John Thomas “Blood” Hanson, one of the first black officials in the National Football League, a pioneering educator, entrepreneur, and charismatic mentor, died April 26 of congestive heart failure, his family said. He was 81 and lived in Douglasville.
When he began officiating at NFL games in 1974, “there were only four blacks in the whole league,” said Artie Cobb, who calls Hanson his mentor.
Hanson had broken barriers in the Atlanta public school system in the 1950s as one of a few black male elementary classroom teachers, Cobb said. Teaching at I.P. Reynolds School in Reynoldstown, he saw the need for physical education, rather than recreation, on the playground. He helped develop the elementary physical education curriculum for the Atlanta Board of Education.
Raised in Atlanta’s lower-income Summerhill neighborhood, Hanson graduated from George Washington Carver High School, where he lettered in football, basketball, and baseball. “He played center at Carver and was really small for a center, about 155 pounds,” said Rev. Willie Hunter, a fellow football player. “But he was a very good athlete. During that time the center was a showman. ‘Blood’ would come up and do his dance and get over the ball.”
He received a full scholarship to Fort Valley State College, where he played quarterback and earned a B.S. in elementary education. He later completed a master’s degree in elementary education at Georgia State University.
As a young man, Hanson had his own mentor, sports official John “Red” Moore. The two frequently dined at the Busy Bee Café on Martin Luther King Boulevard, where professional athletes and entertainers gathered before restaurants were integrated, Cobb said.
Hanson moved away from teaching to begin officiating with the Atlanta Quarterback Club in the 1960s. In 1979 he helped found the Capital City Officials Association, which increased opportunities for black men to be sports officials.
“He mentored so many individuals who became officials,” said his stepdaughter Reba Barkley of Ponte Vedra, Fla. “He was very free in sharing his knowledge so they could be the best in the field.” His pupils went on to officiate in the Atlantic Coast Conference, Southeastern Conference and NFL. One of his understudies was Super Bowl referee Jerome Boger.
After study groups with his trainees, Hanson often lingered in the student union building at Morris Brown College to chat about business, said James P. Bing, Sr., one of his first pupils. Hanson emphasized punctuality and game management and encouraged his mentees to be good citizens and good fathers.
An impeccable dresser on and off the field, Hanson expected the same from his trainees. “He told us, ‘You always have spit-shined shoes, a straight uniform, and a nice new cap,’ ” Bing recalled. “We wore the stripes and traveled in a crowd like a herd of zebras.”
His nickname “Blood,” a moniker dating at least to his high school years, had long mystified even his closest friends and family members. People learned its origin at the funeral. “One man at the funeral said a center named ‘Blood’ played with the Green Bay Packers back in the day, and (Hanson) just took that name,’” said Rev. Hunter.
A celebration of Hanson’s life was held Friday at Cascade United Methodist Church, and internment followed in the “honor” garden for veterans at Lincoln Cemetery. Hanson was a Private First Class in the Army during the 1950s, stationed in Germany.
Many knew him as an astute entrepreneur. When a convenience store closed on Donnelly Avenue in southwest Atlanta, he opened a fish market, where he would personally dress and cook fish. He built Cascade Plaza shopping center and owned and operated a barbecue pit there. Investing in real estate, he owned several houses he rented to students in the Atlanta University Center Consortium.
At home Hanson tended a beloved backyard garden and enjoyed teaching his grandchildren how to grow tomatoes, beans, and peppers. He even cultivated Concord grapes.
“I would like to think of John as someone who walked among giants but sat among commons,” said Cobb. “In other words, he was a man of all seasons.”
Additional survivors include his wife Corine Hanson of Douglasville; son Ronald Hanson of Jamestown, N.C.; stepdaughter Audrey Graham of Lawrenceville; stepson Benjamin Hill of Fayetteville; brother Frank Hanson of Atlanta; sisters Ramona Mosley and Lucille Welcome, both of Atlanta; seven grandchildren; and two great-grandchildren.
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