January 31, 2006

SOU to hold memorial for deceased track star

Hanson remembered as someone nobody spoke ill of at the university

By Jennifer Squires
Ashland Daily Tidings

Hanson

Southern Oregon University will host a memorial service for Nicholas Ryan Hanson, 24, from 1 to 2 p.m. Wednesday in the Rogue River Room on the ground floor of the Stevenson Union.

Hanson, an SOU senior majoring in health and physical education, died Jan. 22 from an apparent overdose of over-the-counter medications, according to the Jackson County medical examiner. He was also Tazed by Ashland police officers who received a 9-1-1 call from Hanson’s mother in Bend, concerned with her son’s mental state. The medical examiner ruled out the electrical shock as a cause of death.

Friends and family remember Hanson as a kind-hearted guy with a great smile.

“He was just a good guy,” said Nick Baron of Portland, Hanson’s high school best friend. “He had good character, was a good person ... just all around, somebody you would want as a teammate, a coworker.”

“Nick was one of those people who everyone on campus, they couldn’t say a bad thing about him,” said Sammy Calterbos, a nursing student and Hanson’s best friend in Ashland.

Hanson was born in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Ron and Joni Hanson adopted him when he was 8 years old.

“Nick always had a sparkle in his eye,” Joni Hanson said. “Everybody loved his smile.”

Always an athlete, Hanson played soccer as a youngster, tried basketball, then turned to track and field when he was cut from the high school hoops team. He lettered in both track and cross country at Mountain View High School in Bend.

Hanson spent two years competing for Boise State University and placed seventh at the 2001 Western Athletic Conference high jump meet while on the team.

He transferred to SOU in 2003 and earned NAIA All-American status in the triple jump by placing eighth at the national meet in 2004 and sixth in 2005.

The two-time Cascade Conference champion posted the second-longest triple jump in school history (49-feet, 5-inches) during his junior year. Hanson also competed in the long jump and high jump at SOU. This year, he was an assistant coach for the Raiders while he finished school.

“Things came difficult for him, but he was a survivor and he just pushed and pushed himself to do things, so we always looked up to him,” Joni Hanson said.

Hanson is survived by his parents and siblings Jack, Angie and Amy. His family held a memorial service for him in Bend on Saturday.

Staff writer Jennifer Squires can be reached at 482-3456 x 225 or jsquires@dailytidings.com.