University of Delaware Athletics
A Blue Hen Affair: The Hranickas' Story
6/14/2024 4:03:00 PM | Football, Women's Lacrosse
Before Madison Hranicka could even imagine setting Delaware and CAA women’s lacrosse records, her father, Todd, blazed the trail for the Hranicka family at the University of Delaware.
What makes the Hranicka legacy so fascinating is that it goes beyond a father-daughter connection.
Yes, while some siblings and children aspire to follow their family’s collegiate footsteps, Michael Hranicka, Todd’s brother, and Madison Hranicka, Todd’s daughter, can all share the fact that they played their respective sports at the University of Delaware.
From 1982-87, Todd Hranicka enjoyed a football scholarship at UD, where he played under legendary head coach Tubby Raymond as a defensive end. Little would Todd realize the strong family tie the Hranicka name would establish 37 years after he graduated from Delaware.
“I guess inadvertently I recruited my brother but it was years in the making, around eighth or ninth grade,” Todd Hranicka said.
For Michael, who was a prime football recruit as was his five-year older brother, he just wanted to play with his brother as a Blue Hen, even if it would only be for one year.
Michael had a head start. When he was a freshman in high school, Todd was just beginning his football days at Delaware. Michael visited his older brother often, ultimately making it an easy decision when it was time for the senior to commit to a university to play football three years later.
“At the age of 14, I would go up every weekend (to UD) because my brother was literally my idol,” Michael Hranicka said. “Throughout that four-year period, I had just grown to idolize the Blue Hens and always thought that was where I was going to play.”
After a heavy recruiting press for Michael that included offers from Virginia Tech, Navy, and Richmond, he ultimately turned to family ties to share what is now a lifetime bond together with Todd.
“I could have told him at the time to go to Delaware and he would have gone,” Todd said. “But I felt like that was not my place; from my perspective it just was not the right thing to do. He needed to make that decision.”
Luckily for Todd, Michael was already set and made his decision rather easily. Michael noted, “the only thing I could think about was playing football with my brother.”
As it would turn out, the family tree grew even larger in 1986-87, as Todd and Michael’s sister, Jill, transferred to Delaware during her junior year. As a result, three Hranickas were at the University of Delaware at the same time; Todd as a fifth year, Jill as a junior, and Michael as a freshman. The three were always close, and Michael enjoyed the idea that it would be a common tie throughout their lives.
They were at ages that had just prevented them from overlapping and playing together in high school. And while they would not play together at Delaware in an actual game, they were able to practice together regularly. While Michael redshirted his freshman year, he was still able to practice against Todd, which Michael referred to as “wild.”
Todd and Michael were always close. During summers when they were old enough, both would work construction, getting up in the early hours of the morning, eating dinner together afterwards, and then running a couple of miles, going to the gym, and repeating the next day.
They took advantage of their only overlapping collegiate year together, practicing together often and hanging out with one another and their friends when they were not competing on the gridiron.
Beyond their own brotherhood, they also formed a brotherhood with the entire roster, and their team still has a 75-person group chat going. They often reminisce about their time playing college ball together to update each other on their lives.
So, it was incredibly fitting for Michael to wear his brother’s number 53 jersey after Todd graduated. As Todd noted, “for eight years at Delaware stadium, a Hranicka was wearing 53.”
Fast forward a generation.
Todd is settled down in Mendham, New Jersey with his wife and two children. He is the director of solar energy, electric vehicles, and energy storage at PSE&G, the largest utility company in New Jersey. His daughter, Madison, had been going through a rigorous recruiting process that began her freshman year of high school, during which she was offered a spot on the women’s lacrosse team at Delaware by its head coach at the time, Kateri Linville.
Madison started lacrosse young. It was big in the area she grew up, and no one in her family had any experience with the sport. But Madison would try different sports when she was younger and lacrosse stuck. She loved it.
It was a new sport for Todd, but that would not stop him from tapping into Madison’s world and connecting with his daughter. Todd would go to the backyard with a baseball mitt and practice with Madison, as she flung lacrosse shots and passes to her dad, who would catch it with his baseball glove and throw it back to Madison.
Her love of the sport was so strong that when Madison was cut from her sixth-grade lacrosse team, it almost broke her. When Todd told her she needed to practice more since her stick skills were not where they needed to be, the advice lit a fire in Madison. So much so that within the next three years, Madison worked hard and often on her craft. So much so that her first collegiate offer came in the ninth grade.
Not bad for the once-cut sixth grader.
Some context: the University of Delaware was nothing new to Madison. Of course, she was aware of her family’s athletic ties, with her father playing defensive end and her uncle playing defensive tackle for the Blue Hens. But she was also immersed in the culture throughout her childhood.
“We would have big family tailgates, so I have been coming to Tubby forever,” Madison Hranicka said. “Both my uncle and my dad were coached by Tubby Raymond, so I heard so many stories growing up, and then to actually play on the same field [as them], is a full-circle moment.”
Like his brother, Todd swears that he did not nudge Madison to choose Delaware for her collegiate playing experience. He did not consider it his place to do so. Even so, he was certainly ecstatic when she decided to follow his footsteps and committed to play women’s lacrosse for the Blue Hens.
Of course, when Madison committed to the University of Delaware, Todd noted his satisfaction for several reasons.
“I was thrilled,” Todd said. “I loved Delaware and I thought it was going to be a good fit for her since she was going to be able to play Division I lacrosse and only be two hours away from home.”
Her previous connections to the university helped, but Madison also fell in love with the school on her own terms, especially the people.
“The more I was around the team and saw the culture, I realized not only am I going to love the lacrosse, but I am always going to love the family aspect,” Madison said. “I spoke with some of my high school friends at other colleges and the connection and love Delaware has, didn’t exist for.”
Michael, who is now located in Denver and the CEO of MicroStar Logistics, the largest independent owner of kegs in the world which manages the associated logistics for global brewers for both kegs and plastic returnable pallets, also found immense joy when he heard Madison would continue the family legacy of competing at Delaware.
“Seeing her go there to play just brought incredible joy,” Michael said. “Seeing how she has progressed; she will come out of the university with an undergrad and an MBA, and having excelled as she has on the field… she remains the same, kind-hearted, sweet niece that we have seen from the time she has been just a little girl.”
Todd, Michael, and Madison would not only share the same colors during their college playing days, they would also play the same type of role on their respective teams: defender. Todd played defensive end as a Blue Hen, for Michael it was defensive tackle, and of course, Madison played defense in lacrosse.
A question about what made the Hranickas so committed to defense elicited a few laughs, adding another connection the three have together.
“I think there are certain personality traits that lead to a defensive mindset,” Michael said. “With my brother and I, it was always a really aggressive desire to control what people are trying to do to you.”
Madison also believes there is a family connection to defense.
“I feel like it kind of fits our style of play,” Madison said. “We’re just more about footwork and the mentality that defense wins championships, so that’s the mindset we have.”
Todd agreed with the notion that there was a broader connection.
“I think what linked myself, Mike, and Madison was that we all had that warrior mentality, which was go out and play your ass off and do the best you can.”
Michael also mentioned that for him, it seemed as though offensive players were more thoughtful towards game planning and strategy, while defensive players tend to be really aggressive and just grind.
It makes sense. Todd and Michael both enjoyed successful careers at Delaware going after the quarterback.
And where do you begin in terms of measuring Madison’s defensive aggression on the lacrosse field?
During her graduate-year season, she became the first Blue Hens’ All-American since 2002, having won back-to-back CAA Defensive Player of the Year honors. For the second-consecutive year, she ranked third nationally in caused turnovers per game (3.56) and third nationally in ground balls per game (3.94).
The list goes on and those are just a few of the accolades Madison has exponentially collected during her time in Newark.
Over the last five years, her father and uncle have always been extremely supportive, cheering on the latest Hranicka Blue Hen every step of the way.
“They have always been the most supportive people in my life,” Madison said. “They’re always pushing me to do my best, always rooting for me, texting in our group chats if I break any records or have any success, they’re the first because at the end of the day, same last name.”
The connection the three related Blue Hen athletes share is special and different.
While the Hranicka family is extremely close, the Blue Hen athletic bond between Todd, Michael, and Madison seems to spark its own connection, one to which others are unable to relate because they do not share the bond of donning the Blue & Gold.
After all, college athletics does not end at these three for the Hranickas. Jennifer Hranicka, Todd’s wife and Madison’s mother, competed in equestrian in college. And Madison’s brother, Ty, played football at Lafayette as a fullback. But there was just something about that Blue Hen connection that sets Todd, Michael, and Madison apart.
“There is a little something different with her Uncle Mike that exists because we all went to Delaware. It is that Blue Hen connection that we feel that is really cool and special,” Todd said.
Academically, Delaware has meant a lot to the brothers. They both have ventured out of state to establish their own careers, achieving CEO and Director titles. Todd and Michael credit the education they received at Delaware to achieving what they have today from a professional and family point of view.
“I came from a high school that I was not that well prepared for college,” Todd said. “Delaware prepared me for the business world. I was a history major, so I did not have a lot of business courses, but it taught me how to learn, taught me how to think, and having a number of professors that focused me and really understood that they needed to push this kid.”
Michael had a similar take; he feels he is able to deeply reflect on the university’s impact and will do so for years after graduating. To Todd’s point, there is a deeper meaning he gained from his academic experience at Delaware.
“As you get out and begin working in the world, you realize how important all those foundational academic building blocks were,” Michael said. “It allows you to do simple things that if you are an alum of Delaware, you learn. You know how to communicate. You know how to write effectively. You know how to think on your own. It is a true environment of learning.”
Madison refers to her head coach, Amy Altig, about how important her Delaware education has been for her as a student and alumna.
“Her [Altig’s] main focus is lacrosse, but she also wants to make sure when we go off to the real world that she has prepared us,” Madison said. “Academically and being able to handle time management, Delaware has prepared me beyond measure.”
The football duo also was quick to site the influence their football careers at Delaware played in their lives after college. Specifically, they noted how important their college hall of fame head coach Harold “Tubby” Raymond was.
“My approach to life was molded in a really significant way by Tubby Raymond, his coaching staff, and my teammates,” Michael said. “It is very rare that a week goes by where I don’t reflect on something that I learned on the field.”
When asked about how Delaware football prepped Todd for life after college, he grinned, immediately responding, “that’s easy.”
“Keep moving forward,” Todd continued. “There are a lot of times in business where you have some really difficult situations and you’re trying to work through it and get through the problem… but nothing is more difficult than Tuesday afternoons on the practice field at Delaware. Nothing. We ran a lot; it’s all we knew. But we won a lot of football games because we were better conditioned than the teams we were playing.”
Madison finished her MBA and has a job lined up at a financial technology company, Fiserv, where she will be doing the sales academy for two years while getting a new rotation every six months. After the two years, Madison will get to pick which rotation she liked the best and continue to work in that rotation going forward.
Over the past five years, Madison has been able to take advantage of all the University had to offer. But she also takes away a lot from the game of lacrosse that will help her for life after college.
“It definitely taught me perseverance and to be able to keep working at things,” Madison said. “You can always get better… I think that’s my biggest take away… not to settle and always look at where you can improve.”
Coming from one of, if not the, greatest defenders in Delaware women’s lacrosse history, that’s saying something.
Todd and Michael have enjoyed careers after their academics and playing careers at Delaware. They have seen the light at the end of the tunnel in terms of using their Delaware degree to prosper professionally. Based on Madison’s experience, just like she followed her father and uncle’s choice in college, she seems on track to follow their professional path, starting at Fiserv.
“I think Madison’s experience as a Blue Hen and as a captain is going to make her a business leader as she enters the work world,” Todd said. “She leads by example, but Amy pressed her to be more vocal a few years ago. She has grown significantly and I think Delaware prepared her academically and athletically to achieve as she gets older.”
