Scott “Honey Bear” Hanna is a name many would recognize on the University of Minnesota Duluth campus and in the city of Duluth. Hanna had the longest tenure in UMD athletic history when he retired after 44 years of service as a player, coach and/or staff member. Hanna launched a 27-year head baseball coaching career with the Bulldogs in 1979 and skippered UMD to a 550-357-3 overall record (a .606 winning percentage), four NSIC regular season titles (1992, 1993, 1999, and 2003), one NCAA II Regional berth (2003) and two NAIA Area 4 playoff appearances (1990 and 1991). Hanna helped produce four Major League Baseball draft picks, eight professional players, seven NCAA II All-Central Region selections and one American Baseball Coaches Association Division II All-American. Twice he earned NSIC Coach of the Year recognition (1999 and 2003) after was promoted to the head coach after a five-year assistant coaching stint (1973-78) under Al Holland. Hanna took over as UMD’s chief equipment manager in 1978 and also spent 23 seasons as an assistant coach with the football Bulldogs.
On the gridiron, Hanna lettered four years, two as a starter, and was the recipient of UMD’s Outstanding Lineman Award and earned all-conference honors in 1972. Hanna was a regular in the Bulldog lineup during the school’s first two seasons of varsity baseball and has his namesake on the Scott “H.B.” Hanna Baseball Scholarship at UMD. He was also inducted into the UMD Athletic Hall of Fame in 2011.
Hanna is a long-time member of the Normanna Volunteer Fire Department and has spent the past 32 years umpiring and officiating local high school baseball, softball and football. He has also volunteered heavily in the Operation One Voice program (which benefits U.S. Special Forces members and their families). Hanna, a Duluth Central High School graduate, and his wife Donna, a UMD softball alum, have raised four sons, Kelly, Ryan, Thomas and John and have five grandchildren.