MINNEAPOLIS, MN - March 4, 2015 - The Minnesota Chapter of The National Football Foundation is excited to announce the 2015 John Gagliardi Legacy Award winner, Dick Hanson, to be recognized at the 8th Annual Minnesota Football Honors May 3, 2015 at the Hilton Minneapolis.
For 24 years from 1969 to 1993, Hanson took the Burnsville High School football program to new heights. In his time with the Blaze, he guided the team to a 192-56-2 record that yielded 11 conference championship titles, 11 sectional championships and state championships in 1972, 1980, 1985, 1989 and 1991.
A graduate of Grand Forks Central High School, where he was a member of the 1952 state championship basketball team and lettered in golf, Hanson went on to garner his bachelor of science degree in mathematics education in 1956 at the University of North Dakota before taking additional education courses at both the University of Minnesota and the University of St. Thomas. He became the head coach at Burnsville High School after serving as an assistant coach for the team from 1960-68.
Hanson also saw success off the field when he was named the District No. 191 Teacher of the Year and the Minnesota Teacher of the Year in 1968. He was a runner-up for the National Teacher of the Year in 1969.
Later in his career, Hanson earned the Presidential Award for Mathematics Teaching, Education Minnesota’s Distinguished Educator Award and had involvement with the National Mathematics Journal Board. Hanson also became an adjunct professor at St. Thomas, St. Olaf and Bemidji State and was a consultant for NASA and Hewlett Packard.
Hanson, for whom Burnsville named its football field in 2006, was inducted into Grand Forks Central High School’s Hall of Fame in 1993, was a member of the Burnsville High School Hall of Fame’s inaugural class and was a Minnesota Football Coaches Association Hall of Fame inductee in 2012.
The 8th Annual Minnesota Football Honors, presented by the Minnesota Vikings, will take place Sunday, May 3, 2015 at Hilton Minneapolis. College and professional football Hall of Fame inductees are scheduled to attend the event, and WCCO-TV news personality Frank Vascellaro will return for his eighth year as Master of Ceremonies. The event is open to the public. To register or for additional information about this years Minnesota Football Honors, please visit www.minnesotafootballhonors.com. For sponsorship information, please email lindsay@nffmn.org.
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