He was the "father of Colorado high school wrestling" and John W. Hancock's legacy is felt throughout the Rocky Mountains.

An All-America football tackle on Iowa's 1924 Rose Bowl team, he was not a wrestler, but when Hancock began coaching football and track at Northern Colorado in 1925, he also started a wrestling program. He left the Greeley campus briefly to coach at Mississippi State and Marquette, but returned to UNC in 1933 to coach wrestling for 34 more years, track for 30, football for 21 and even basketball during World War II. He also served as director of athletics until his retirement in 1966.

Hancock originated the Mountain Intercollegiate Wrestling Association, for years the primary wrestling conference in the Rockies, then proceeded to win 30 consecutive conference championships. He had NCAA champions in Len Lordino, 1961, and Jack Flasche, 1962, and several other All-Americans. He served 16 years on the NCAA rules committee, which he chaired in 1962-63, and was president of the National Wrestling Coaches Association the same year.

Although he was a great college coach, perhaps his greatest contribution to the sport was origination of the Colorado high school tournament. The first of these was held in Greeley in 1936, with nine teams and some 40 wrestlers. Hancock personally went through the community knocking on doors to find families who would house the visiting wrestlers. The tournament tripled in size the next year and by 1941 had grown so large that it had to be moved to Denver.

In addition to founding long-term wrestling programs, Hancock also fathered sons who became two of the state's most respected coaches. Jack has retired as wrestling coach at Colorado Mines and Tom as football coach and athletic director at Lakewood High School.

In recognition of his pioneering spirit and his spectacular coaching success, John W. Hancock is honored as a Distinguished Member of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame.