North Texas sports broadcasting legend Dale Hansen to retire after 38 years at WFAA

Stefan Stevenson
·3 min read

A North Texas broadcasting legend has announced his retirement.

WFAA/Ch. 8 sportscaster Dale Hansen, who has been in the business for 50 years, will retire from the local ABC affiliate on Sept. 2.

Hansen, who turns 73 on Aug. 2, has been a fixture in the Dallas/Fort Worth market since coming to Dallas in 1980. He worked at KDFW/Ch. 4 for two years before joining WFAA in March 1983.

He won the prestigious George Foster Peabody Award for Distinguished Journalism and the Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Award for his investigation into SMU’s football program in 1986 which eventually led to the team’s death penalty.

“There are great runs in media, and then there are those runs like the one @dalehansen is going to complete in Sept.,” Mavericks’ radio play-by-play man Chuck Cooperstein said on Twitter.

Mike Doocy, of KDFW/Ch. 4, saluted his long-time competition with a incredulous joke on social media.

“Nobody’s made his mark in DFW sports quite like you have,” Doocy said. “What a career! But I’ll believe this retirement BS when I see it.”

Hansen served as the Dallas Cowboys radio analyst alongside Brad Sham from 1985 to 1996.

In February 2014, Hansen’s commentary on openly gay NFL draft prospect Michael Sam went viral and landed him on the Ellen DeGeneres Show days later.

He again sparked massive interests after a commentary lambasting then President Trump’s attack on NFL players taking a knee as a form of social protests in 2017. The recognition resulted in a profile in The New York Times.

“There’s an old proverb that says all good things must come to an end, and it’s true, all good things do,” Hansen said in a WFAA release. “I’ve been waiting 25 years for the Cowboys to win another Super Bowl and I can’t wait anymore.”

The news drew a massive response from Hansen’s colleagues in North Texas and across the country.

“Congrats @dalehansen on a phenomenal career!” KTCK/1310 AM and 96.7 FM host Craig Miller said. “A true original. Sad for us that you’re retiring, but great for you. As you’ve told many who are heading to that next chapter: ‘Fairways and greens, my friend, fairways and greens.’”