In Search of the Unbreakable II – Matthew Hanson – Looking Back and Moving Forward

Organismic and Evolutionary Biology. I can not even say it out loud. Think I am kidding? Go ahead. First 3 times I said I said ORGASMIC and I was like who would take up a major on that.. AT HARVARD no less. Then I read it again. .ORGANISTIC. Is he studying the building of organs? Oh wait. Internal organs. Oh wait.. No Organis.. Organisi… forget it. I copied and pasted it. .But I cannot type it. Everyone, meet Mr. Matthew Hanson of Harvard. Ladies and gentleman.. Meet my Unbreakable II. This time there is no rematch, no Apollo.. Just Matthew Hanson. His fight however was not in the ring. It was him overcoming so much more. Frankly impossible odds, to get to where he is today.

I liked to start with the dessert.

From Global Minded.Org June 3 2019 (https://globalminded.org/team_member/matthew-hanson/)

Matthew Hanson recently completed his MBA at Harvard Business School and is a Vice President at Bain Capital Private Equity in their North American Portfolio Group. Prior to joining Bain Capital, Mr. Hanson worked as a consultant at Bain & Company. Mr. Hanson earned a B.A. in Biology from Harvard University and was an All-Ivy Corner on the football team.

Here is the URL to Bain to save you the trip https://www.baincapital.com/

Why he went from Bio to Finance, only he knows. But at the end of the day who cares. He obviously has something special in him and about him that allows for him to do this. Heck, in his linkedin profile it states that he Interned at Harvard Stem Cell Institute in 2010 THEN Interned at Bain in 2011. I know if he had met me I think I would have been a role model to him… who am I kidding, I could not even take High School Chemistry and nearly got fired from Genovese Drug store cause I kept giving customers too much change back.. I was good at the basic ones. But if someone had change that was $12.16 my brain would shut off and that customer would end up with $16.12. .. But that is me.

All jokes aside, all things points to him being my other side of the Bell Curve guy. The man who excels in Athletics but far more excels in Academics. I will preface this in every blog post. I am not sure if he is happy in these positions, I am just basing success on his titles. I just know to go from Organismic and evolutionary biology (copied and pasted it.. still cannot type it.but again I am the $12.16 guy) to a VP of a Private Equity fund takes, I hope you agree, a certain level of skill, intellectual prowess, that is not contained in most human beings.

Similar to Zach Hodges ( https://www.3pointstance.com/single-post/2019/12/02/In-Search-of-the-Unbreakable--Part-1-Zach-Hodges--Homeless-To-Harvard) there is absolutely no reason he should be here. There is no reason he should not be a Colorado statistic. A child of a single mom (https://www.gocrimson.com/sports/fball/2011-12/releases/20111010m6flwa) Matthew has seen his share of struggles. With the assistance of his grandmother and his uncle James, he was able to navigate a path too often not taken by young black men with no dads. 77 % of black children are born to unwed mothers (https://cis.org/Camarota/Births-Unmarried-Mothers-Nativity-and-Education) Tommy Sotomayor even did a movie on the impact no dads have on black children specifically (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5164260/). It is the role many of us play to these young men as football coaches. We “hope” to keep these boys on a path, "hope " it is the right path. We are not always successful, but we try.

However , I was going to try to reword what the Crimson blog stated ...but this is the impact of leadership, the Football Mentality , can do for all those that embrace it:

Hopefully they're watching how he (Matthew Hanson) plays; a player who is tireless in his quest to prove he's the top cornerback in the league. Hopefully they're watching how he approaches class; a student who isn't afraid to take on challenging course work and push himself academically. Hopefully they're watching the way he's prepared for life after football; locking down a top-level consulting job after he graduates.

Hopefully they're watching the path of successful people who have come before them, studying their formulas for success and recreating them in their own life

On top of his course load he did this.

Here are "some" of his athletic accomplishments.

(https://www.gocrimson.com/sports/fball/2011-12/bios/hanson_matthew?view=bio)

2008 Rookie of the Year
Selected to the New England Football Writers Association All-New England team
Unanimous first team All-Ivy League selection
Academic All-Ivy League selection
Named preseason All-Ivy League by Phil Steel's College Football Preview
All Ivy League 2011 league team

Here is a black man from a distressed home, providing this type of leadership to many non black players and teammates. He was influenced by several other Unbreakables like BJ Merriwether and Andrew Berry (https://www.philadelphiaeagles.com/team/front-office/andrew-berry) but ultimately he made the choice to do this. He decided that through all HIS struggles that he will lead others.

Football is NOT for everyone. It really takes a certain amount of mental toughness to persevere in this game. Can you imagine how much easier it would have been for him to quit. Do you know how much easier it would have been for him to throw up his hands and just walk away. As he stated, through the lessons in the game he could not let his current teammates down. Nor could he let down the people before and after him. The burden is carried by a special few.. And based on the research Mr Hanson is Unbreakable II.