RMAC Hall of Fame Page | Ike Armstrong
This is the second profile of seven individuals being inducted into the RMAC Hall of Fame on Friday, July 8 at the Colorado Springs Marriott Hotel. The 1982 and 1983 CMU Football teams are also being inducted. Tickets for the Hall of Fame and Awards Banquet can be purchased by clicking here.
Jack Hancock is hardly your typical 89-year-old – you’d be hard-pressed to find many 89-year olds driving in sports cars. But if you go to the Evergreen, Colorado area, where Hancock lives, and there’s a good bet that’s exactly what you’d see. A man filled with drive and enthusiasm, it is no surprise that Jack Hancock made a career out of inspiring and leading others as a coach and administrator at the Colorado School of Mines.
Wresting was very much a family affair for the Hancock’s. Son of legendary wrestling coach at Colorado State College in Greeley (now University of Northern Colored) John Hancock, Jack and his brother, Tom, both followed in their father’s coaching footsteps. Each brother coached both wresting and football. However, for Tom, his success was mostly in football whereas Jack’s focus landed mostly on wrestling.
RMAC Hall of Famer and longtime Colorado Mines football coach Marv Kay worked alongside Hancock for decades in Golden. He was also recruited to Golden to wrestle for him in the late 1950s.
“Jack and I have talked about this over the years and he’s just very glad that he was able to follow in his father’s footsteps,” recounts Kay as he recalls all of the years in which Jack would lead his teams against his father’s in Greeley, noting the packed stands and the newspaper coverage of the father-vs.-son competitions.
With the induction of Jack this summer, they will be the RMAC’s first father- son duo to be inducted into the RMAC Hall of Fame.
“It’s exciting,” Kay states. “There can’t be too many father and sons in a hall of fame.”
Although Jack is remembered as a Colorado Mines legend, he started his career at the high school level in Colorado. After building a wrestling program from the ground up at Holly High school he moved onto Fort Morgan High school and then to Sheridan High School before arriving in Golden in the fall of 1955.
“At first, we had pretty quiet students who didn’t know they had a wrestling team,” Hancock said in an
interview with the Denver Post in 2011. “I threw myself into the job and got the students and fans interested in wrestling. We only had a few coaches at the time, and we helped each other. They were all supportive and good to me.”
Jack took on a program with a miniscule athletic budget and became a pro at maximizing the limited funds. He knew that to be successful with few monetary resources, recruiting would be vital. Many of the wrestlers who Jack recruited became elite athletes who valued Jack’s opinion, coaching and guidance throughout their college years.
“He recruited me -- got me through some hard times in college,” Kay says. “You know, once you are recruited, he makes sure that you graduate and he goes through all your life problems in college and then he’s always at the weddings and making sure that you go on.”
Another RMAC Hall of Famer, Dan Fix, who wrestled for Hancock from 1961 to 1964 remarked on his relationship with Hancock in an interview with the Denver post.
“Jack Hancock was like a father to me,” Fix said. “I came to Mines from a farming community, and he helped me adjust. He was so dedicated to the sport of wrestling and wanted to get the best out of every team member. He got the best out of me.”
Hancock produced 33 All-Americans and three national champions as head coach at Colorado Mines. Dave Linder (1964), Richard Hickman (1964), and Don Morrison (1967) all collect national titles, and he also recruited 1993 national champion and 2015 RMAC Hall of Fame inductee Glen Frank. Hancock also served as chair of the 25-Year Service Committee of the National Wrestling Coaches' Association. At Colorado Mines, Hancock wasn’t just a wrestling legend. In his 37 year tenure he was head coach for wrestling and tennis, assisted in football, and was the head athletic trainer.
Hancock was previously elected to the Colorado Mines, Northern Colorado, and NCAA Wrestling Halls of Fame.