[3] After graduating from Picher High School, Nolan was an all-state junior college football player at Oklahoma Military Academy.
In 1940, Nolan was hired by the Southwestern College Moundbuilders[4] as the school's athletic director and head football coach.
He left the town, bound for Arkansas City, with players jammed in the seats and standing on the running board.
He coached the 1944 Norman Naval Air Station Zoomers football team to a 15–0 victory over the Oklahoma A&M Cowboys, who went on to win the 1945 Cotton Bowl Classic.
[11] He continued serving in the Navy after World War II and was the Operations Officer at the Dallas Naval Air Station as of March 1947.