Erin Nicole Hannon

Erin Nicole Hannon was an American athlete from Bradford, Pennsylvania, remembered as one of the most accomplished track and field competitors her hometown has produced. Born on December 1, 1987, she began competitive gymnastics at the age of five and went on to become a multi-sport standout at Bradford Area High School, lettering in volleyball, diving and indoor and outdoor track and field.

Hannon's signature events were the high jump and the multi-event disciplines of the pentathlon and heptathlon. In high school she won seven indoor state medals, including three state titles, four national medals and the 2005 Nike Indoor National High Jump Championship. Outdoors she qualified for the state meet in four events every year of her high school career, won fifteen of sixteen possible District IX titles, and helped lead Bradford High to its first ever state team championship in 2006, a season in which her own grandfather, a longtime PIAA track official, presented her with her medals. On the strength of that career she turned down scholarship offers from Notre Dame, Penn State, Virginia and Louisville to compete for the University of Nebraska.

At Nebraska, Hannon earned six All Big 12 honors, including a silver medal in the high jump, a trip to the NCAA outdoor championships and recognition as a USTFCCCA All-American. Her competitive career ended abruptly in August 2008 when she was severely injured in a rollover crash near Keenesburg, Colorado, an accident in which she was ejected from the vehicle and airlifted to a hospital, where doctors initially told her she might never walk again. She missed the entire 2009 season recovering, and rather than return to competition she stayed on with the Nebraska track and field program as a student assistant, helping with travel arrangements and recruiting. She graduated in 2011 with a bachelor's degree in psychology and endorsements in teaching and coaching.

In later years Hannon lived with metachromatic leukodystrophy, a rare and progressive neurodegenerative disease, which her family described as a lengthy illness. She had been cared for at home in Bradford for the past three years by a dedicated caregiver, alongside her parents.

Erin Nicole Hannon died on Sunday, October 11, 2026, at her home on Lee Driver Road in Bradford, with her parents by her side. She was 38. Her death was announced through an obituary released by Hollenbeck-Cahill Funeral Homes and reported in her hometown newspaper, The Bradford Era, which described her as one of the highest achieving athletes in the city's history. She is survived by her parents, Bob and Tammie Hannon, her maternal grandfather, a brother and his family, two nephews, godparents, extended family, her longtime caregiver and her two dogs. She was predeceased by her brother Bryan Timothy Hannon, who died in 2011, and by both sets of grandparents.