Alumni Spotlight | Lee Hanson (’80)

When Lee Hanson (’80) and his wife, Erin, set out to solve a problem in sports safety, they weren’t aiming to change the culture of football. They simply saw a risk – one their own son faced when he began playing the game – and knew they had the expertise to do something about it.

Enter the Guardian Cap, a lightweight, impact-reducing shell that fits over a football helmet.

Today, their product is mandated by the NFL in practices, permitted in games, and used by all 32 NFL teams as well as 23 of the top 25 college football programs and thousands of high schools and youth leagues around the country. It reduces impact forces by up to 33% and has helped the NFL record a 17-year low in practice concussions.

The son of a barber and a school teacher, Hanson enrolled at Darlington as a seventh-grader in 1974, where he was known for being studious and curious, especially in science and math. He would go on to graduate from Georgia Tech with a degree in chemical engineering and, ultimately, build a career – and a mission – around solving problems that others overlooked.

For years, he worked in corporate America for chemical companies like Unocal and Ciba-Geigy, eventually founding The Hanson Group with Erin in 1996. From a solo operation to a thriving materials science firm working with giants like Boeing, Dow, and 3M, The Hanson Group made its name through innovation – developing everything from leading golf ball technology for Maxfli, Wilson, and Vice, to self-sealing fuel tanks and coatings for aerospace and military use.

But in 2010, a new challenge would ultimately shift the course of the Hansons’ lives. A helmet company approached The Hanson Group for help creating a flexible helmet. Lee and Erin had the solution, but the NFL wasn’t ready. Still, the Hansons were undeterred.

“We knew all too well the risk of collision sports – a player’s risk of CTE [chronic traumatic encephalopathy] doubles every 2.6 years they play,” said Hanson. “We set out to make a one-size-fits-all, inexpensive solution to retrofit every existing helmet out there.”

At first, resistance was fierce.

“There was an outcry of, ‘Someone needs to do something,’” Hanson said. “We created the Guardian Cap and the response was, ‘Yeah, not that.’ When no one wanted it, we knew that we had no choice but to do it ourselves. Guardian was a calling with the mission of providing athletes with the equipment we feel they deserve.”

Schools using the Guardian Cap reported fewer concussions, fewer hand injuries and players feeling better after practice. One by one, programs began to adopt the technology. The University of South Carolina gave it a shot. Then UGA. Then Alabama.

And then, in 2020, the NFL took notice.

The Guardian Cap went on to win the NFL’s HeadHealthTECH Challenge in 2017, validating its effectiveness. By 2022, the league had mandated its use in practice. Concussions in those mandated positions dropped by 52%.

“It’s a simple tool, but maximizes Newton’s physics to reduce impact and forces to the head,” Hanson explained, citing the Guardian Cap’s multi-layered design, friction-reducing materials, and cooling effects.

The Guardian name is now synonymous with sports safety. Beyond football, Guardian has developed soft-shell headbands for soccer, flag football, cheer, and rugby, as well as PEARL lacrosse balls and environmentally friendly turf infill. Their newest innovation, a hydraulic chinstrap developed with Stanford engineers, reduces facemask impact by 35%.

Now a father of five and grandfather of 10, Hanson lives just a mile from his children and grandchildren in Berkeley Lake, Ga. Three of his children and two sons-in-law work at Guardian. He and Erin share a 90,000-square-foot facility – Hanson Group on one side, run by Lee, and Guardian Sports on the other, run by Erin – with a warehouse in between.

“We spend all day going back and forth,” he laughed.

The road hasn’t been easy. Changing the culture of a tradition-bound sport takes grit and patience. “If you are going to try to make a paradigm shift, be prepared for the long haul,” he said. “It takes a lot of determination not to give up if you know that you are doing the right thing.”

As the Hansons continue to innovate across multiple sports and industries, at its core, their mission is always the same: Find the problem, solve it and make a difference.

It’s a mindset that Hanson traces back to his time at Darlington – where high standards, hard work and accountability were part of the daily routine.

“In the end, we just want to build things that help people,” he said. “That’s what keeps us going.”