Hooks-Hanson Baseball Scholarship: Honoring a Deacon Legend
3/26/2025 9:13:00 AM | Baseball
Erik and Laura Hanson’s $2 million scholarship commitment honors the legacy of Dr. Gene Hooks
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – Erik Hanson was Wake Forest's star pitcher as soon as he stepped foot onto campus. During his three seasons with the Demon Deacons, Hanson struck out 186 batters in 156 innings, including an ACC Tournament record 18 batters against Virginia in 1985. Hanson was selected as an All-ACC pitcher during the 1985 season before being selected to the team U.S.A. that same year. Hanson still ranks second in program history with an average of 10.73 strikeouts per nine innings.
After a standout career with the Deacs, Hanson was selected 36th overall by the Seattle Mariners in the 1986 MLB draft, kickstarting an 11-year MLB career and ensuring him a spot in the Wake Forest Hall of Fame as part of the 2024 class.
However, his Hall of Fame career at Wake Forest, as well as an incredible career in the majors, almost never happened. In fact, Wake Forest wasn't even on Hanson's radar until his high school basketball coach, Al Lozier '65, told him about the picturesque campus out in Winston-Salem.
"If it wasn't for Al Lozier, who played basketball at Wake Forest, I wouldn't have ever put Wake Forest on my recruitment list," said Erik Hanson. "We went down the I-40 corridor to Winston-Salem and Wake Forest all upon the recommendation of Al Lozier saying, 'put it on your list.' He had been my basketball coach for three years and had been my advisor for four years, and he goes, 'see what you think.'"
That one recommendation from Lozier, who played for the basketball team at Wake Forest from 1962-65, led to an epiphany for Hanson the moment we stepped foot in Winston.
"As soon as I pulled up on campus, there was just a feeling that came over me," Hanson said. "I met the coach, Skip Crater, and his assistant coach, Bob Cox. They showed us around campus and took us up to Layton Field, and he said that they were in the midst of building a new stadium. Just looking at the campus, seeing the quad, talking with the coaches was great. Coach said that if I came to Wake Forest, I was going to be their ace and would be pitching against the top teams as their 'Friday night pitcher.' It was just the whole thing with the campus and the size of the school and the beauty of it that really spoke to me."
Hanson knew that he wanted to be a Demon Deacon immediately, telling his parents that he was planning on cancelling the remainder of his recruiting visits and that he was going to commit to Wake Forest right then and there.
"I talked it over with my parents quickly and I presented to the coaches that I wanted to come to Wake. I think Skip and Coach Cox were kind of floored. They had a meeting with Dr. Gene Hooks, and the next thing I knew, I was granted a full scholarship that I accepted right then and there."
However, what Hanson didn't know until much later was that there really wasn't a scholarship set for him. Rather, Dr. Gene Hooks, the Athletic Director at the time, found the money to create a scholarship for Hanson to come and play for the Demon Deacons.
"Baseball had about six scholarships at a time. We had to use four or five football players who were on scholarship to fill out the roster, plus two or three walk-ons. Not knowing anything about college baseball, that never really filled my consciousness, but that was the way it was back then. I learned later that there really wasn't a scholarship, but somehow Dr. Hooks found that scholarship."
That one decision by Dr. Hooks to find the money for Hanson helped transform Hanson into not only an incredible player on the field, but also an incredible person off the field.
"If Dr. Hooks hadn't found that money for the scholarship, he wouldn't have gone to Wake Forest, and who knows about the trajectory of his career at that point," said Laura Hanson, Erik's wife. "He would have gone to a different school. Would he have been drafted by the Mariners? Who knows. What would have happened? That's what makes this whole thing so special."
Following his time at Wake Forest, Hanson went on to play 11 seasons in Major League Baseball, playing for the Seattle Mariners, Cincinnati Reds, Boston Red Sox, and the Toronto Blue Jays across his career. Hanson finished his career with an 89-84 record with a 4.15 ERA and 1,175 strikeouts over the course of 1,551.3 innings. Hanson's best seasons of his career came in 1990 and 1995, with Hanson finishing the 1990 season with an 18-9 record with the Mariners, before having a career-best 15-5 record and his lone All-Star appearance in 1995 with the Red Sox.
Following the end of his MLB career, Hanson initially thought about getting into the finance world, something that he had once studied at Wake Forest.
"When I did retire, I was thinking about getting into the financial world and I was also thinking about going back to school in order to elevate myself in that world. Somehow that didn't quite work out."
Instead of going back to school or stepping into the world of finance, Hanson decided to make a career out of a sport that he once questioned during his time at Wake Forest, golf.
"I used to give the guys a hard time about golfers getting a scholarship. I was like, 'Wait a minute, that's for baseball, football and basketball, right?' But, there's golfers getting scholarships. I didn't play golf at the time and I thought it was a club sport. I gave them a hard time. Ironically, all these years later, I've been playing golf for 32 years now."
Over the past 25 years, Hanson has made golf his career, playing in competitive amateur golf tournaments across the country, having won many local, state, and regional tournaments and three professional State Opens while also participating in 17 USGA national championships. However, most importantly for Hanson, golf has become a place for him to continue to demonstrate his competitive edge and the importance of work ethic, something he gathered during his time at Wake Forest.
"It gave me a sense of purpose and it gave me a sense of having a hard work ethic and driving towards something. It wasn't important to me to win. It was important to me to fill my competitive void with something that was such a challenge to reach my potential. I worked at it so hard and it's been a lot of fun. I won a fair share of tournaments and it's been really rewarding to me to do that all these years to fill that competitive void."
Both Erik and Laura Hanson also continued their relationship with Wake Forest and Wake Forest Athletics, continuing to give back to the university as members of the Deacon Club, while also making sure to come back to campus when they can to relive some of the stories that Erik has told for years and years.
"It means so much to Erik," Laura said. "Listening to his stories, it just really shows how special of a place it is. Hearing these stories and coming back to Wake Forest when we get the chance to go back to see these places that he talks about really shows how special it is. It's contributed to the man that he is and that means a lot to me."
Over the years, Erik and Laura have always thought about finding a way to give back to the place that Erik called home for three years and helped transform him into the person he is today. Ultimately, the Hansons settled on creating a scholarship for the baseball team, somewhat similar to the scholarship that Dr. Gene Hooks found that allowed him to play for the Demon Deacons all those years ago.
"When I was in school, I lived in Arnold Palmer Residence Hall, which was the athletic dorm back then. It was for baseball, basketball, and football, but believe it or not, in my suite, there were a couple rooms of golfers. We had Billy Andrade, Chris Kite, Len Mattiace, and the legendary Jerry Haas. All I had heard about was the Arnold Palmer scholarship. What a name and what a great way to have a name for your scholarship. I always thought that would be cool. I never thought about myself doing that until years later when I got involved with the Deacon Club and after having a fair amount of success at the major league level where you can make a good living. For probably the last 15-20 years, I thought it would be a great idea to maybe fund a scholarship when the time was right.."
Instead of naming the scholarship after himself, however, Hanson decided to dedicate this scholarship to Dr. Hooks, naming it in his honor as a way to pay back for the selfless act that Dr. Hooks made over forty years ago to find a way to get Erik on scholarship.
"This scholarship is about paying back what Dr. Hooks did for me. I always wanted to do this, but I never wanted to do this for myself. I wanted to do it for the school and pay back the school for my career. It's kind of hard to put into words about what he means. In a nutshell, that's why I wanted to name the scholarship after him. I want Dr. Hooks to have a legacy at Wake Forest that lasts forever."
Before announcing his scholarship dedication, Erik and Laura made another trip to Winston-Salem, this time for the Hall of Fame reception for the class of 2024. During his speech, Hanson told the story of how Dr. Hooks found the money for him to play at Wake Forest. As he delivered his speech in front of his former classmates and former peers, he caught a glimpse of Dr. Hooks sitting in the front row.
"When I got back to campus last January and I saw Dr. Hooks there, that was tough. I didn't think speaking at the Hall of Fame ceremony was going to be hard until I saw 96-year old Dr. Hooks there. My brother shared with me that when I was speaking and I was telling the scholarship story, he looked over at Dr. Hooks and he had a big smile on his face. He acknowledged in his smile that that's what transpired and that was what happened."
Months later, Erik once again got the chance to speak to Dr. Hooks about the impact that he had on his life. But, this time, it was to tell Dr. Hooks about his plan to dedicate a scholarship in his name.
"When I said that I wanted to make the scholarship and do it for Dr. Hooks, coach Walter said that they were going to meet with Dr. Hooks the next week and asked if I wanted to be on a call with them. Of course, I said yes. I didn't think anything about it until I was on the Zoom call and they told me that I was going to be the one to tell Dr. Hooks about the scholarship. I thought they had already told him, so now I'm going to have to tell Dr. Hooks directly what I want to do and that it's for him."
That initial shock eventually turned into happiness for Erik as he told Dr. Hooks about the scholarship and how it was going to be named after the man that gave him a chance to be a Demon Deacon.
"That wasn't easy, but to see the look on his face was precious. That's something that I will always remember. He meant so much to the school and so much to baseball. It was great that I actually got to see his face when I told him about the scholarship. That was priceless and I'll remember that forever."
"I was incredibly honored when Erik told me that he was going to provide a baseball scholarship in my name," said the former Director of Athletics, Dr. Gene Hooks. "Erik has always been not only a great baseball player, both here at Wake Forest and at the professional level, but he's also an incredible human being. I know that this scholarship will do great things for our baseball program and hopefully it will inspire other former student-athletes to give back to our wonderful university."
The Hooks-Hanson Baseball Scholarship is a $2 million endowed scholarship that will be awarded starting this upcoming season to a pitcher of head coach Tom Walter's choosing who will best help the Wake Forest baseball team excel in the future.
"I'm really thankful for the generosity and the commitment by both Erik and Laura Hanson for their gift to help support the future of Wake Forest baseball," said head coach Tom Walter. "Their generosity and their passion for Wake Forest speaks for how much they care not only about Wake Forest and the baseball program, but also their love for Dr. Gene Hooks and the legacy that he had on this campus and for this program. Erik's major league career was as accomplished as anyone in the history of our program and he was known as a big-game pitcher. This scholarship will be used in recruiting to attract the future Erik Hansons who will become the ace of our very talented pitching staff."
"Erik and Laura Hanson's incredible gift to create the Hooks-Hanson Scholarship represents so much of the best of the Wake Forest University spirit," said Vice President & Director of Athletics John Currie. "I love the story of Dr. Hooks recognizing opportunity and 'finding a way,' which he did so often in his 28 years as athletics director, creating greatness for Wake Forest with far less resources that we enjoy today. And, for Erik and Laura valuing the benefits that his scholarship created for them and choosing to provide opportunities for today and tomorrow's student-athletes represents a true Pro Humanitate moment."
For Erik and Laura Hanson, their hope for this scholarship is that it will inspire other former college athletes at Wake Forest to give back to Wake Forest in the future.
"If it does inspire somebody, even if it's only one person, that makes it even more worthwhile for me. Hopefully, I'll be around long enough to meet and greet and see some of these scholarship recipients and see if they can go on and play at the next level and what type of people they turn out to be."
"Maybe the scholarship recipient, somewhere down the line, if they achieve a level of success, maybe they will get a sense that, I got that sort of help just like Erik did," said Laura. "Hopefully it will inspire some of the current student athletes to give back as well."
Along with his hope that his gift will bring others to continue to give back to the university, Erik hopes that this scholarship will provide the Demon Deacons a boost to bring home another national championship to Winston-Salem.
"I have full confidence in Coach Walter to help pick out and recruit the best starting pitcher that he can get for that scholarship. We all know that pitching wins championships. We've been to Omaha. We need to get that one last step. We had some great pitchers in those years and we need to continue that."
Most importantly, however, Erik and Laura hope that this scholarship will continue to preserve the legacy that Dr. Hooks has had on Wake Forest baseball, Wake Forest Athletics, and Wake Forest University.
"That's the whole point of this story. None of this would have happened if it wasn't for Dr. Hooks. I want Dr. Hooks to have a legacy that lasts forever."
The Wake Forest baseball team will be honoring Dr. Gene Hooks and the Hanson family March 28 when the Demon Deacons take on Virginia Tech.
After a standout career with the Deacs, Hanson was selected 36th overall by the Seattle Mariners in the 1986 MLB draft, kickstarting an 11-year MLB career and ensuring him a spot in the Wake Forest Hall of Fame as part of the 2024 class.
However, his Hall of Fame career at Wake Forest, as well as an incredible career in the majors, almost never happened. In fact, Wake Forest wasn't even on Hanson's radar until his high school basketball coach, Al Lozier '65, told him about the picturesque campus out in Winston-Salem.
"If it wasn't for Al Lozier, who played basketball at Wake Forest, I wouldn't have ever put Wake Forest on my recruitment list," said Erik Hanson. "We went down the I-40 corridor to Winston-Salem and Wake Forest all upon the recommendation of Al Lozier saying, 'put it on your list.' He had been my basketball coach for three years and had been my advisor for four years, and he goes, 'see what you think.'"
That one recommendation from Lozier, who played for the basketball team at Wake Forest from 1962-65, led to an epiphany for Hanson the moment we stepped foot in Winston.
"As soon as I pulled up on campus, there was just a feeling that came over me," Hanson said. "I met the coach, Skip Crater, and his assistant coach, Bob Cox. They showed us around campus and took us up to Layton Field, and he said that they were in the midst of building a new stadium. Just looking at the campus, seeing the quad, talking with the coaches was great. Coach said that if I came to Wake Forest, I was going to be their ace and would be pitching against the top teams as their 'Friday night pitcher.' It was just the whole thing with the campus and the size of the school and the beauty of it that really spoke to me."
Hanson knew that he wanted to be a Demon Deacon immediately, telling his parents that he was planning on cancelling the remainder of his recruiting visits and that he was going to commit to Wake Forest right then and there.
"I talked it over with my parents quickly and I presented to the coaches that I wanted to come to Wake. I think Skip and Coach Cox were kind of floored. They had a meeting with Dr. Gene Hooks, and the next thing I knew, I was granted a full scholarship that I accepted right then and there."
However, what Hanson didn't know until much later was that there really wasn't a scholarship set for him. Rather, Dr. Gene Hooks, the Athletic Director at the time, found the money to create a scholarship for Hanson to come and play for the Demon Deacons.
"Baseball had about six scholarships at a time. We had to use four or five football players who were on scholarship to fill out the roster, plus two or three walk-ons. Not knowing anything about college baseball, that never really filled my consciousness, but that was the way it was back then. I learned later that there really wasn't a scholarship, but somehow Dr. Hooks found that scholarship."
That one decision by Dr. Hooks to find the money for Hanson helped transform Hanson into not only an incredible player on the field, but also an incredible person off the field.
"If Dr. Hooks hadn't found that money for the scholarship, he wouldn't have gone to Wake Forest, and who knows about the trajectory of his career at that point," said Laura Hanson, Erik's wife. "He would have gone to a different school. Would he have been drafted by the Mariners? Who knows. What would have happened? That's what makes this whole thing so special."
Following his time at Wake Forest, Hanson went on to play 11 seasons in Major League Baseball, playing for the Seattle Mariners, Cincinnati Reds, Boston Red Sox, and the Toronto Blue Jays across his career. Hanson finished his career with an 89-84 record with a 4.15 ERA and 1,175 strikeouts over the course of 1,551.3 innings. Hanson's best seasons of his career came in 1990 and 1995, with Hanson finishing the 1990 season with an 18-9 record with the Mariners, before having a career-best 15-5 record and his lone All-Star appearance in 1995 with the Red Sox.
Following the end of his MLB career, Hanson initially thought about getting into the finance world, something that he had once studied at Wake Forest.
"When I did retire, I was thinking about getting into the financial world and I was also thinking about going back to school in order to elevate myself in that world. Somehow that didn't quite work out."
Instead of going back to school or stepping into the world of finance, Hanson decided to make a career out of a sport that he once questioned during his time at Wake Forest, golf.
"I used to give the guys a hard time about golfers getting a scholarship. I was like, 'Wait a minute, that's for baseball, football and basketball, right?' But, there's golfers getting scholarships. I didn't play golf at the time and I thought it was a club sport. I gave them a hard time. Ironically, all these years later, I've been playing golf for 32 years now."
Over the past 25 years, Hanson has made golf his career, playing in competitive amateur golf tournaments across the country, having won many local, state, and regional tournaments and three professional State Opens while also participating in 17 USGA national championships. However, most importantly for Hanson, golf has become a place for him to continue to demonstrate his competitive edge and the importance of work ethic, something he gathered during his time at Wake Forest.
"It gave me a sense of purpose and it gave me a sense of having a hard work ethic and driving towards something. It wasn't important to me to win. It was important to me to fill my competitive void with something that was such a challenge to reach my potential. I worked at it so hard and it's been a lot of fun. I won a fair share of tournaments and it's been really rewarding to me to do that all these years to fill that competitive void."
Both Erik and Laura Hanson also continued their relationship with Wake Forest and Wake Forest Athletics, continuing to give back to the university as members of the Deacon Club, while also making sure to come back to campus when they can to relive some of the stories that Erik has told for years and years.
"It means so much to Erik," Laura said. "Listening to his stories, it just really shows how special of a place it is. Hearing these stories and coming back to Wake Forest when we get the chance to go back to see these places that he talks about really shows how special it is. It's contributed to the man that he is and that means a lot to me."
Over the years, Erik and Laura have always thought about finding a way to give back to the place that Erik called home for three years and helped transform him into the person he is today. Ultimately, the Hansons settled on creating a scholarship for the baseball team, somewhat similar to the scholarship that Dr. Gene Hooks found that allowed him to play for the Demon Deacons all those years ago.
"When I was in school, I lived in Arnold Palmer Residence Hall, which was the athletic dorm back then. It was for baseball, basketball, and football, but believe it or not, in my suite, there were a couple rooms of golfers. We had Billy Andrade, Chris Kite, Len Mattiace, and the legendary Jerry Haas. All I had heard about was the Arnold Palmer scholarship. What a name and what a great way to have a name for your scholarship. I always thought that would be cool. I never thought about myself doing that until years later when I got involved with the Deacon Club and after having a fair amount of success at the major league level where you can make a good living. For probably the last 15-20 years, I thought it would be a great idea to maybe fund a scholarship when the time was right.."
Instead of naming the scholarship after himself, however, Hanson decided to dedicate this scholarship to Dr. Hooks, naming it in his honor as a way to pay back for the selfless act that Dr. Hooks made over forty years ago to find a way to get Erik on scholarship.
"This scholarship is about paying back what Dr. Hooks did for me. I always wanted to do this, but I never wanted to do this for myself. I wanted to do it for the school and pay back the school for my career. It's kind of hard to put into words about what he means. In a nutshell, that's why I wanted to name the scholarship after him. I want Dr. Hooks to have a legacy at Wake Forest that lasts forever."
Before announcing his scholarship dedication, Erik and Laura made another trip to Winston-Salem, this time for the Hall of Fame reception for the class of 2024. During his speech, Hanson told the story of how Dr. Hooks found the money for him to play at Wake Forest. As he delivered his speech in front of his former classmates and former peers, he caught a glimpse of Dr. Hooks sitting in the front row.
"When I got back to campus last January and I saw Dr. Hooks there, that was tough. I didn't think speaking at the Hall of Fame ceremony was going to be hard until I saw 96-year old Dr. Hooks there. My brother shared with me that when I was speaking and I was telling the scholarship story, he looked over at Dr. Hooks and he had a big smile on his face. He acknowledged in his smile that that's what transpired and that was what happened."
Months later, Erik once again got the chance to speak to Dr. Hooks about the impact that he had on his life. But, this time, it was to tell Dr. Hooks about his plan to dedicate a scholarship in his name.
"When I said that I wanted to make the scholarship and do it for Dr. Hooks, coach Walter said that they were going to meet with Dr. Hooks the next week and asked if I wanted to be on a call with them. Of course, I said yes. I didn't think anything about it until I was on the Zoom call and they told me that I was going to be the one to tell Dr. Hooks about the scholarship. I thought they had already told him, so now I'm going to have to tell Dr. Hooks directly what I want to do and that it's for him."
That initial shock eventually turned into happiness for Erik as he told Dr. Hooks about the scholarship and how it was going to be named after the man that gave him a chance to be a Demon Deacon.
"That wasn't easy, but to see the look on his face was precious. That's something that I will always remember. He meant so much to the school and so much to baseball. It was great that I actually got to see his face when I told him about the scholarship. That was priceless and I'll remember that forever."
"I was incredibly honored when Erik told me that he was going to provide a baseball scholarship in my name," said the former Director of Athletics, Dr. Gene Hooks. "Erik has always been not only a great baseball player, both here at Wake Forest and at the professional level, but he's also an incredible human being. I know that this scholarship will do great things for our baseball program and hopefully it will inspire other former student-athletes to give back to our wonderful university."
The Hooks-Hanson Baseball Scholarship is a $2 million endowed scholarship that will be awarded starting this upcoming season to a pitcher of head coach Tom Walter's choosing who will best help the Wake Forest baseball team excel in the future.
"I'm really thankful for the generosity and the commitment by both Erik and Laura Hanson for their gift to help support the future of Wake Forest baseball," said head coach Tom Walter. "Their generosity and their passion for Wake Forest speaks for how much they care not only about Wake Forest and the baseball program, but also their love for Dr. Gene Hooks and the legacy that he had on this campus and for this program. Erik's major league career was as accomplished as anyone in the history of our program and he was known as a big-game pitcher. This scholarship will be used in recruiting to attract the future Erik Hansons who will become the ace of our very talented pitching staff."
"Erik and Laura Hanson's incredible gift to create the Hooks-Hanson Scholarship represents so much of the best of the Wake Forest University spirit," said Vice President & Director of Athletics John Currie. "I love the story of Dr. Hooks recognizing opportunity and 'finding a way,' which he did so often in his 28 years as athletics director, creating greatness for Wake Forest with far less resources that we enjoy today. And, for Erik and Laura valuing the benefits that his scholarship created for them and choosing to provide opportunities for today and tomorrow's student-athletes represents a true Pro Humanitate moment."
For Erik and Laura Hanson, their hope for this scholarship is that it will inspire other former college athletes at Wake Forest to give back to Wake Forest in the future.
"If it does inspire somebody, even if it's only one person, that makes it even more worthwhile for me. Hopefully, I'll be around long enough to meet and greet and see some of these scholarship recipients and see if they can go on and play at the next level and what type of people they turn out to be."
"Maybe the scholarship recipient, somewhere down the line, if they achieve a level of success, maybe they will get a sense that, I got that sort of help just like Erik did," said Laura. "Hopefully it will inspire some of the current student athletes to give back as well."
Along with his hope that his gift will bring others to continue to give back to the university, Erik hopes that this scholarship will provide the Demon Deacons a boost to bring home another national championship to Winston-Salem.
"I have full confidence in Coach Walter to help pick out and recruit the best starting pitcher that he can get for that scholarship. We all know that pitching wins championships. We've been to Omaha. We need to get that one last step. We had some great pitchers in those years and we need to continue that."
Most importantly, however, Erik and Laura hope that this scholarship will continue to preserve the legacy that Dr. Hooks has had on Wake Forest baseball, Wake Forest Athletics, and Wake Forest University.
"That's the whole point of this story. None of this would have happened if it wasn't for Dr. Hooks. I want Dr. Hooks to have a legacy that lasts forever."
The Wake Forest baseball team will be honoring Dr. Gene Hooks and the Hanson family March 28 when the Demon Deacons take on Virginia Tech.
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