#MediaMonday – Dale Hellestrae

The football season is upon us!  Today’s #MediaMonday comes to us from the press box.  Every Friday night during the high school football season, Dale Hellestrae can be seen during COX YurView’s prep football broadcasts as the color analyst.  He can also be heard each weekday morning from 7- 9 a.m. on NBC Sports Radio AM 1060 — Dale Hellestrae and The Angry Fan.  On top of that, he’s a color analyst for College Football on Westwood One.

Dale, time to share:

I’m a Phoenix native.  I attended Saguaro High School before going to Southern Methodist University.  I was fortunate enough to go on to play 17 years in the National Football League as a long-snapper, four with Buffalo, one with the Raiders, 11 with Dallas and one with Baltimore,  and was a part of three Super Bowl winning teams with the Dallas Cowboys.

My most memorable pro football moment was beating San Francisco at Candlestick Park to go to our first Super Bowl.
During my career playing I got to know John Madden and Pat Summerall very well because they did so many of our games in Dallas.  I asked them how to break into broadcasting and FOX sent me to broadcast games for NFL Europe in the spring of 1997.  I have been doing TV and radio since then.

I was fortunate to have been able to spend a month in Europe for five straight years and to call the Alabama vs. Texas A & M game in Tuscaloosa in which Johnny Manzeil and Texas A & M burst on the scene.
Arizona high school football has grown so much over the years.  It’s cool to see schools like Ohio State, Alabama and Oklahoma come to Arizona to recruit.  In 1980, there were about 5-10 guys that got D-1 scholarships – this year there will be more than 150.
When I’m not working I love to golf and travel.  We have a close-knit family and spending time with them is important.

A couple fun facts:  my favorite restaurants are Ajo Al’s and Maestro’s and far and away my favorite music is country.

You can follow me on Twitter at @helly7070.