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Sports

Coach's Coach: Harbaugh's Paly Coach Still at the Helm

There's not just one connection, but a stunning number of links between Paly and the 49ers.

 

Palo Alto High School and the San Francisco 49ers are woven together like the laces of an athletic shoe—criss-cossing and drawn tightly together.

The Athletic Director and Head Football Coach of Paly, Earl Hansen, was a greenhorn when a lanky kid named Jim Harbaugh showed up ready to play quarterback. “Jim’s first year was my first year,” Hansen told the New York Daily News. “It was easy. I thought I’d have a Harbaugh every year.”

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When the 49ers take on the Baltimore Ravens this Sunday in the Super Bowl, Hansen will be in the Superdome in New Orleans. He won’t just be cheering on the 49ers players, he has a keen interest in who’s on the sidelines. Besides Harbaugh, Hansen’s son Peter is a defensive assistant/quality control coach for the Niners.

Another 49ers assistant, quarterbacks coach Geep Chryst, is keenly interested in Hansen’s coaching skills—Chryst’s son Keller plays for Paly. The junior is already entertaining offers of college scholarships.

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Harbaugh is quick to offer praise for Hansen, “I owe a lot to him,” Harbaugh told The Viking, a Paly publication, “a wonderful, wonderful coach. [He was one] of my favorite coaches I ever had.”

Back in 2010, when Hansen coached Paly to a state championship, Harbaugh called his high school coach one of the greatest influences in his life. "He cares about people,” Harbaugh said in a news conference, “and he makes you feel that when you're with him. A one-on-one conversation with him -- it could be a family member that he asks about, or a biology class. He makes you feel special.”

Harbaugh will carry that influence with him Sunday, an advantage in the Harbowl that brother John, head coach for the Ravens, doesn’t possess. Older brother John went off to college the year the Harbaughs moved to Palo Alto, so he never played for Hansen.

Hansen will watch the game with a fan’s zeal, a coach’s eye, and a father’s pride, all laced together through players and coaches that he's personally touched through the decades.

 

Also on Palo Alto Patch

Harbaugh’s Paly Teammates Remember “Pathological Competitor”

SLIDESHOW: Jim Harbaugh’s Paly Days

Paly Pride: Harbaugh’s High School Pulls for 49ers

Harbaugh Parents Neutral As Super Bowl Approaches

Kaepernick’s Jersey Hottest Seller in NFL


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