Travis Hansen

Travis Hansen

Position	Shooting Guard Small Forward
Height	6 ft 6 in (1.98 m)
Weight	215 lb (98 kg)
Born	April 15, 1978 (1978-04-15) Provo, Utah, USA
Nationality	American / Russian
High school	Mountain View High School
College	BYU
Draft	2nd round, 37th overall, 2003 Atlanta Hawks
Pro career	2003–2011
Career history	Atlanta Hawks (2003-04) TAU Cerámica (2004-06) Dynamo Moscow (2006-09) Real Madrid (2009-10) BC Khimki (2010-11)

Travis Mitchell Hansen (born April 15, 1978, in Provo, Utah) is an American former professional basketball player who last played for BC Khimki in Russia. He played one year in the NBA for the Atlanta Hawks.

Biography

After graduating from Mountain View High School, Hansen began his college basketball career at Utah Valley State College in his hometown of Orem, Utah. His mother Laurie Hansen was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in 1997 and died shortly after. He later went on to serve as a Mormon missionary in Santiago, Chile for two years, he played basketball at Brigham Young University for three seasons, from 2000 to 2003. During his tenure with BYU, he was also known as "Elder 8 Mile", for his similar appearance to rapper, Eminem. He was a two time All-MWC selection, a Defensive Player of the Year, and a two time All-District selection. He finished with A 44-1 home record (all-time best in BYU history), won 2 MWC championships and was selected with the 8th pick in the 2nd round in the NBA draft. With his selection by the Atlanta Hawks in 2003, he became the first BYU men's basketball player to be drafted since Shawn Bradley in 1993. He is married to the former LaRee Merrell and they have two sons and one daughter.

Charity/Little Heroes Foundation

After visiting a Children's Hospital in Lyubertsy, Russia and orphanages in Moscow, Russia, Travis and his wife LaRee started the Little Heroes Foundation. Here is their mission: "We improve the lives of children around the world by seeking out and supporting worthy organizations and programs."

Nature's Sunshine Products is the founding corporate sponsor of the Little Heroes Foundation. Other corporate sponsors include Zions Bank, BDA Sports and Vivint. They have given out grants to organizations all around the world including; Russia, Africa, Spain, North America and South America. Little Heroes also sponsors a baby hospital in Lyubertsy, Russia and they have partnered with the Mali Rising Foundation to build schools in Mali, Africa. As of January 2011 they had built two schools in Mali, Africa. (www.littleheroesfoundation.org)

Professional career

NBA

He was drafted by the Hawks in the second round of the 2003 NBA Draft, 37th overall. He signed a two year deal with Atlanta following the draft. He played 41 games for them, starting four, averaging 3.0 points per game. He had a stress fracture in his right foot that caused him to miss 40 games. His career high was against Boston; he played 41 minutes, scored 14 points, 6 rebounds and had 4 assists. http://www.nba.com/playerfile/travis_hansen/

Europe

Known for his defensive ability, vertical leap and outside shooting, Hansen played one season for the Hawks before signing with TAU Cerámica in Spain, helping the team to back-to-back trips to the Euroleague Final Four and the Spanish League finals. He also won a Super Cup and Copa Del Rey with Tau. His former teammates include Luis Scola, Pablo Prigioni, Tiago Splitter, Jose Calderon and Arvydas Macijauskas in Tau.

In 2006, ULEB Cup Champions Dynamo Moscow signed him on a two-year contract. After helping his team reach the Euroleague's Top-16 and averaging 15 ppg, he was placed on the injured list for the rest of the season after suffering a torn Achilles tendon.

Hansen recovered from his injury and in the 2007-08 season Hansen helped Dynamo take 3rd place in the ULEB Cup and averaged 17.5 ppg, 3.3 rpg while shooting 56.4 FG and 46.3% 3PT.

In February 2008, Hansen extended his contract with Dynamo Moscow for three more years and Russian President Vladimir Putin also signed a decree giving Hansen Russian citizenship. In 2008-2009, Hansen again led Dynamo to the Eurocup final four in Turin, Italy, averaging 16.4 ppg. http://eurocupbasketball.com/ulebcup/home/eurocup-finals/turin-2009/main-page/i/46426/3768/item

In the summer of 2009 Dynamo had major financial problems due to the economic crisis. They had to release all players under contract and were unable to sign any new foreign players. Hansen was given his release and free agent status. Hansen received offers from Olympiakos, Maccabi, Siena, Milan and many Spanish and Russian teams.

In July 2009, he returned to Liga ACB, signing a two year contract with Spanish power Real Madrid. Real Madrid also revamped the entire roster signing many of the best players in Europe and also the best coach in Ettore Messina. They reached the top 8 in Euroleague, the Finals in the Supercup, and the Finals of the Copa Del Rey in the Spanish League.

In May 2010, during a practice session with Real Madrid, Hansen suffered a herniated disc and had to have a discectomy. Surgery was performed by Howard Reischman in Provo, Utah. He has since recovered, and in December 2010 he signed a contract with BC Khimki until the end of the 2010-2011 season.

In April 2011, Travis helped his team BC Khimki win the VTB League Championship by hitting 5 free throws in the last seconds of the game along with teammate Thomas Kelati.

Russian national team

In March 2008, Hansen received Russian citizenship or a "red passport" to play for the Russian national basketball team at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. He was only the second American player ever to receive a Russian passport. However, he did not actually play for Russia.

Retirement

In September 2011, Hansen announced his plans for retirement. He now is Chairman of the Little Heroes Foundation and sits on various boards of non-profit foundations and organizations. He also writes for the Deseret News in a bi-monthly column called "Talkin' with Trav".

Awards and accomplishments

• Mountain West Conf. Champion -01, 03
• All-MWC 2nd Team -02
• First-Team All-Mountain West -03
• All-MWC Defensive Player of the Year -03
• Euroleague Finalist -05
• Spanish ACB Regular Season Champion -05
• Spanish ACB Finalist -05, 06
• Spanish ACB Supercup Winner -05
• Spanish Copa del Rey Winner -06
• Euroleague Semifinals -06
• Spanish ACB Regular Season Runner-Up -06
• Eurobasket.com All-Russian A Superleague 2nd Team -07
• Eurobasket.com Russian A Superleague All-Newcomers Team -07
• Russian Cup Semifinals -08
• ULEB Cup Semifinals -08
• Russian A Superleague Semifinals -08
• Eurobasket.com All-Russian A Superleague Honorable Mention -08, 09
• Russian Cup Finalist -09
• Eurocup Quarterfinals -09
• Eurobasket.com All-FIBA Eurocup 2nd Team -09
• Eurobasket.com All-Eurocup 2nd Team -09
• Eurobasket.com Eurocup All-Defensive Team -09
• Eurobasket.com Russian A Superleague All-Imports Team -09
• Spanish Cup (Copa del Rey) Finalist -10
• Euroleague Quarterfinals -10
• Spanish ACB Semifinals -10
• Spanish ACB Supercup Finalist -10
• Spanish ACB Supercup Semifinals -11
• VTB United League Champion -11

Notes

• http://eurocupbasketball.com/ulebcup/home/eurocup-finals/turin-2009/main-page/i/46426/3768/item
• http://rt.com/sport/basketball/khimki-vtb-united-league-2011/

External links

• ULEB Cup Profile
• NBA.com Prospect Profile: Travis Hansen
• Euroleague Profile
• NBA.com Profile
• ACB.com Profile
• KSL.com Profile
• "Hansen showing skills with Hawks", Todd Hollingshead, 9 December 2003, BYU Daily Universe.
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