The Competitor

Photo by rocky ross

ALWAYS ON THE BALL. Bellarmine’s Scott Hanson has spent a fair amount of time on the school’s athletic fields.

On a recent afternoon, Scott Hanson was standing inside the lower gym at Bellarmine Prep, talking to a writer about the upcoming high school soccer season just before heading out to practice.

He was thoughtful, but a little restless. He seemed he would be as relieved as a hound on a leash to be let go. His teammates were already warming up outside.

Then he was asked how his ankle was feeling – the one he injured back in December in the Gonzaga Prep game that had hindered him during the final months of his basketball season.

“It’s still kinda swollen,” he said. “Wanna see it?”

With that, he bent down, untied the laces of his right shoe, peeled off his sock and revealed with some enthusiasm an anklebone about the size of a tennis ball. Then he pulled down his left sock to reveal an ordinary looking ankle.

“Look at the difference,” he said.

And there you have Scott Hanson – a high school athlete who would much rather show you something than talk about it.

In his four years at Bellarmine Prep, the senior has shown a great deal in four different sports in which he has earned 10 varsity letters. He made it to district in three seasons for the cross-country team before giving that up for football. He has also earned two for varsity basketball and now four for soccer.

“That’s pretty amazing,” said his father Bob, a pretty good athlete himself, who was on the Wilson state champion baseball team in 1977 and now is one of the owners of Tower Bowling Lanes.

“To get one letter in high school is pretty good. But 10 is really impressive.”

Ask Scott about his favorite moment in any of his sports seasons and less than a moment will flicker by.

“Kicking the winning goal in the state semifinals against Eastlake to put us in the state championship,” he replied.

In addition to the winning penalty kick in that shootout, Hanson had also kicked the goal that had given a 2-1 lead in that game, before Eastlake tied it up. Bellarmine went on to win the state championship the next week against Puyallup.

Scott is pretty clear about which of his teams is most important to him, as his final soccer season for the Lions begins. And he is one of the reasons the Lions will once again be a squad to be reckoned with deep into the season. Having played soccer since he was about four, he certainly brings a lot of experience and skill, but he brings something else that any coach in any sport loves.

“Scott is just a great competitor. He has a lot of courage. He is one of those guys that cherishes the big moments in games, where some guys shy away from that,” said his basketball coach Bernie Salazar.

Here’s an example: He had arrived at Bellarmine’s first football practice last August with all of the important qualities with which to begin a season – fitness, toughness, skill and a willingness to compete, for sure. There was just that one thing: He had never played football before. He was a 5-10, 150 pound senior with no experience. None. Zilch. Nada.

“Scott’s a natural athlete,” says his friend Brent Felnagle, with whom he’d been on the cross-country team each of his three previous fall seasons at the high school. “Any sport he goes into, I mean any sport – even if it is a made up sport – he expects to do well at it.”

Felnagle said it was a surprise when his friend decided to drop cross-country to be a kicker on the football team. But he wasn’t surprised at the result.

In a game against Lincoln last October, Hanson kicked the winning field goal, an elegant and straightforward 46-yarder, to give Bellarmine a 27-24 double-overtime victory over Lincoln.

“Scott is a great athlete, a constant worker and with all that, a great teammate. A good guy to be around,” said his soccer coach Joe Waters.

Scott led the team last season with 14 goals and 12 assists. Along with senior goalkeeper Bryce Leach and midfielder David Savitz, he will again lead a team with high expectations and an enviable record of achievement in 4A soccer in the state.

“I think we’ll feel like we can compete with anybody. But personally, I never like to feel like the favored team. I like to go into every game like I am the underdog,” Scott said.

Bob Hanson has long recognized the pure instinct for sports and competition the fourth of his five sons has displayed.

“When he was young and we took him to his brothers’ games, he would drift off by himself and we would see him running on the track or picking up a ball and playing with it. He was never interested in watching. It seemed a little strange, but of course you look at it now and it makes a lot of sense. He just loves playing and competing.”

After he completes his senior year, Scott expects to be playing soccer at Linfield and studying athletic training, but there has been some interest from the University of Hawaii in his football kicking.

“I don’t know if that will go anywhere. I know I’ll be competing at something. Probably soccer.”

Scott’s interest in becoming an athletic trainer stems from the experiences he has had having his own nicks and bruises tended to over the years.

“I really want to be able to help athletes get out there and do what they want to do and be at their best,” Scott said.

So while Hanson’s phenomenal orbit of activity during his high school sports career might ordinarily make “What’s your favorite moment?” a tough question, it wasn’t even close. Neither is the answer to this one: “What would top that?”

“To win state again. No Bellarmine players have done that twice. For me to able to experience that would be really special.”

One thing you know for sure about that proposition, Scott Hanson will be all-in. And no moment will be too big for him.

Commenting rules