Dale Eugene Hansen (born August 2, 1948) is an American sportscaster, who formerly worked as the weeknight sports anchor during the 10 pm newscasts on ABC's Dallas affiliate WFAA, who left the station on September 2, 2021.
He formerly also hosted Dale Hansen's Sports Special on Sundays at 10:35 pm, consistently one of the highest-rated local programs in Dallas-Fort Worth.
[4] Dale's best friend, Carrol Meyer, served with him in the Navy, and was killed at the age of 18 just after six weeks of being deployed to Vietnam.
After that he got closer to his hometown of Logan, Iowa by working at a radio station he grew up listening to, KOIL in Omaha, Nebraska.
Hansen made his reputation in 1986 when he and his producer, John Sparks, broke a story about a massive scandal involving payments to players on Southern Methodist University's football team.
[6] Hansen became nationally and even internationally famous in recent years when his commentaries on matters such as racism and domestic violence were circulated widely on YouTube.
He always shares a story of a child's death in the past year and talks about it before playing a video of clips from the 1980s of kids in Dallas.
In a February 2014 broadcast, Hansen delivered a commentary supporting NFL draft candidate Michael Sam coming out as a gay man.
In Hansen's commentary he described as what he saw a double standard within the NFL, stating, "You beat a woman and drag her down a flight of stairs, pulling her hair out by the roots?
[17][18] In September 2017, then-President Donald Trump criticized Colin Kaepernick and other NFL players who took a knee during the national anthem before games to raise awareness for police brutality and racial injustice.
He spoke at a rally in Alabama, stating, "Wouldn't you love to see one of these NFL owners, when somebody disrespects our flag, to say, 'Get that son of a bitch off the field right now.
Hansen mentioned he himself had served in the Vietnam War and that his best friend in high school "did not die so that you can decide who is a patriot and who loves America more."
[4] Hansen started in sports radio at KRLD 1080 AM in 1985 as the Dallas Cowboys color analyst, with Brad Sham as the play-by-play announcer.
[21] Hansen joined KTCK 1310 AM ("The Ticket") in 1999 as a regular on its Dallas Cowboys post-game report after the games were broadcast on KLUV 98.7 FM.
At KESN, he hosted "The Hour of Hansen" weeknights from 6–7 pm and also contributed to other programming, including the station's Cowboys pre and post-game shows.
[26] Hansen has won many awards in his career, including: In March 2019, Hansen was honored with the Radio Television Digital News Association's Lifetime Achievement Award, joining the likes of past winners Tom Brokaw, Robin Roberts, Bob Simon, Charlie Rose, and Andy Rooney.