Hansen's annual "Thank God for Kids" Christmas video/commentary includes revelation that he was sexually assaulted as a child
12/19/11 02:23 PM
By ED BARK
One never knows in what direction WFAA8 sports anchor Dale Hansen might take his annual "Thank God For Kids" Christmas commentary, tied to the Oak Ridge Boys' song of the same name.
Three years ago, Hansen talked very personally about his fractured relationships with his own two grown children. He repeatedly lashed himself for being an absentee father who tried to compensate by spending lavishly on them. But he also told viewers that if his children found themselves in a homeless center, "my son would be the one at the table complaining about the quality of the soup. And my daughter would be complaining that he had a bigger bowl than she did."
For his 30th anniversary "Thank God For Kids" commentary, delivered after Sunday's late night newscast, Hansen began by talking about the Penn State University sexual abuse scandal and how the shamed victims invariably tend to "stay hidden in the darkness."
"We all know somebody," he added. "You might not think you do, but I know you do. Because you all know me."
Hansen then said he had been victimized as a 10-year-old while living in a small Iowa town that he called "the Mayberry of the Midwest." A 16-year-old coaxed him to take a bike ride to a baseball field located on the "edge of town." It turned out that no one else was there, and the older boy "then started what Sandusky (accused former Penn State football defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky) would describe as horsing around until he threw me to the ground and pulled at my pants."
"He had my pants below my knees before he decided to let me go," Hansen said. "And I don't know why."
His assailant may have been "afraid of my dad, because in my hometown, everybody was," Hansen speculated.
He never told anybody about the incident, Hansen said, because even then he knew that "no one talks about the sexual abuse of a child, and maybe it's time that we do."
He also wondered, "How many lives did that monster ruin because I didn't tell?"
Hansen said it all happened 53 years ago, and that he can still pinpoint the exact location in the park.
His voice quavered slightly several times during the commentary, which ended with Hansen telling viewers that "the innocence of a child is worth talking about, and that's why I choose to talk about it tonight."
Here's the commentary in its entirety, including the video in which Hansen can be seen at the end with his own young kids. It's been playing on WFAA8 since 1982.
One never knows in what direction WFAA8 sports anchor Dale Hansen might take his annual "Thank God For Kids" Christmas commentary, tied to the Oak Ridge Boys' song of the same name.
Three years ago, Hansen talked very personally about his fractured relationships with his own two grown children. He repeatedly lashed himself for being an absentee father who tried to compensate by spending lavishly on them. But he also told viewers that if his children found themselves in a homeless center, "my son would be the one at the table complaining about the quality of the soup. And my daughter would be complaining that he had a bigger bowl than she did."
For his 30th anniversary "Thank God For Kids" commentary, delivered after Sunday's late night newscast, Hansen began by talking about the Penn State University sexual abuse scandal and how the shamed victims invariably tend to "stay hidden in the darkness."
"We all know somebody," he added. "You might not think you do, but I know you do. Because you all know me."
Hansen then said he had been victimized as a 10-year-old while living in a small Iowa town that he called "the Mayberry of the Midwest." A 16-year-old coaxed him to take a bike ride to a baseball field located on the "edge of town." It turned out that no one else was there, and the older boy "then started what Sandusky (accused former Penn State football defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky) would describe as horsing around until he threw me to the ground and pulled at my pants."
"He had my pants below my knees before he decided to let me go," Hansen said. "And I don't know why."
His assailant may have been "afraid of my dad, because in my hometown, everybody was," Hansen speculated.
He never told anybody about the incident, Hansen said, because even then he knew that "no one talks about the sexual abuse of a child, and maybe it's time that we do."
He also wondered, "How many lives did that monster ruin because I didn't tell?"
Hansen said it all happened 53 years ago, and that he can still pinpoint the exact location in the park.
His voice quavered slightly several times during the commentary, which ended with Hansen telling viewers that "the innocence of a child is worth talking about, and that's why I choose to talk about it tonight."
Here's the commentary in its entirety, including the video in which Hansen can be seen at the end with his own young kids. It's been playing on WFAA8 since 1982.