Father and Son Tackle Success On and Off the Football Field

If you want to do Eric Hansen a favor, don’t mention that he is considered one of the best football players at North Torrance High.

And don’t remind him that he was named MVP of the 48-team L.A. Games passing tournament last month. Flattery will get you nowhere.

“I try to get away from that,” he said. “I’d rather hear that I’m bad. Then I work to get better.”

With that in mind, it’s little wonder why Hansen and his father get along so well. Dan Hansen, the Saxons’ offensive coordinator and a former standout quarterback at North, is his son’s toughest critic.

“I won’t let him get a big head,” said the elder Hansen. “He knows I’ll put him in his place. I’ve always told him, ‘If you’re not going to go out and get better, then people will pass you up.’

“Eric is different than a lot of kids. He knows he has to keep working and improving.”

Eric Hansen’s competitive fires have been burning brightly this summer as he prepares for a senior season that he hopes will bring success on the field as well as off of it--in the form of a college scholarship.

The 6-foot-1, 165-pound wide receiver made a name for himself in June when he scored 13 touchdowns in six games to lead North to the championship of the prestigious L.A. Games tournament.

Since then, he has continued to work on his skills as a pass receiver and defensive back. His summer routine includes games in passing leagues and tournaments, and he spent last week at a football camp at Brigham Young University, where his father was an All-American defensive back.

Hansen knows there is much work to be done if he wants to realize his full potential.

“I always know there’s somebody out there who can beat me,” he said in a phone interview from Brigham Young. “That’s why I’m out here. I know I still have a long way to go.”

Hansen, who stayed with his grandparents during his week in Utah, would like to return to Brigham Young next year with a football scholarship. But he’s not picky: “I will go anywhere I can get a scholarship.”

Dan Hansen said his son has received about 30 written inquiries from major colleges. He sees to it that Eric fills out and returns every one of them.

“I think he has a chance to be a college football player,” said Brigham Young defensive coordinator Dick Felt, who coached Dan Hansen when he played for the Cougars in the early ‘70s.

Eric is more confident about his chances of playing college football since his stellar performance in the L.A. Games. North, with only four starters from last season, wasn’t considered a favorite among a talented field of teams that included L.A. City 4-A champion Carson, L.A. City 2-A runner-up Westchester and a potent outfit from Kennedy High in Granada Hills.

But, with Hansen and quarterback Brian Jurado playing brilliantly, North won six games without a loss, culminated by victories over Westchester, 19-6, and Kennedy, 26-19, during the final day at El Camino College. Hansen scored five touchdowns in the two games, including the game-winner with four seconds left in the finals against Kennedy.

“He caught everything in sight,” said North Coach Don Bohannon. “He was just tremendous.”

Like nearly everyone else, Hansen was surprised by the impressive showing of North’s young team, which started more underclassmen than seniors.

“I didn’t think we could win it,” he said. “I was hoping we would do well, but I didn’t think we’d get that far. I played my best, the best I’ve played in a long while.”

Despite his fine effort, the ever-modest Hansen insisted that Jurado should have been named MVP. However, tournament officials selected Hansen.

Hansen earned most of his recognition on defense last season. He was chosen to the All-Ocean League first team as a cornerback. He didn’t figure in North’s offensive plans until midway through the season when his father replaced Stew Roper as offensive coordinator and the Saxons began to pass more frequently.

Still, Eric labored in the shadow of receiver-defensive back Anthony Cole, an all-South Bay selection who graduated in June.

“Eric had a good year but we had Anthony, who was doing everything for us,” said Bohannon, whose team finished 7-4 and lost in the first round of the CIF playoffs. “Eric didn’t get the ink that maybe he should have gotten.

“Without a doubt, he’s going to be one of our best players this year. He probably will be a marked man until we get some other things accomplished.”

Hansen realizes that North’s success this summer, when games are conducted in a 7-on-7 touch format and players do not wear pads or helmets, doesn’t compare to the real thing on Friday nights in the fall.

“We were pleased, but it doesn’t make us any better,” he said. “We still have a lot to prove.”

Under the experienced eye of his father, Hansen has played football since a young age. But his athletic interests aren’t limited to the gridiron. He was named co-MVP of North’s track team as a sprinter last spring and he plans to go out for basketball this season.

Hansen also does well in the classroom, carrying a 3.2 grade-point average and serving on the student council.

“I plan on having a full senior year,” he said. “I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

Hansen credits his father for keeping him focused on his goals.

“We have a real good relationship,” he said. “On the field, we’re not father and son any more, we’re coach and player. I’m just another person. I try to play up to his standards. He expects a lot. I just have to do my part like everyone else.”

Is Dan Hansen tougher on his son than other players?

“At times, I think he is,” Eric said. “But it’s what I need. I can be lazy. It’s a good kind of push. I don’t resent it.

“He points out mistakes and what I need to improve on. He just tells me what I already know. He congratulates me, too.”

Perhaps Dan Hansen is tough on his son because he knows others are going to be even tougher. In the competitive world of prep football, sometimes it takes more than good numbers to catch the eye of scouts and recruiters.

Dick Lascola, director of the Southern California-based Scouting Evaluation Assn., has never heard of Eric Hansen and he doesn’t put much stock in summer passing leagues.

“A lot of kids look good in things like that,” he said. “When they put the pads on and turn the lights on, that’s when it counts. To make a pure judgment on a player, I like to see him in a game.”

That, of course, is exactly what Eric Hansen wants to hear.