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Hansen Quadruplets + 20
BY RANDY FIEDLER
(FROM LEFT): ALISON, BROOKE, CLAIRE AND DARCY HANSEN
An event took place at Baylor 20 years ago that had occurred only once before in the University’s long history. On May 17, 1997, a set of identical quadruplets — Alison, Brooke, Claire and Darcy Hansen of San Antonio — walked the stage in the Ferrell Center during commencement and received their diplomas. Three of the quads — Alison, Claire and Darcy — graduated with BA degrees in journalism from the College of Arts & Sciences. Brooke earned a BBA degree from Baylor’s Hankamer School of Business. The Hansens were the second set of quadruplets to graduate from Baylor, following the Keys Quads of Oklahoma, who received their degrees 60 years earlier on May 31, 1937. 40 / BAYLOR ARTS & SCIENCES
The Hansen Quads were born within 17 minutes of each other on Oct. 24, 1974. At the hospital, staff members put tags on the quads identifying them by birth order as “A, B, C and D,” and their parents gave them names beginning with the same consecutive letters. The girls grew up in a family of eight, which includes two older sisters. They became honor students at San Antonio’s Lee High School, becoming proficient in Spanish and German along the way, and occasionally appeared on national television programs including The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson. When Baylor President Herbert H. Reynolds (1981-1995) saw the quads on The Tonight Show, he was impressed with the young women’s intelligence
and engaging personalities. He soon offered them full academic scholarships to Baylor, and they arrived on campus during Welcome Week on Aug. 23, 1993, with a CNN news crew recording their move into Collins Hall. As the Keys did before them, the Hansens represented Baylor University at a number of functions each year, and were often seen at important campus events such as football games and the Homecoming Parade. All four Hansens also had campus jobs as writers in Baylor’s public relations office. Soon after they received their Baylor degrees, the quads scattered across Europe — alone — to begin the newest chapters of their lives. Alison left for Madrid, Spain, to study on a Fulbright