Rich Hanson - Inducted 2016

The 1954 Aberdeen Central and 1958 Northern State grad has been officiating high school and college sports since 1959.

He also has been a contributor to many local organizations.

Hanson was a high school and college basketball referee from 1959-79 and a football ref from 1963-84. He reffed the first football game at the DakotaDome in 1979. He has been a track and field official since 1975. He has been a starter for countless high school and college meets, and he has been a Howard Wood Dakota Relays volunteer and starter since 1964.

He has been supervisor of officials for the Sioux Interstate Conference (1984-98), the Greater Dakota Conference (1998-2013) and the Metro Conference (2013-2015). He was commissioner of South Dakota-Iowa Conference from 1998-2000. He's been a member of the Sports & Rec Committee of the Sioux Empire Area Chamber of Commerce since 1970.

He received the National Federation Officials Association National Distinguished Contributor Award in 1995 and the NFOA active Track and Field Official Award for S.D. in 1991. He was the B’nai B’rith Sioux Falls Sportsman of the Year in 1995. He has received the Dan Lennon Award (USD), the Milt and Clara Harvey Award (Augustana Hall of Fame) and the Steve Withorne Memorial Award (officiating). He was named to the Sioux Falls Public Schools Appreciation Hall of Fame in 2007, and he was named the Dakota Relays Honorary Referee in 2014.