Dale Hansen Wiki

This is what you need to know about the WFAA weeknight sports anchor, Dale Hansen. He is the 10 pm newscast on ABC’s Dallas affiliate WFAA. Hansen also hosts Dale Hansen’s Sports Special on Sundays at 10:35 pm. The show has been consistently one of the highest-rated local programs in Dallas-Fort Worth. He also serves as the WFAA Sports Director.

Dale Hansen Biography

Hansen started his career as a radio disc jockey and operations manager at KCOB in Newton, Iowa, covering the Newton Cardinals and the Newton Nite Hawks. Later he went to Knoxville, Iowa to KNIA radio as News Director. After that Hansen moved to Saint Cloud, Minnesota to KCLD radio.

After that Hansen joined a radio station he grew up listening to, KOIL in Omaha, Nebraska. Still in Omaha, Hansen took a job as a sports reporter at KMTV. He then took his first television job in Dallas at KDFW, which at the time was CBS’s Dallas affiliate. Hansen left KDFW in 1983 and joined WFAA Hansen.

In 1986, Hansen made his reputation 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. His reporting ultimately led to the NCAA canceling the Mustangs’ 1987 season—the so-called “death penalty.” Hansen’s reporting of the scandal garnered him a Peabody Award for distinguished journalism, a duPont-Columbia Award, and several death threats.

Hansen became known both nationally and even internationally in recent years when his commentaries on matters like racism and domestic violence were circulated widely on YouTube. A 2015 profile of him at the now-defunct Grantland site noted that many viewers assumed Hansen was a former conservative, when in fact he has been politically liberal his entire adult life and his views have often clashed with the mostly-conservative Dallas fan base of the Cowboys and Mavericks.

Dale Hansen Age

Dale Hansen was born on August 2, 1948, in, Logan, IA, United States. 

Dale Hansen Height

Hansen stands at a height of 5 Feet and 6 Inches (Approx) .

Dale Hansen Wife

Hansen is married to Chris Dallas for decades now. The two are blessed with two children, a boy, and a girl. His son Eric was a golf pro once. Hansen also has an ex-wife but details about her are not known..

Dale Hansen Salary

Hansen receives an approximated annual salary of $79k, for his position as a WFAA sportscaster.

Dale Hansen Net Worth

Hansen has an approximated net worth of between $100K – $250K U.S dollars. His career as a sportscaster is the primary source of his income.

Dale Hansen Thank God for Kids

Hansen has had a segment during “Sports Special” on the Sunday of the week before Christmas since 1983. Hansen 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. At the end is young Hansen with his own children. The video is played to “Thank God for Kids” by The Oak Ridge Boys. In 2011, he used the segment to admit he was a victim of sexual abuse as a child, in hopes that it would convince others to come forward.

Dale Hansen Scholar-Athlete of the Week

Since 1988, each week Hansen introduces his scholar-athlete of the week, a high school senior or recent high school graduate who excels in sports and also in the classroom. McDonald’s then donates $250 (formerly $100) to the school in honor of the student.

Dale Hansen Gay players in the NFL

Hansen delivered a commentary in a February 2014 supporting NFL draft candidate Michael Sam coming out as a gay man. He contrasted Sam’s homosexuality making players “uncomfortable”, with criminal activity by other NFL players which is routinely condoned, and likened contemporary discomfort with gay players to white athletes’ and fans’ past discomfort with black players. Hansen concluded saying, “I’m not always comfortable when a man tells me he is gay; I don’t understand his world. But I do understand that he is part of mine.”

Dale Hansen Awards

Hansen has won many awards in his career, including four-time Texas Sportscaster of the Year by the National Sportscasters, two-time Sportscaster of the Year by the Associated Press, and Sportswriters Association, Best Sportscaster by the United Press International and Dallas Press Club, TV Personality of the Year by American Women in Radio and Television, and Best Investigative Reporter by the Iowa Associated Press. Dale was named Communicator of the year by the National Speech and Debate Association in 2019.