[1][2] He played college football at Washington State University as an end from 1916 to 1917, alongside his brother, Dick Hanley.

[1] In 1918, he played under his college coach, William Henry Dietz, on the Mare Island Marines football team.

[3] Hanley was the head coach of Hillyard High School in 1921, where he led a team that had not won a game in seven years to an 8–0 record.

[3] On January 11, 1942, Hanley, a major in the United States Marine Corps Reserve, was ordered to active duty.

[10] On June 16, 1944, during the Battle of Saipan, Hanley and two others extinguished an explosive-laden vehicle that was threatening to destroy a beach command post.