Brian Hansen, South's varsity baseball coach since 1974
School to retire his No. 7
by PATRICK J. NAGY Reporter

Hansen

Brian Hansen, 61, of Depew, Williamsville South's varsity baseball coach since 1974, died Wednesday, Jan. 9, 2008.

Born in Detroit, Mich., Mr. Hansen attended local schools. He moved to Buffalo in 1964 to attend the University at Buffalo. He originally went to UB on a football scholarship but severely injured one of his knees during his freshman year.

Mr. Hansen hung up his football cleats and instead focused on baseball. He played three years as a catcher for UB. In 1967, he earned Division I All-American honors after leading the nation in hitting with a .533 batting average. He finished his collegiate career with a .506 average and as a two-time All-American.

"As a catcher, he was the best," said Williamsville Athletics Director Jim Russian, who had known Mr. Hansen since 1968. "People don't know how good he was. Nobody knew the game or loved it better. His favorite player was Mickey Mantle, and he had wrists and forearms just like him. He could really pound a golf ball, too."

After earning his bachelor's and master's degrees in education from UB, Mr. Hansen began a 30-year teaching career with the Williamsville Central School District as a health and physical education teacher at Maple West Elementary in 1971. After a nine-year stint, Mr. Hansen worked 13 years at Mill Middle School before moving to South High School from 1993 until his retirement in June 2002.

"Brian always thought he was lucky to be in Williamsville," said Rusin. "I know Williamsville was lucky to have him. That was our benefit for sure."

Early in his teaching career, Mr. Hansen, a seventh-round pick by the Philadelphia Phillies in the 1968 Major League Baseball draft, played minor league baseball in the Philadelphia Phillies' organization. He never made it to the Major League but played for four years at the A and AA level.

As soon as Mr. Hansen stopped playing pro baseball, he dove straight into coaching. Mr. Hansen was respected by his players and other coaches.

"His teams played the game the right way, like professionals," said Rusin. "He wouldn't have it any other way. He never argued with umpires. His kids hustled. He was so positive."

"He was one of the most respected people on the field," added South baseball coach Dave Delisanti, the South JV coach the last eight years and co-coach with him on varsity last year. "It didn't matter if his teams were 20-0 or 0-20. They were gentlemen on and off the field. He taught the kids not just about baseball, but life."

One of the last baseball games Mr. Hansen coached for South was against his son, Kurt, who coaches for Maryvale. It marked the first time the two had coached against each other. Brian's other son, Keith, was an assistant coach at South.

"It was very exciting," said Brian Hansen in a May 30, 2007 interview in The Bee. "A lot of things that (Kurt) says (to his players) are very familiar to what I say… But his team was the better team on that day. Their hitting was far better than ours, and we committed a lot of errors."

"I enjoyed laughing and watching him try to pump his team up to beat my team," said Kurt Hansen. "I knew that fire was back. It was good to see it for that brief moment."

South Athletics Director Kevin Lester, who played amateur baseball with him for five years, said Mr. Hansen still wanted to be a part of the program as much as his health could warrant.

"We still wanted him on the bench for games, whatever he could give to the program," said Lester.

Lester said one of his fondest memories of Mr. Hansen was how proud he was of the South baseball dugouts.

Rusin said Hansen's No. 7 jersey will be retired at a ceremony this spring. The No. 7 will also be worn on the hats of every baseball player in the South program.

Mr. Hansen also coached running backs for the South football team from 1971 to 1980.

Mr. Hansen was inducted into the UB Wall of Fame in 1983 and the Western New York Baseball Hall of Fame in 1999.

Mr. Hansen also coached in the Cheektowaga Youth Hockey League for 22 years and was a basketball official at the high school and college levels for 38 years.

He had also been the Town of Cheektowaga's pool director since the 1970s.

"When the pool was open, Brian was responsible for its operations over a seven-day period and continued to do the outstanding professional job he was known for, even under such difficult circumstances," said Kenneth J. Kopacz, executive director of the Town of Cheektowaga Department of Recreation and Youth Services. "His end-of-the-year reports were clear and concise and covered every detail of pool operations. He was a staff member you could always depend upon to do a professional job."

Mr. Hansen was also the official clock operator for Buffalo Bills' home games for 32 years.

He loved to golf.

Mr. Hansen is survived by his wife of 39 years, the former Elaine Gardon; three sons, Erik, Kurt and Keith; his mother, Betty; a brother, Kevin; a sister, Karen; and one grandchild.

Services were held Monday, Jan. 14 from Resurrection Catholic Church in Cheektowaga. Arrangements were made by the Barron-Miller Funeral Home.