UWEC Athletics Hall of Fame
Roger Hanson, an Eau Claire native, is one of the tallest players in UWEC history at 6-foot-10 and he ranks among the top scorers with 1,820 points. He averaged 20.4 points per game for his career and led the conference in scoring as a senior with a 26.3 ppg mark. His single season record of 604 points stood for 16 seasons. Hanson co-captained the Blugold teams for three years and also was named All-Conference for three seasons. Hanson became the first Blugold basketball All-American, being named to the NAIA All-Star squad in both 1955 and 1956. Hanson played on two of the most successful teams coached by Hall of Famer Bill Zorn. The Blugolds won the conference championship with an 11-1 mark and finished 20-2 in 1954-55. They lost by two points to Beloit in the NAIA District 14 playoffs. The following year, the Blugolds shared the conference title with Platteville and beat Beloit to advance to the NAIA Nationals in Kansas City. There, they beat Portland State in the first round but lost in the second round by one point to Tennessee A & I, which went on to win three consecutive NAIA titles from 1957 through 1959 as Tennessee State.
After graduation, Hanson continued playing basketball and participated several times in National AAU tournaments. A math and physical science major at UWEC, Hanson worked in the engineering and sales departments at Allen Bradley Company and also served as General Manager of Accurate Welding Company. At the time of his induction, he was a self-employed insurance agent and had associations with State Mutual of America and Vanguard Financial Services, Inc. of Milwaukee. He was State Mutual’s Man of the Year in Wisconsin four times.
