Career
He played college football at the University of Iowa. Hancock played football at the University of Iowa from 1922 to 1924. He played a significant role on Iowa’s 1922 Big Ten Conference championship team
As a senior, Hancock played both the tackle and end positions and kicked five field goals for the Hawkeyes.
He was named all-Big Ten and a second team All-American after the 1924 season. Hancock went into college coaching after graduation.
He coached football at Mississippi State University for three years from 1927 to 1929. He went to the University of Northern Colorado in 1932 and began a long coaching career.
Hancock served as their athletic director for 34 years and coached football and track for decades as well.
Hancock was the head football coach at Northern Colorado for 20 seasons, from 1932 until 1953. His football coaching record at Northern Colorado was 77–78–5 ties. In 1950 he led his team to the Bean Bowl.
As of the conclusion of the 2012 season, this ranks him third at Northern Colorado in total wins and fourth at the school in winning percentage (497).
Hancock is best known as a college wrestling coach at Northern Colorado. He originated the Mountain Intercollegiate Wrestling Association and proceeded to lead University of North Carolina to 30 consecutive conference championships.
He served on the National Collegiate Athletic Association rules committee for 16 years and chaired it in 1962-1963. Hancock has been nicknamed “the father of Colorado high school wrestling”.
He helped start the Colorado High School Wrestling Tournament in Greeley in 1936 by going door-to-door in the community to find families that could house the visiting high school wrestlers.