Jerry Hanson’s umpiring career spanned 33 years starting in 1956. In 1975, he was named Midland, MI Softball Association UIC and served in that position until 1979. A year later, he was named assistant UIC for the Michigan ASA and five years later the UIC for the Michigan ASA. After five years as the Michigan UIC, Hanson was named to the ASA National umpire staff in 1990 representing the Great Lakes Region. He remained on the staff until November of 2002 when he was named to replace Bill Humphrey as Michigan ASA commissioner and executive director of the Michigan Softball Association after Humphrey joined the ASA national office staff. During his career, Hanson umpired five men’s Major Fast Pitch Championships (1977, 1979, 1982, 1986 and 1989), two ISF World Championships (1980 and 1987) and one Olympic Festival (1978 in Colorado Springs, CO). As a member of the National Umpire staff, he was the UIC at 32 ASA National championships, the 1997 Women’s National Team Tryouts and the 1999 Men’s National Team Tryouts. He was assistant UIC at the 1996 ISF Men’s World Championships and at the ASA 1991 and 1992 Men’s Fast Pitch National Championships. He was an instructor at 26 National Umpire Schools and hosted four national schools in Michigan. He also served as vice-chair of the Fast Pitch Playing Rules Committee, vice-chair of the Playing Rules Committee and has been a member of the Umpire Committee since 1990. As a member of the National Umpire staff he served on a committee to annually review the rule changes, mechanics, clinic guides and other publications. In 1979, he was ISF certified and in 1986 became a member of the National Indicator Fraternity. He is a member of three other Halls of Fame besides the National Softball Hall of Fame: Michigan ASA (1991), Indiana ASA (1999) and Midland County (2000). In 1999, Hanson joined the ASA Medals Program. Hanson retired from the Dow Corning Corporation after a 33-year career as a millwright.
