Remembering the legacy – Halvor Hagen

One of the most popular sports globally is Football. There are a number of famous NFL players from many countries. The sport became very popular due to its nature and its gameplay. The process of gameplay is always very dynamic and allows the audience to sit excited for the whole continuation of the game.

Among many famous NFL player names, one name is especially outstanding for Norwegians. The name of Halvor Hagen has become some type of legacy for Norwegians. His life and achievements are known to almost every local and deserved a round of applause as well as deep respect from others.

The brief biography

Halvor Hagen is originally from Norway, born in Oslo, though later moved to the US at the age of nine. He started gridiron for Weber State in 1968 and 1969. At a very young age, when he started school in Ballard High School, Seattle, Washington he went to play football at the nearby Community College, Shoreline Wash.

His coach was Weber state coach, Sark Arslanian, who is basically the one to blame for all of his further fame and success in the sports industry. Stark turned out to be the coach who was almost immediately able to determine the talent worthy of attention.  He was recognized by his teammates and coaches as the Defensive Lineman of the Year and was awarded the Outstanding Football Player Award in 1969.

The senior season went pretty well. During the season Hagen averaged 10 unassisted tackles as well as seven assisted tackles per game. The Wildcats led the Big Sky Conference in 1969 in rushing defense, allowing only 110 yards per game. For his efforts, Hagen was selected to the All-Big Sky First Team on defense and was named to the Associated Press All-America squad as an honorable mention. He was invited to play in the Coaches All-American Game.

His draft to the NFL was made public by the beginning of 1969 as the third-round pick of the Dallas Cowboys. While in the NFL, Halvor played with the Cowboys, New England Patriots, and Buffalo Bills. Many people, especially Norwegians were very proud and eager to see their native in the NFL. If by that time, Norwegians were allowed to place their bets, all of the attention would have been on Hagen. Even now, when we compare the statistics from the Norwegian gambling resource Norskcasino.Online, the vibrant results show off, allowing us to name Norway as the legacy for Hagen.

During his first season in the NFL, he started with the defensive lineman position, which apparently brought him luck, and made his way through the offensive guard position later next year. He became part of the Super Bowl V Team. The loud words to say.

The career ladder

Just like many other sportsmen, the career ladder for Hagen was none of the easy. Especially, while talking about sports, and you never know what to expect or can happen, it is especially hard to be attached to one specific sport. Though, there are people like Hagen, who stay loyal and leave the legacy in their footprints.

After occupying the position as a defensive lineman in 1970, during the 1971 offseason, the Cowboys traded him to the New England Patriots alongside Duane Thomas and Honor Jackson. In exchange, they got Carl Garrett and the Patriots’ number one draft choice in 1972.  Within only a week, because of problems with the Patriots and head coach John Mazur, in an unprecedented move, the NFL commissioner voided part of the trade, sending Thomas and Garrett back to their original teams. The Patriots kept Hagen and Jackson in exchange for second and third-round draft choices in the 1972 NFL Draft, which they eventually used to select Robert Newhouse and Mike Keller.

New England Patriots

In the New England Patriots, Hagen became the left guard, where he played for a year. He was traded quite a few times during his whole career, and this is one of those moments. The New England Patriots traded him with Jim Cheyunski and Mike Montler to the Buffalo Bills, in exchange for Wayne Patrick, Edgar Chandler, and Jeff Lyman.

Buffalo Bills

This was a challenge once again. Moving all over again with the new team. In 1973, he started his first 5 games as a left defender. Although, he was not as efficient and as good as expected and moved to the taxi squad later after. The reason for his inefficiency is not clear, yet this could have easily been the frequent movement of his.

He did not sit on the taxi squad for a long time. In 1974, he played offensive tackle on the offensive line that was nicknamed The Electric Company. He appeared in over 7 games with 4 excellent starters.

San Diego Chargers

Here comes the trade again. In 1976, he was traded again to the San Diego Chargers in exchange for a nine-round draft choice, who was Jeff Turner.

During this move, he moved to the offensive defender. It happened during the training camp. Not even staying there for a year, he was traded to the New Orleans Saints in exchange for the undisclosed draft choice. This is almost the final destination point, as he was released from the team later in 1976. After the release, he signed a free-agent agreement with the San Francisco 49ers and was released in several days.

The retirement

Hagen finally retired from sports in 1977, after playing eight complete seasons and his knee surgery. After his increasingly successful career, he worked as a real estate company controller. He also served as a CFO and contracts manager for New England Insulation, New England Distributions and AF Underhill.

Besides sports, Hagen obviously had a thing for the management. He worked as a CFO for the Brockton Coalition for the Homeless, a post he has held since 1995. The major role of the coalition is to provide emergency shelter and housing for more than 100 individuals and 60 families on a daily basis.

Hagen is married to Sandra A. Trappey, whom he met in Dallas and they have two sons together. While he retired from football, he did not give up on sports and continues to practice in hockey, skiing, and golf.