Willie Hanson MENDOTA Accomplishments ● Three-sport star at MHS with
all-state honors in football and basketball ● Started his college career at New Mexico but transferred to NIU where he won six letters (basketball 3, baseball 3) ● In 1965-66, led the NIU basketball team in scoring and in 1966 led NIU baseball team in batting average ● Member of the IBCA Hall of Fame, NIU Hall of Fame and NIU Basketball All-Century Team
SUBMITTED PHOTOS
By Brandon LaChance
I
n the late 1950s, Mendota was known as a football juggernaut. Trojans were committing to NCAA Division I football programs and being drafted into the NFL, while the basketball program was forgotten about. This began to change with the 1960-61 basketball season as new hoops coach Bob Beals and his team featuring star Willie Hanson changed the way MHS played the game. “Mendota was more well known for football than anything when I went to school,” Hanson said. “In 1960, they hired Bob Beals. I was a sophomore that year. It was when we really turned the corner as far as being a basketball school. That was the start of us having pretty good basketball teams. “Prior to Beals, Mendota was decent in basketball but were really, really good in football. Two members of the previous two classes of this Hall of Fame – Bill Brown and Ray Jauch – played for those teams. Basketball was just kind of a thing, not a good thing. Beals came in and changed the climate. We played basketball at a faster tempo and really got things going. I credit Beals for turning Mendota basketball into what it became. I was just fortunate to be a part of it.”
WHERE are they NOW
See Hanson Page 42
A NewsTribune Publication | Illinois Valley Sports Hall of Fame | June 2022 41
