Dan Hellie (born May 23, 1975) is an American

sports announcer In sports broadcasting, a sports commentator (also known as sports announcer or sportscaster) provides a real-time commentary of a game or event, usually during a live broadcast, traditionally delivered in the historical present tense. Radio was ...

for

Fox Sports Fox Sports is the brand name for a number of sports channels, broadcast divisions, programming, and other media around the world. The ''Fox Sports'' name has since been used for other sports media assets. These assets are held mainly by the Fo ...

and the

NFL Network NFL Network (occasionally abbreviated on-air as NFLN) is an American sports-oriented pay television network owned by the National Football League (NFL) and is part of NFL Media, which also includes NFL.com, NFL Films, NFL Mobile, NFL Now and NFL ...

. Hellie can also be seen on Dana White's UFC Tuesday Night Contender Series,

Tennessee Titans The Tennessee Titans are a professional American football team based in Nashville, Tennessee. The Titans compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) South division, and play their h ...

preseason games and Facebook's streaming college football games. He was a sports anchor for

WRC-TV WRC-TV (channel 4) is a television station in Washington, D.C., airing programming from the NBC network. It is owned-and-operated station, owned and operated by the network's NBC Owned Television Stations division alongside Class A television se ...

, an NBC affiliate in

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

Early life

Hellie was born in

Manila Manila ( , ; fil, Maynila, ), officially the City of Manila ( fil, Lungsod ng Maynila, ), is the capital of the Philippines, and its second-most populous city. It is highly urbanized and, as of 2019, was the world's most densely populate ...

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

, where his parents were stationed while in the Peace Corps. Hellie moved to Shoshone, Idaho until he was in fourth grade, then to Gaithersburg, Maryland. His mother was a middle school teacher for Montgomery County and his father worked at the Interior Department. He attended

Magruder High School Col. Zadok Magruder High School (#510) is a secondary public school located in Rockville ( Montgomery County), Maryland, United States. Magruder is named for Colonel Zadok Magruder, a Revolutionary War patriot and farmer. He was colonel in comman ...

, where he played football, basketball and baseball. Hellie attended the

University of Tennessee The University of Tennessee (officially The University of Tennessee, Knoxville; or UT Knoxville; UTK; or UT) is a public land-grant research university in Knoxville, Tennessee. Founded in 1794, two years before Tennessee became the 16th state, ...

, where he was a member of the

Phi Gamma Delta Phi Gamma Delta (), commonly known as Fiji, is a social fraternity with more than 144 active chapters and 10 colonies across the United States and Canada. It was founded at Jefferson College, Pennsylvania, in 1848. Along with Phi Kappa Psi, Phi ...

fraternity. He earned a bachelor's degree in broadcast journalism. In 2014, Hellie was awarded the

Alumni Promise Award.

Early career

Hellie began his career in

Alexandria, Minnesota Alexandria is a city in and the county seat of Douglas County, Minnesota, United States. First settled in 1858, it was named after brothers Alexander and William Kinkead from Maryland. The form of the name alludes to Alexandria, Egypt, a center ...

, as an editor, producer and reporter. After nine months, he moved to

Florence, South Carolina Florence is a city in and the county seat of Florence County, South Carolina, United States. It lies at the intersection of Interstates 20 and 95 and is the eastern terminus of the former. It is the primary city within the Florence metropolit ...

, as a sports reporter-anchor for

WPDE WPDE-TV (channel 15) is a television station licensed to Florence, South Carolina, United States, serving the Pee Dee and Grand Strand regions of South Carolina and affiliated with ABC and The CW. It is owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group, which al ...

. After two years, Hellie moved to

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

, first working in

West Palm Beach West or Occident is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sunset, Sun sets on the Earth. Etymology The word "west" is a Germanic languages, German ...

WPTV WPTV-TV (channel 5) is a television station in West Palm Beach, Florida, United States, affiliated with NBC. It is owned by the E. W. Scripps Company alongside Stuart-licensed news-formatted independent station WHDT (channel 9); Scripps al ...

then, in 2003, as sports director at

WFTV WFTV (channel 9) is a television station in Orlando, Florida, United States, affiliated with ABC. It is owned by Cox Media Group alongside independent station WRDQ (channel 27). Both stations share studios on East South Street (SR 15) in downto ...

in Orlando. While at WFTV, Hellie where voted best sportscaster in Florida by the Associated Press and most popular sportscaster by the Orlando Sentinel. In 2005, he was named best sportscaster in Florida. Hellie received an

Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. newspa ...

award for best feature story for a segment he did on

bull riding Bull riding is a rodeo sport that involves a rider getting on a bucking bull and attempting to stay mounted while the animal tries to buck off the rider. American bull riding has been called "the most dangerous eight seconds in sports." To recei ...

in which he rode a bull for eight seconds. In July 2006, Hellie moved to

in Washington D.C. area where he served as an anchor-reporter. In 2011, Hellie was awarded Emmys for Outstanding Sports Anchor and Outstanding Sports Daily or Weekly Programs. Hellie hosted the ''Redskins Coaches Show''.

Current career

Hellie works for the NFL Network, where he co-anchors the flagship show ''

NFL Total Access ''NFL Total Access'' is a television news program on the NFL Network. The network treats it as the league's "show of record" and bills it as the only year-round show dedicated to the National Football League, despite the ESPN show '' NFL Live'' r ...

'' with

Lindsay Rhodes Lindsay Rhodes (born December 31, 1976), previously known as Lindsay Soto, is an American sportscaster, journalist, and television personality who was a host and reporter for the NFL Network. Biography Lindsay Overman-Soto graduated from El Toro ...

(2018) . Hellie has contributed to several segments nominated for Emmy awards nominations on ''NFL Total Access'', including Emmys for Outstanding Studio Show-Daily and the Shorty Award for Best Social Integration with Live Television. Willie McGinest, Dan Hellie and Michael Robinson

Willie McGinest, Dan Hellie and Michael Robinson

Hellie is the play-by-play announcer for

preseason games with fellow NFL Network analyst Charles Davis. He also calls NFL games for FOX. Hellie regularly calls CFB games for FOX as well. On July 11, 2017, Hellie joined former UFC Lightweight Yves Edwards to launch Dana White's Tuesday Night Contender series which aired digitally on UFC Fight Pass. Hellie teamed with

Snoop Dogg Calvin Cordozar Broadus Jr. (born October 20, 1971), known professionally as Snoop Dogg (previously Snoop Doggy Dogg and briefly Snoop Lion), is an American rapper. His fame dates back to 1992 when he featured on Dr. Dre's debut solo single, " ...

and UFC Hall of Fame Inductee

Urijah Faber Urijah Faber (born May 14, 1979) is an American mixed martial artist and actor who is signed to the Ultimate Fighting Championship. He competed as a bantamweight and formerly competed as a featherweight. He is also the founder of Team Alpha Male, ...

on the series. Dan Hellie, Dana White and Yves Edwards

Hellie is the host of the UFC's official Weigh-In Show, which is done for most pay-per-view events. He is joined by Laura Sanko, Daniel Cormier and a special guest analyst. Hellie calls West Coast Conference college basketball games in Southern California.

Personal life

Hellie resides in

Manhattan Beach, California Manhattan Beach is a city in southwestern Los Angeles County, California, United States, on the Pacific Ocean, Pacific coast south of El Segundo, California, El Segundo, west of Hawthorne, California, Hawthorne and Redondo Beach, California, Red ...

, with his wife and their two children. In 2008, Hellie presented the

commencement speech A commencement speech or commencement address is a speech given to graduating students, generally at a university, although the term is also used for secondary education institutions and in similar institutions around the world. The commencement ...

at his alma mater, Magruder High School. Hellie was inducted into the Magruder Athletic Hall of Fame on October 26, 2012.

References

External links

*
Awkward Moments on TV with Dan Hellie

Mike Shanahan told Hellie prior to the 2015 season that Kirk Cousins would be a top 10 QB in the NFL
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hellie, Dan American television sports announcers University of Tennessee alumni Living people National Football League announcers Television anchors from Washington, D.C. 1975 births American television sports anchors People from Manila College football announcers People from Gaithersburg, Maryland People from Manhattan Beach, California Alliance of American Football announcers College basketball announcers in the United States