Dale Hellestrae

Dale Robert Hellestrae (born July 11, 1962) is a former American football offensive lineman in the National Football League for the Buffalo Bills, the Dallas Cowboys, and the Baltimore Ravens. A member of three Dallas Cowboys Super Bowl teams, the 6-foot-5, 300-pound offensive lineman specialized as a long snapper and special teams player during his professional career.

Early years

Hellestrae was born in Phoenix, Arizona, as a descendant of Norwegian immigrants; his first name Dale is the name of the area his ancestors came from (Dale, Hordaland), and his second name Hellestrae (Norwegian:Hellestræ) is his ancestors' farm's name.

He attended Saguaro High School in Scottsdale, Arizona, where he was an all-state selection in football. After high school he spent one year at the Marine Military Academy.

He accepted a scholarship to play at Southern Methodist University (SMU), where he was a two-year starter and earned All-Southwest Conference honors as a senior, while playing offensive tackle.

Professional career

Buffallo Bills

Hellestrae was selected in the fourth round (112th overall) of the 1985 NFL Draft by the Buffalo Bills. During his four seasons with the team, he could only play in 28 games because of injury problems.^[1] 1988 was his most productive season, when he started at right guard in the final two regular season games and in two playoff games.^[2]

Los Angeles Raiders

On February 23, 1989, he was signed in Plan B free agency by the Los Angeles Raiders,^[3] but spent all of the season on the injured reserve list after breaking a bone in his left leg during training camp.^[4] On August 20, 1990, he was traded to the Dallas Cowboys in exchange for a seventh round draft choice (#180-Tripp Welborne).^[5]

Dallas Cowboys

The Dallas Cowboys acquired him with the intention of concentrating on playing long snapper in all of the special teams units and to back up the guard and center positions.^[6] During his time with the team he quickly became one of the best long snappers in the NFL and in team history.^[7]

In the 1990s, the Cowboys organization felt they could find placekickers and punters through free agency, without the need of paying a premium and adversely impacting the salary cap, so they allowed talented and productive players to leave, instead of signing them into long-term contracts. In his 11 seasons playing with the Cowboys, he had to snap for eight different placekickers and seven punters, while helping the team win 3 Super Bowls.

On March 1, 2001, he was released because of salary cap implications.^[8] At the time he was second in franchise history with 176 consecutive games played, behind Bob Lilly.

Baltimore Ravens

On January 3, 2002, he was signed by the Baltimore Ravens as a free agent to fill in for injured rookie Joe Maese.^[9] He played in one regular season game and in two playoff games. He wasn't re-signed at the end of the season.

Personal life

Hellestrae works as a color analyst on professional and NCAA football games, particularly for College Football on Versus, as well as often guest hosting on XTRA Sports 910's (KGME) morning show with Mike Jurecki. Dale is also the color analyst for Arizona Rattlers and High School Football on Cox7.^[10] He also appears as a guest analyst on "Sports Tonight" on KPNX, Channel 12, in Phoenix with co-hosts Kevin Hunt and Bruce Cooper. He is now the owner of Cookies By Design , custom cookie boquet delivery, in the Scottsdale area.

References