Soccer or basketball? Basketball or soccer? How about
soccer, basketball and golf?
By: Neil Hay
Soccer or basketball? Basketball or soccer? How about
soccer, basketball, and golf?
Whatever the sport, Craig Hannas was good at it. Very
good. Good enough to be heading into the Hightstown High School Sports Hall
of Fame.
Wherever Craig Hannas went, success followed. After high
school, college. Then a professional career.
By the time Hannas graduated Hightstown High in 1967, his
athletic resume was bursting. Playing golf (three seasons) and soccer (two)
for coach Stan Czenis, and basketball (two) for coach Joe Chibbaro, Hannas
accumulated seven varsity letters. In 1967 he was a basketball All-State,
1st team All-Mercer County, 1st team All-Suburban, and 1st team
All-Delaware Valley. He scored 485 points (a 19.4 points per game average)
in 1966-67, totaled 570 rebounds (22.8 a game, probably still a school
record), and set a single game record of 31 rebounds.
On the golf course Hannas placed second in the 1967
Mercer County championships, his 78 one stroke off the winning pace of
teammate Richie Heuser. And in soccer he was All-County and All-Delaware
Valley in 1966.
Hannas played on some outstanding teams. The Rams were
1967 Delaware Valley Conference basketball champions and Central Jersey
runners-up, Mercer County golf champs in 1965, 1966, and 1967, and 1965
state Central Jersey Group II soccer semi- finalists, losing to Chatham.
"Basketball was my best sport," said the athletically
gifted Hannas, who played mostly forward but also jumped center against
taller opponents. Of his 22.8 average rebounds a game, Hannas proudly said,
"You don’t see that anymore. I was an animal. I was thin but loved to
jump."
At 6-3, 175 pounds, Hannas often gave away much in height
and bulk to opposing players. The consummate rebounder who loved to go up
for the ball and mix it up underneath the basket, Hannas revealed the
secret of his success.
"George Doggett, a sandlot player from Cranbury (Hannas’
hometown) taught me how to jump. I jumped with one arm extended. I could
extend to 6-8 with one arm only. I had big hands too. I was able to stand
and dunk with my back to the basket. Jumping and rebounding is timing more
than anything else. At Hightstown I did more in basketball. I think I was
elected to the Hall of Fame for what I did playing soccer in college."
After graduation, Hannas attended St. Andrews College in
Laurinburg, North Carolina, where his athletic career flourished. He
graduated in 1971 with a BA degree in englsh literature.
Hannas won 12 varsity letters in college, playing three
sports all four years. He still holds the college’s single season
rebounding record (set in 1970 -71) of 15.8 rebounds per game, and the
single game mark of 33 (versus University of North Carolina-Greensboro) in
1971. Hannas was three-time NAIA All -South, four-time All-Dixie
Conference, and Dixie Conference Player of the Year in 1967 and 1969. In
four varsity seasons he scored 1685 points and grabbed 1121 rebounds.
Hannas was the St. Andrews’ soccer goalie, a three-time
NCAA Division I All-American and four-time All-South team selection.
(Hannas made third team All -American as a freshman and sophomore and
second team All-American as a senior. He says he was not named All-American
as a junior because the voters "thought I had graduated, as I had already
been named All-American twice.") In 1970 he was South-Atlantic States
Player of the year, and Dixie Conference Player of the Year in 1967, 1969
and 1970. When St. Andrews established its Athletic Hall of Fame in 1990,
Hannas was the first inductee.
"We had great soccer teams at St. Andrews. I was a roving
goalie, like a fullback. I was all over the place. My jumping ability
helped. I stayed healthy, just sprained ankles and a couple of broken
fingers and toes, and was very lucky."
Hannas was pursed by many major colleges, including
Villanova, Boston College, Clemson, the Naval Academy, South Carolina, and
others. But he chose little St. Andrews because "it was the only college
that guaranteed I would play more than one sport."
There were other considerations too.
"I wanted to go to college in the South. I wanted a
smaller school for my academics, where they placed an emphasis on education
as well as sports. St. Andrews afforded that.
"I was a late bloomer in college, athletically and
scholastically. I became a better person and athlete in my college years."
After graduation in 1971, Hannas returned home and became
a teacher, coach, and administrator for eleven years with the Hun School.
For eight years he coached varsity soccer and golf at Hun, and also took a
turn as freshman basketball coach. He was also employed with the Cranbury
Department of Recreation, from 1974 to 1980.
In 1982 Hannas left Hun and made his way back to St.
Andrews, where he was dean of students and an associate professor of
English. In September, 1983 he joined IBM for seven years as a sales
representative for higher education, was employed as a consultant for two
years, was with Fujitsu for seven years, and is presently vice president of
sales for OutReach Technologies. He resides in Columbia, Maryland with his
wife, the former Christine Spencer of Hightstown. The couple have four
children and two grandchildren.
Being named to the Hightstown Sports Hall of Fame caught
Hannas by surprise. Like many former athletes, he relishes his days playing
sports in high school. Now, being named to the Hall of Fame, is like those
great old days coming alive again.
"I think it is wonderful," said Hannas of his selection
to the Hall. "This is a bigger thrill" than being elected to the St.
Andrews Hall of Fame, "probably because it represents my roots, where I
spent my formative years.
"It was a real nice surprise," said Hannas, who promises
to return for the induction ceremonies this fall. "It brought back a lot of
great memories, especially of the coaches I admired and the teammates I
played with."