After his win against Centreville on October 5, Head Coach Bruce Hanson has amassed a record total of 300 wins at our school. Over the course of his 52 year long career coaching football in Northern Virginia, Hanson is entering his 39th as our school’s football coach. Hanson’s football journey began in high school.
“I started playing tackle football in high school.… I went to school in Maryland, [where we] had a pretty good football program,” Hanson said.
Being a standout football player in high school, Hanson received multiple scholarship offers but decided to play at William and Mary. After graduating, he pursued a career as a teacher and coach. The coach who managed his position at William and Mary stayed in contact with him.
“[George Foussekis] called me up and told me that Wakefield High School needed a football coach. I called up the school and the principal hired me as the coach and a gym teacher,” Hanson said.
Hanson would eventually become the head coach at Wakefield and then an assistant coach at Chantilly High School, while working as a part-time Physical Education teacher at our school. When the head coach position opened up at our school, Hanson applied to be the coach and a full-time Physical Education teacher in 1985 and was hired.
“I turned the program around, and we won the regionals in 1988…. We’ve won 12 District championships since I’ve been here,” Hanson said.
Over the course of his career, Hanson has been a consistent coach who has had few losing seasons.
“I didn’t really want to do anything else. I didn’t want to retire, so I just kept working. The time is coming soon, but it’s not this year,” Hanson said.
The Patriots finally got Hanson’s 300th win against Centreville High School. One reason that this win felt so good is because the Patriots had lost the two previous games: 46-14 to Washington-Liberty High School and 29-28 against West Springfield High School. Although our school was winning 31-0 at halftime, Hanson continued to make sure that everyone was staying focused and playing hard. In the second half, our school scored three points and Centreville scored seven, resulting in the final score being 34-7. After the win, the team celebrated by dumping water on Hanson, along with taking photos.
Although Hanson has won an astounding 300 football games just at Yorktown, he still has a desire to continue coaching. As he continues to coach the Yorktown Patriots, we hope that the legend continues to break records.
