Sonny Hansen was a cowboy through and through.
From his early childhood on a farm in Meridian and through his adolescence in Ontario, Ore., Sonny was wild about horses. He was quickly hooked on rodeo, winning his first belt buckle when he was around 10, his father, Steve Hansen said.
“Always, always. That’s all he wanted to do,” his father said of rodeo and horsemanship. “He had high expectations, and was honest and a whale of a cowboy.
“When he died he was doing exactly what he wanted to be doing.”
The 43-year-old coach of the highly ranked Treasure Valley Community College rodeo team suffered fatal head injuries three weeks ago in an accident during rodeo practice. Nearly 2,500 people crowded into the gym on TVCC’s Ontario campus for his funeral Oct. 4.
“He was a guy that made an everlasting impression on everyone he came in contact with,” said friend and former student Aaron Marts. “I’m dang sure very grateful for the time I was able to spend with him.
“In my eyes, they don’t come any better than Sonny Hansen.”
OPEN HEART, OPEN HOME
Big-hearted and optimistic, Sonny was dedicated to his students’ success in rodeo, academics and life. He would often find places to live for students who were low on cash; one of his students is currently living with Sonny’s parents.
When Marts was 22, he wanted to go back to college but couldn’t afford it. Sonny helped him get a full-ride rodeo scholarship, then opened his home to him.
“I lived with him and his family for two years,” said Marts, who was 11 when his rodeo cowboy father died in a plane crash. “If I needed anything, he made sure I was taken care of.”
That first year, 1999, Marts told Sonny he thought he should find a full-time job instead of continuing in school.
“Sonny said, ‘Hey, look. I haven’t quit you, ever. And I’d appreciate it if you didn’t quit me.”
He nominated Marts for a national college rodeo award that paid $2,500 to the student and $2,500 to the school. When Marts won, Sonny convinced the college to give its half to the student, too, Marts said.
“It was a huge deal to me, a huge impact for me to continue my schooling,” said Marts, who now runs a Homedale construction company and heads the Idaho Cowboys Association.
SHANE IN NAME ONLY
When people talk about Sonny, one of the first things they mention is his ever-present smile.
“Everything about Sonny was positive,” Steve Hansen said. “Anytime you’d say something to Sonny, he’d say, ‘Perfect!” He could remember the names of everyone he met.”
But Sonny’s own legal name, the product of a unique agreement between his father and grandmother, was rarely remembered.
“When he was born, I wanted a boy named Sonny,” Steve Hansen said. “My mom threw a fit and said, ‘What if he gets older in his career and Sonny doesn’t fit? What if he hates that name?
“So we compromised that we would name him Shane, but he would always be called Sonny. It just fit him.”
As a youth, Sonny was champion junior bull rider of the Western States Junior Rodeo Association, going on to compete in high school and college rodeo. In 1994, Treasure Valley Community College hired him to coach the rodeo team and teach classes about the care, training, breeding and upkeep of horses.
He worked as a pickup man in leading rodeos, a job that partners man and horse to transfer cowboys safely from the backs of bucking broncs. And he raised prized quarterhorses at his Hansen and Sons Ranch, marking the horses with his “Shining Lazy H” brand.
Sonny cherished his 17-year-old twin sons, Chase and Clayton, who share his love of horses and rodeo competition, Steve Hansen said. The twins were scheduled to serve as announcers at this weekend’s Chukar Rodeo in Ontario, which was dedicated to Sonny. His wife, Jackie, signed on as a timekeeper.
FINAL GIFTS
On Sept. 27, Sonny was serving as pickup man during rodeo practice, coaching the bronc riders.
The horse Sonny was riding had been acting up, Marts said, and during the last bronc ride of the evening, the horse bucked Sonny off. The head injuries were fatal.
Friends and family gathered to say goodbye to the beloved cowboy before he was disconnected from life support early in the morning of Sept. 29.
Sonny was an organ donor, and several transplant recipients benefited from that final act of generosity, Marts said.
“It couldn’t be more fitting, from a guy like Sonny Hansen. He just gave until he couldn’t give any more.”
Read more: http://www.idahostatesman.com/2011/10/16/1841323/positive-outlook-generosity-set.html#ixzz1ayMJAHBk