres for several years. During that time, we began our family. Shortly after our third child arrived, our second child fell very ill, and it was clear that I would need to focus the vast majority of my attention upon his health care. So, I segued into teaching, which I happily discovered that I just love.
The adrenalin rush that comes with deals no longer applies, but I find satisfaction when I see the "aha!" moment on a student's face, I get the email that says, "I passed the bar!," or even the text with a picture of their new puppy or, better yet, new baby.
It also gives me the opportunity to reflect on the bigger picture, and issues of importance to me, like Title IX, gender equity for women in the sports industry as well as in participation, and making youth sports a better environment for everyone.
I am invested in policy changes to make sports more inclusive, safer and healthier for everyone, but especially for those in our Western New York community, and I am fortunate that the law school and the university as a whole supports my work in these vitally important areas.
