Now a free man, the former star athlete is disrupting an entirely new market – the health food industry – and fortunately, M&F has the scoop on Hansen’s groundbreaking entrepreneurial effort.
At 6-foot-4, Owen Hanson’s hopes of attending the University of Southern California seemed like an impossible dream for a kid living with a single father and trying to make ends meet. But that dream became a reality when Hanson landed a volleyball scholarship. Still, the competition at USC was tough and with the threat of being cut from the team, the young starter desperately sought an advantage that eventually led him to Tijuana for his first steroid run.
As his body grew, Hanson caught the attention of coaches and was selected for the USC Trojans despite a complete lack of football experience. Remarkably, he became a walk-on tight end and was part of the 2004 national championship team with Heisman trophy winners Matt Leinart and Reggie Bush. But when his time in college ended, those teammates were drafted by the NFL, while Hanson struggled to keep his real estate business afloat in the era of the credit crunch. Instead, the man they called the “O-Dog” would use his experience as a small-time drug buyer and seller to climb the criminal ranks.
Owen Hanson’s escapades as ‘The Cocaine Quarterback’ resulted in significant time behind bars
Mark Whalberg’s production company Unrealistic Ideas tells the surreal story of the “Cocaine Quarterback,” detailing how the former footballer ended up in Australia, where he struck it rich with millions of dollars made through the Sinaloa Cartel before his operation imploded following a soured relationship with a shady man known as “Robin Hood 702.” In 2017, Hanson was sentenced to just over 21 years for his crimes but served about nine years, with his sentence reduced after he cooperated with authorities in a case against Australian lawyer Michael Croke.
Although the documentary shows Hanson’s release in 2024 and his desire to live a positive lifestyle, investing his own time in talking to young people about making the right choices in life, the film does not focus on Hanson’s remorse for his actions, nor does it detail the incredible plot twist that sees him running an ice cream business from his prison cell. M&F wanted to pick up where “Cocaine Quarterback” left off.
Owen Hanson has made many apologies since his incarceration
“Yes, I have regrets without a doubt,” Hanson told M&F. “I regret getting all these people involved in this catastrophe, right? I ended up suing twenty of my friends, from my best friend in college to my accountant. It’s all because I lied, and I clearly made up a story and gave them something they believed got them involved in gambling (but instead I used them to launder money for the cartel). I think about it every day, and I remember being in that 6-by-8. Obviously I can’t undo any mistakes I’ve made, but I can hopefully offer them an apology, and I’ve apologized to each and every one of them, and 95% of them have accepted my apology and understand where I was coming from, because they know what kind of person I am. I never wanted to put them in the trouble that this ambition has.”
In the closing segments of Cocaine quarterback, Hanson makes ice in a mop bucket from his prison cell, finally using his lofty ambition to succeed legitimately, making a huge profit by selling a legal product to his prisoners. What the film doesn’t reveal is how this incredible plot twist came about.
How California Ice Protein Came From Hanson’s Prison Cell
Every morning in prison, Hanson would wake up at 5 a.m. and prepare his meals, including a protein shake that he put in a mop bucket full of ice. “You say: why the mop bucket?” says the entrepreneur, predicting the obvious question. “Well, we don’t have refrigeration in prison. So what do we do? We throw a bunch of ice in a mop bucket.”
One day, however, Hanson’s routine was disrupted when the prison’s ice machine broke down. Instead, he put salt on the remaining ice, but when he returned he found the entire bucket frozen. “I start eating it with a spoon, I’m like, holy shit,” Hanson recalls. “This is an egg white ice cream! I said, I think we’re on to something!”
Since ice cream was previously unavailable to the inmates of the Federal Correctional Institution of Englewood, Colorado, Hanson tested his new product on his workout buddies, and soon was selling the healthy treat in jars of peanut butter for $15 each. “Keep in mind it cost me $1.50 to make,” says Hanson. “I said, if they buy it for $15, I’ll make the same return as my product in Australia.”
The savvy salesperson quickly went from selling 7 units a day to 14 and then to 21. “By Super Bowl Sunday I had pre-orders for 50 ice creams,” Hanson recalls. He explains that as his business expanded, he began hiring his fellow residents to keep the production line running. However, it wasn’t all plain sailing, with some prison staff encouraging his wholesome product and keen business acumen, others were less impressed. “Some guards want to be assholes,” Hanson said. “And they come in there and say, ‘Oh, you’re not supposed to sell ice cream.’ Do you know what they do? They take my mop bucket, and they turn it upside down, and they take my ice cream, and they throw it on the floor. But mostly people already know my story. They know I’m not someone who is disrespectful. I treat the guards just like I treat everyone in life, as a human being. It doesn’t matter that they have a badge, it doesn’t bother me. And if you show that kind of respect in prison, they will usually give it back to you.”
Owen Hanson: Cocaine Quarterback turned Ice Protein Kingpin
Hailed as the Ice Queen by his peers in prison, Hanson’s first brand behind bars was provisionally titled ‘Kingpin Creamery’, but once he was happy with his parole, life outside prison meant Hanson no longer had a product or a goal to motivate him. Fortunately, he noticed that even the outside world didn’t have protein-rich ice cream. Hanson noted that most similar products contain only about 5 grams of protein. “So I thought, OK… I’m going to figure out a way to continue this story.” Thus, the California Ice Protein brand was officially born.
As an aspiring legitimate businessman, Hanson discovered that natural monk fruit was a sweet substitute for sugar. He also added 80% whey protein concentrate. “It gives you that ice cream texture,” he explains, noting that he also added probiotics for gut health.
With financial support, the former footballer was able to expand his team to almost 30 employees and he is enjoying this new challenge. “(It’s) definitely hard to scale because you have to remember that I’m so used to having my own money and doing things myself,” he says. M&F. “Obviously when the government arrested me, they seized, I think it was almost $20 million in assets, with houses, cars and money, and left me with nothing, right? I was like, holy sh*t, I have to start over.” Hanson tells M&F that he would like to see more young people given the opportunity to succeed in the business world through internships so they can gain real-world experience. As for his own product, Hanson says it’s best described as ‘Ice Protein’ because it’s much healthier than traditional ice cream. Its California Ice Protein bars typically contain about 15 grams of protein with no added sugar and are “carefully handcrafted.”
After earning his MBA in prison, Owen Hanson finally proves what his friends and family knew all along: that he can be successful at anything he puts his full energy into. And with flavors like “Coliseum Cookies & Cream,” named after his old football field, and “Strawberry Swole Cake,” named after a former teammate, a close friend who visited him in prison every month, Hanson is eager to share the love. “Our next step is to go to a Gelson’s or Whole Foods,” he says
Don’t bet against Owen Hanson this time.
Visit the California Ice Protein website for more information.
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