 | Thisbiography of a living personneeds additionalcitations forverification. Please help by addingreliable sources.Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced orpoorly sourcedmust be removed immediately from the article and its talk page, especially if potentiallylibelous. Find sources: "John Hannah" American football – news ·newspapers ·books ·scholar ·JSTOR(July 2025) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
John Allen Hannah (born April 4, 1951), is an American formerfootballguard who played in theNational Football League (NFL) for 13 seasons with theNew England Patriots. Nicknamed "Hog", he is considered one of the greatest offensive linemen of all time.[1][2]
Hannah playedcollege football for theAlabama Crimson Tide, winning theJacobs Blocking Trophy in 1972. He was selected fourth overall in the1973 NFL draft by the Patriots, where he received ninePro Bowl and seven first-teamAll-Pro selections. Hannah was inducted to thePro Football Hall of Fame in 1991 and theCollege Football Hall of Fame in 1999. The same year as the former, he became the inaugural inductee of theNew England Patriots Hall of Fame.
Hannah was born inCanton, Georgia, the son of an NFL player, Herbert "Herb" Hannah, who also played for the University of Alabama as an offensive lineman.
Hannah was raised inAlbertville, Alabama, and participated inhigh school football,wrestling andtrack atBaylor School inChattanooga, Tennessee. He won an individual national championship in wrestling at the National Prep Championship in 1967. His high school coach in football, wrestling and track was Luke Worsham, whom Hannah credited in his induction speech at the Pro Football Hall of Fame: "I want to talk to you about Major Luke Worsham who was my high school coach. He is the guy who really taught me and showed me what love was all about. Because he would shoulder my problems, he would always stand by me to offer me encouragement when things got tough and when things were going awry he would make sure he would correct me and get me right back on track."[3] Hannah played his senior season of high school football atAlbertville High School, where he graduated in 1969.
Hannah playedtackle and guard for theCrimson Tide at theUniversity of Alabama under CoachPaul "Bear" Bryant from 1970 to 1972. He earnedAll-American honors twice, in1971 and was a Consensus All-American his senior year in1972. During his tenure Hannah was part of anSEC championship-winning team. He was named to the University of Alabama All-Century Team and also to the Alabama 1970s All-Decade team.During his time at Alabama, he also participated inwrestling, theshot put, and thediscus throw. Hannah was inducted into theCollege Football Hall of Fame in 1999. Bryant would later say that Hannah was the greatest lineman he ever coached.[4] He graduated from the University of Alabama with B.A. degree in journalism.
Hannah joined the Patriots in 1973 as the 4th overall pick in the first round of the1973 NFL draft.[5] He played his entire professional career in New England. While considered somewhat short by NFL standards, Hannah made up for this with great speed and quickness as well as powerful legs.[6] Hannah excelled as a pass protector, as a run blocker, and as the pulling guard on sweeps.[7] Hannah's commitment to football was very high and he expected the same from each of his teammates, sometimes becoming quite angry if he felt they were not complying.[8] Hannah started the first 13 games of his rookie season of 1973 until a freak leg injury forced him to miss the final game of the year.[9] Along with tackleLeon Gray, the two formed what was generally considered the best guard/tackle tandem in the NFL during the mid to late 1970s. Gray and Hannah also combined with tight endRuss Francis to form one of the strongest left-side trios in the league. Hannah anchored the 1978 offensive line that set an NFL record with 3,165 rushing yards.[10] The record breaking rushing attack of New England did not have a single 1,000 rusher, but did have four players run for more than 500 yards including quarterbackSteve Grogan. The team rushing record would eventually be broken by theBaltimore Ravens some four decades later, but the 1978 Patriots also set aleague record with 181 rushing first-downs, which still stands as of 2022.
Hannah missed only five games out of a possible 191 because of injuries during his career. He also missed the first three games of the1977 season when he and Gray held out because of contract disputes. In the1985 season Hannah helped guide the team to its firstAFC title and Super Bowl appearance. Hannah retired from the NFL after playing inSuper Bowl XX.[11]
Hannah was named to ten consecutiveAll-Pro teams (1976–1985), and was named All-AFC 11 times (1974, 1976–1985). He was also selected to play in 9Pro Bowls. He was voted theSeagram's Seven Crowns of Sports Offensive Lineman of the Year in 1978 and 1980 and won the NFLPA/Coca-Cola Offensive Lineman of the Year Award (voted on by NFL players) three times in four years (1978–1979, 1981). Hannah was also the winner of theMack Truck Award for offensive line play five consecutive times (1977–81). He is also one of the few players to have been named to two differentNFL All-Decade Teams (for the1970s and1980s). In 1994, he was then selected to theNFL 75th Anniversary All-Time Team as the #1 guard on the team. In 2019, Hannah was then selected to theNFL 100th Anniversary All-Time Team.
In 1991, he became the first Patriots player inducted into thePro Football Hall of Fame. In 1999, he was ranked number 20 onThe Sporting News' list of the 100 Greatest Football Players, the highest-ranking Patriot, the highest-ranking guard, and the second-rankedoffensive lineman behindAnthony Muñoz. In 1991, he became the first player to be inducted into theNew England Patriots Hall of Fame.
Hannah became an assistant coach atGovernor Dummer Academy inMassachusetts, leaving to accept thehead coaching job atSomerville High School in 2004. While concurrently serving as the city's youth development coordinator, Hannah led the Somerville team through one winless season. He left to become a special assistant coach at his alma mater,Baylor School inChattanooga, Tennessee, in 2005. He resigned from his coaching position at the conclusion of Baylor's 2005 football season.
Hannah's brothers,Charley and David, were also All-Conference linemen for theAlabama Crimson Tide. Charley played in the NFL from 1977 to 1988 for theTampa Bay Buccaneers and theLos Angeles Raiders. He was a member of theSuper Bowl XVIII winning Raiders.
In the summer of 1972 after his junior year, Hannah married his high school sweetheart, Page Pickens, an Alabama cheerleader. They later had a son and a daughter, who were raised in Boston.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link){{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
