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

sports announcer In sports broadcasting, a sports commentator (also known as a sports announcer or sportscaster) provides a real-time live commentary of a game or event, traditionally delivered in the present tense. There are two main types of sports broadcast ...

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 name originates from Fox Broadcasting Company in the United States, which in turn derives its name from Fox Fi ...

and the

UFC The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) is an American mixed martial arts (MMA) promotion company based in Las Vegas, Nevada. It is owned and operated by TKO Group Holdings, a majority owned subsidiary of Endeavor Group Holdings. The larg ...

. 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 of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC South, South division. They play the ...

preseason games and college football games on Fox. He was a sports anchor for

WRC-TV WRC-TV (channel 4) is a television station in Washington, D.C., serving as the market's NBC outlet. It is owned and operated by the network's NBC Owned Television Stations division alongside Class A television service, Class A Telemundo outlet W ...

, an NBC affiliate in

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

Early life

Hellie was born in

Manila Manila, officially the City of Manila, is the Capital of the Philippines, capital and second-most populous city of the Philippines after Quezon City, with a population of 1,846,513 people in 2020. Located on the eastern shore of Manila Bay on ...

Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...

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

University of Tennessee The University of Tennessee, Knoxville (or The University of Tennessee; UT; UT Knoxville; or colloquially UTK or Tennessee) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Knoxville, Tennessee, United St ...

, where he was a member of the

Phi Gamma Delta Phi Gamma Delta (), commonly known as Phi Gam and sometimes written as FIJI, is a North American social fraternity with 139 active chapters and 13 colonies across the United States and Canada. It was founded at Jefferson College, Pennsylvania ...

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. The population was 14,335 as of the 2020 census. I-94 passes through Alexandria, along with Minnesota State Highways 27 and 29. It is south of Lake ...

, 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 metropol ...

, 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 as an affiliate of ABC and The CW. It is owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group, which ...

. After two years, Hellie moved to

Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...

, first working in

West Palm Beach West Palm Beach is a city in and the county seat of Palm Beach County, Florida, United States. It is located immediately to the west of the adjacent Palm Beach, Florida, Palm Beach, which is situated on a barrier island across the Lake Worth Lag ...

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 also p ...

then, in 2003, as sports director at

WFTV WFTV (channel 9) is a television station in Orlando, Florida, United States, affiliated with American Broadcasting Company, ABC. It is owned by Cox Media Group alongside WRDQ (channel 27), an independent station. The two stations share studios ...

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 not-for-profit organization, not-for-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association, and produces news reports that are dist ...

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 bucking, buck off the rider. American bull riding has been called "the most dangerous eight seconds in sports." ...

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'' was a television news program on the NFL Network. The network treated it as the league's "show of record" and billed it as the only year-round show dedicated to the National Football League, despite the ESPN show '' NFL Live ...

'' with

Lindsay Rhodes Lindsay Rhodes (born February 25, 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 Tor ...

(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. 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), better known by his stage name Snoop Dogg (previously Snoop Doggy Dogg), is an American rapper, record producer, and actor. Rooted in West Coast hip-hop, he is widely regarded as one of t ...

and UFC Hall of Fame Inductee

Urijah Faber Urijah Christopher Faber ( ; born May 14, 1979) is an American former mixed martial artist and actor. He competed in the bantamweight and featherweight divisions of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). He is the founder of Team Alpha Male ...

on the series. 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 Daniel Ryan Cormier (; born March 20, 1979) is an American former professional mixed martial artist, freestyle wrestler, and current color commentator for the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). As a former UFC Light Heavyweight and Heavyweig ...

and a special guest analyst. Hellie also calls college basketball on Fox. Since March 2023, Hellie has hosted all

Power Slap Power Slap is an American slap fighting promotion company owned by Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) chief executive officer Dana White. Power Slap first gained notoriety by producing a reality television show titled ''Power Slap: Road t ...

slap-fighting events alongside

Michael Bisping Michael Gavin Joseph Bisping (; born 28 February 1979) is an English former mixed martial artist, sports commentator, analyst, and actor. He competed in the middleweight and light heavyweight divisions of the Ultimate Fighting Championship ( ...

Personal life

Hellie resides in

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

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

commencement speech In the United States, 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 ...

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 NFL announcers Television anchors from Washington, D.C. 1975 births American television sports anchors Mass media 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