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Home Eight Over 80 Awards Eight Over 80 Award Winner Nancy Hanson

The University of Iowa Eight Over 80 Award

Nancy Hanson (61BA) and Thomas Hanson (60BSME)

Nancy and Thomas Hanson have lived lives dedicated to giving back to those less fortunate—and supporting each other in community activism throughout their marriage that now spans more than 60 years.

After graduating from Iowa, Tom pursued a career in the commercial and industrial heating, ventilating, and air conditioning industry. Nancy earned a Master in Social Work and served in various roles, including as director of court services for the Council on Drug Abuse in North Carolina and executive director of St. Thomas Hospice in the Chicagoland area.

Tom has served on various boards and committees during his professional and retirement years—working to provide affordable housing in Chicago and supporting student success initiatives during his time on the University of Iowa Center for Advancement board. Nancy is a founder of a medical respite program in Chicago that is providing a place of healing for ill and injured homeless men and women discharged from the hospital. She continues to serve on other boards that address the issue of homelessness.

Generously supportive of the UI College of Engineering, the Hansons founded the Hanson Center for Communication and Virginia A. Myers Nexus for Engineering and the Arts. Both programs are recognized as strengths of the college that stem from the Hansons’ desire to help students develop communication and artistic skills to complement their engineering education.

From health care to climate research to community journalism, the UI makes an impact in all corners of the Hawkeye State.

Calvin Jones: The Last Hawkeye to Wear No. 62

Jones and Nile Kinnick are the only Iowa football players to have their jersey numbers retired. PHOTO: HAWKEYESPORTS.COM Calvin Jones wearing his number 62 jersey. In the 134-year history of the Iowa football program, only two jersey numbers have ever been retired: the No. 24 jersey of Iowa?s lone Heisman Trophy winner, Nile Kinnick (40BA), and No. 62 worn by Calvin Jones. As an interior lineman for the Hawkeyes, Jones? hall of fame career spanned three seasons from 1953 to 1955. In that time, Iowa celebrated two winning seasons and a No. 9 ranking in the final 1953 Associated Press poll. Jones was a consensus All-American in 1954 and 1955, and he remains the only Iowa player to be named a first-team All-American three times. In 1955, he became the first African American to win the Outland Trophy honoring the best interior lineman in the country. Jones was known for his toughness and played the entire 1954 season with a fractured wrist. He still managed a consensus All-America selection and finished 10th in the 1955 Heisman Trophy race as team captain. Off the field, the Steubenville, Ohio, native had a 3.0 grade point average as a physical education major. He broke barriers in 1954 as the first college football player ever to grace the cover of Sports Illustrated and his appearance on the cover came at a time when many universities still banned African Americans from playing football. After his final season for the Hawkeyes, Jones went on to play for the Winnipeg Blue Bombers in the Canadian Football League (CFL). He was selected for the CFL all-star game in his rookie season. On December 9, 1956, following the all-star game, Jones? flight out of Vancouver crashed and killed everyone on board. His death came six days before the 1956 Hawkeye football team won the program?s first Rose Bowl in a 35-19 victory over Oregon State. In 1980, Jones was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame. He?s also a member of the inaugural class of the Iowa Varsity Club Hall of Fame and was selected for Iowa?s all-time football team in 1989. PHOTO: DIGITAL.LIB.UIOWA.EDU, University Archives 1954 Scrapbook photos of Iowa football offensive guard Calvin Jones.

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NOTICE: The University of Iowa Center for Advancement is an operational name for the State University of Iowa Foundation, an independent, Iowa nonprofit corporation organized as a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt, publicly supported charitable entity that works to advance the University of Iowa. Please review its full disclosure statement.

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