Who Is Andy Nelson’s Wife, Bettye? All About NFL Legend’s Late Partner, Kids, Family, and More

Andy Nelson didn’t just play football; he helped define it. The Baltimore Colts safety was the guy quarterbacks dreaded, the one who snagged 33 interceptions and turned defense into theater. He starred in the game that made the NFL what it is today, the 1958 overtime classic. Two championships in three years. A first-team All-Pro nod in 1959. A reputation as one of the most reliable safeties of his era.

And then, just when most men would ride off into the sunset, Andy fired up the smoker. Literally. He took the same discipline he brought to the Colts’ secondary and poured it into a roadside barbecue joint in Cockeysville, Maryland. Andy Nelson’s Southern Pit Barbecue became a shrine, part restaurant, part football museum, all heart.

Nelson passed away on September 12, 2025, at the age of 92. The news hit Baltimore like a wave. The city mourned not just the loss of a football hero, but of a man who gave it more than rings and highlight reels. Let’s take a deep dive into his life away from the field and the barbecue joint and learn more about his family.

Who was Andy Nelson’s late wife, Bettye J. Nelson?

Behind all of it, the football glory, the restaurant empire, was Andy’s late partner, Bettye. Born Bettye J. Bryan in Memphis, she grew up the daughter of a judge, graduated from Central High, and crossed paths with Andy at Memphis State College. He was the two-way star. She was the steady force who would marry him during her second year of college and follow him into the whirlwind of pro football.

Those were lean years, the kind that tested couples. Andy played in front of roaring stadiums but worked offseason jobs to keep the family afloat. Bettye was the constant, raising seven children, packing up and moving with each chapter, holding it all together while Andy Nelson chased championships and later pursued coaching gigs. When the NFL days ended, she co-founded their barbecue pit-stop with him in 1981.

Locals say Bettye’s fingerprints were everywhere in that restaurant. Moreover, four of their children worked there, helping turn it into a multigenerational business that will keep the Nelson name alive for decades.

Bettye passed away in 2010 after a battle with lung cancer. She was 77. Her funeral at Ruck Towson Funeral Home was packed with neighbors, family, and longtime customers who had become friends. She left behind seven children, 14 grandchildren, two great-grandchildren, and a barbecue joint that still carries her spirit.

Who are Andy Nelson’s children, grandchildren, and family?

If Andy Nelson’s life were a highlight reel, his family was the soundtrack playing underneath every frame. He and Bettye raised seven children, Andrew Jr., Paul, Sheryl, Susan, Linda, Leslie, and Brett. Each one is a piece of the story that turned the Nelsons into more than just a football family. Four of them rolled up their sleeves and worked at Andy Nelson’s Southern Pit Barbecue. It kept the restaurant as much about family as it was about food.

The next generation made sure the name kept going, too. Andy and Bettye were grandparents to 14 and great-grandparents to two, a sprawling crew that locals still see running the place, welcoming guests, and making sure the ribs taste like they did when Andy and Bettye first started smoking meat back in 1981.

That is the real Andy Nelson legacy. Not just the rings, not just the Pro Bowl nod, and not just the trophy case on York Road. It is the fact that Baltimore fans, neighbors, and out-of-towners can still walk into that restaurant, see a Nelson behind the counter, and feel like they are part of the family. And maybe that is what Andy wanted all along, to leave behind more than stats, to leave behind a table big enough for everyone.