2020 Brandon Valley Athletic Hall of Fame: Neighborhood games of football, hoops groomed Hanson for athletic success

By: 
Jill Meier, Journal editor

Dan Hanson fires a shot over his opponent in this mid-1970’s dated photo.

Submitted photo

In addition to running the 220, 440 and relays, Hanson dabbled in the pole vault as a Brandon Valley student-athlete in the mid 1970s.

Submitted photo

Dan Hanson

Editor’s note: This is the second 

in a series of four recognizing the three individuals and one state championship team that have been selected for induction into BV’s 

Athletic Hall of Fame this year.

* * * * *

Dan anson grew up in a simpler time, a time when kids played outdoors from sun up to sun down. With only a handful of TV channels to tune into and no video games to speak of, Hanson and his neighborhood buddies played hours and hours of football in vacant lots and game after game of hoops on driveways. And it was that simple lifestyle that groomed him for success on the playing fields as a Brandon Valley Lynx and garnered the 1976 graduate induction into BV’s Athletic Hall of Fame this year. 

“When I was growing up it was different than it is for the kids in the 8- to 12-year-old age group today. Nowadays, there are organized leagues for kids to play football, basketball and other sports. When I was in that age group, our parents just sent us outside to entertain ourselves and said to be home for supper and before it got to dark,” he reflects. “We didn’t have any organized sports (besides softball and baseball). I can think of multiple vacant lots where we would get as many kids together to play football and two or three driveways we played basketball on with as few as two people to as many as we could fit on the driveway. That’s what we did for fun.”

Hanson, who continues to reside in Brandon, was a multi-sport athlete at BVHS, competing in football, basketball and track and field. Basketball, he confesses, was his first love, yet it was football that garnered attention from the University of South Dakota. While Hanson pursued a degree in chemistry there, he waived the football scholarship to put his education first.

Hanson said the decision was a relatively easy one to make. 

“I was really more interested in playing basketball in college, but that didn’t work out,” he tells. “I was always interested in science, so school was my priority.”

He didn’t quit competing, though, playing an abundance of intramural basketball and football at USD.

“The only thing I regret is having to pay my way through college,” says Hanson, who’s dedicated 42 years to his career as a chemistry manager for American Engineering Testing, Inc., in Sioux Falls. 

Hanson’s introduction to sports at the high school level was a positive one, acknowledging the student-athletes who came before him.

“When I got to high school, there were upperclassmen that were great role models for us to follow and there was a great winning tradition,” he said.

Suiting up for the Lynx football team on Friday nights, Hanson earned three varsity letters by filling a trio of roles on BV’s famed grass turf: starting receiver/tight end, defensive back and kick/punt returner. It was his junior season when the Lynx were at their best, rolling to a 9-0 undefeated season and third-place state ranking.

“That was a great defensive team,” he reflects, “I think only two or three teams scored against us.”

Hanson landed All-Conference and All-State accolades following his senior season, and rightly so, as he led the team in return and receiving yards.

One of his shining moments of his prep career took place in a 1974 game that pitted No. 3 BV (Class A) and No. 1 Garretson (Class B). The Lynx escaped the tightly-contested meeting with a 7-6 victory, thanks to Hanson’s quick actions. As history tells it, late in the game, Hanson tackled the Garretson ball carrier at the 1-yard line to preserve the one-point victory.

“That was a great defensive game for both teams,” Hanson remembers. “As I recall, we scored first, and late in the game, Garretson scored on us. I don’t recall if it was a fake field goal or a mishandled extra point, but I remember Jerome Garry coming around the end with the ball and I was playing defensive back. I was fortunate enough to tackle him at the 1-yard line with an assist from Jon Bly.”

His love for basketball in high school was fueled by a successful sophomore season, where the squad went undefeated en route to posting an 18-0 record. 

As a junior, the Lynx boys earned a trip to the state tournament behind their 19-4 record, and once again, Hanson’s late-game heroics at the free throw line helped to advance BV to the state show.

Reports are that Hanson swished 6-of-6 free throws in the win against O’Gorman, sinking 4-of-5 in the crucial final minutes of the game, all the while fending off nerves playing before an estimated 5,000 fans. 

“I would like to say it (free throws made) was because I was handling the ball because I was the best free throw shooter, but that was not the case,” Hanson tells. “Someone from O’Gorman must have read the scouting report. I was percentage-wide probably on the lower side of the five on the court at the end of the game. I don’t recall exactly how it felt, but I’m sure happy the free throws went in.”

But he does well remember a photo that showed up in print in the following day’s Argus Leader.

“It had a picture of me on the line with the ball in the air and the score and time all in the same picture. They labeled it, ‘The shot.’”

Hanson collected a trio of varsity letters for basketball, where he was the starting guard both his junior and senior seasons. Along with the team’s 19-4 record in his junior year, the Lynx also won the Big Eight Conference and the Section III championships, and went on to finish fourth at state.

“Basketball, when you were on the court as a player you were always involved in the action,” he said. “It tested your quickness, jumping ability and endurance.”

Post high-school, Hanson continued to play the game via multiple basketball leagues and independent tournaments with friends he gained in college.

“I finally gave it up in my early 40s,” he said. “It was much more fun being one of the young guys making the old guys look silly instead of becoming one of the old guys whose mind knew want to do, but the body could not keep up anymore. After that, I started running and when my knees could not take that anymore, I settled on golf.”

On the track, Hanson collected four more varsity letters as a 220- and 440-yard specialist in individual events and on relay teams. He had a presence at the state meet all four years of high school. His senior season was especially magical, as Hanson claimed Big 8 Conference titles in the 220 and 440 and ran a leg on a pair of second-place relay teams. At the Region 8 and state meets, he brought home hardware in both individual events.

“Track was more of an individual sport except for the relays,” Hanson said. “(We spent) a lot of time waiting and then a couple of minutes competing.”

While medals and trophies were obvious rewards for his athletic accomplishments, Hanson said the biggest reward are the friendships that he developed with those he grew up with in Brandon. 

“I played football, basketball and ran track with the same group of guys most of my high school career,” he said. “It doesn’t matter how often we see each other, we still have a bond from our high school days in sports. Some of them I see all of the time and they are my best friends to this day. A group of us still gets together for birthday lunches, and when we were younger we would talk about the old days in high school. Now we talk about what part of our body’s hurt the most.”

He gives credit to a long list of coaches that guided him through his prep career, listing Glenn Sellevold and Denny Halseth (football); Wayne Allen, Gerry Leischner and Gary Stensaas (basketball); and Lyle Claussen (track and field).

“I enjoyed playing for all of my coaches,” he shares. “They each helped me develop in their own way.”

Coach Sellvold, he explains, “was kind of intimidating when you came in as an underclassman.” Yet, the veteran coach taught his players how to work as a team and to not give up.

“He helped me to gain confidence in my abilities by allowing me to start on offense and defense as a junior,” he said. “And I remember the famous words when you made a mistake in practice, ‘Take a lap.’”

Coach Allen also had his respect because he allowed his players to play the game to their strengths.

“We liked to play an up-tempo game with lots of fast breaks, and he made the game fun,” he said.

He also acknowledges the guys he grew up alongside, playing sports together and pushing one another to be the best they could be.

“So, who to credit, I would say the coaches, the people I played with and some natural ability,” he said.

He includes an older brother in that same mix.

“I always joke with people that I learned how to run and jump because I had an older brother who I would irritate sometimes,” he said. “I learned how to jump by clearing the chain link fence in the backyard and by being quick enough that if he didn’t catch me in the first 10 yards, I would get ‘pounded.’”

Hanson is honored and humbled by his nod into the Hall of Fame.

“When I got the call, I started thinking about how long it had been since I entered high school,” he said. “I entered high school 48 years ago and graduated 44 years ago. I can’t tell you a lot about what happened last year, but the interesting thing is I can remember the little incidents from games and meets from all three sports.”

Hanson and his wife, LaDell, are parents to two grown children, Sara Onnen, and Cory (wife, Erin) Hanson, and grandparents to five, Caitlyn, Ben and Ashley Onnen, and Esther and Emma Hanson.

 

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The Brandon Valley Journal

 

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