Retiring WFAA Sportscaster Dale Hansen Leaves Big Shoes To Fill

DALLAS, TX — Local legend and a familiar face to generations of fans, sports anchor Dale Hansen is calling it quits.

Hansen, a 38-year broadcast veteran, will step down from his TV reporting duties at WFAA-Channel 8 on Sept. 2, according to a statement issued by the station Tuesday.

In a taped video on the station's website, the 72-year old Hansen reflected, “There's an old proverb that says all good things must come to an end, and it's true, all good things do.”“I've been waiting 25 years for the Cowboys to win another Super Bowl and I can't wait anymore.”

When Hansen began at WFAA in 1983, Ronald Reagan was in the White House, parachute pants were in vogue and MTV played nothing but music videos. At the time, he also introduced what's become a staple of Sunday nights on WFAA, “Dale Hansen’s Sports Special.”

What made Hansen's career so rich was his versatility as a reporter. Sure, he was he a presence at two NBA Finals, a pair of World Series, three Stanley Cup Finals and three DFW teams' appearances at the Super Bowl. But he also won recognition after revealing SMU's pay-to-play scandal —which resulted in a year-long suspension in 1987 known as "the death penalty.

He also stepped out of the role that has traditionally kept sportscasters to regurgitating scores and showing highlight reels. He's used his "Unplugged" platform to take on topics ranging from "taking a knee" during the National Anthem and gun violence. Some of those moments went viral, leading The Washington Post to conclude in 2018 that "Sports broadcaster Dale Hansen, ‘a fat, white guy in a deep red state,’ is an unlikely liberal hero."

Over the last year, Hansen appeared from his Waxahachie back porch.

A native of Iowa, Hansen began his career in radio. By the early '80s, he was making a name for himself in Dallas, first at KDFW-Channel 4, but by 1983, he relocated to WFAA.

According to an online statement, the station's general manager and WFAA President Brad Ramsey said, “For more than 38 years Dale Hansen has informed and entertained our audience like no other, and we are forever grateful for his dedication to our team and to the North Texas community."

Sports fans will likely miss him the most, because in a role that calls for being nondescript, Hansen always stood out. "From major breaking sports news, to powerful investigations, to standing up for human rights," Ramsey concluded, "Dale forged an unprecedented path and became so much more than a sports anchor. There will simply never be another Dale Hansen.”