By Robert Williams

Editor

Becker County District 3 Commissioner Phil Hansen held a question and answer session at the Holmes Art Cellar in Detroit Lakes with the Community and Cultural Center’s ENGAGE group on Wednesday, Oct. 8. 

The opening half of the 80-minute presentation concentrated on Hansen’s professional football career beginning by growing up on a farm in Oakes, North Dakota to his recruitment to play at North Dakota State University and his career with the bison leading to his 11 seasons (1991-2002) with the Buffalo Bills.

Hansen was awarded a full-ride scholarship to play at NDSU, something that was necessary for his career to evolve.

“We grew up on a farm; we didn’t have any money to go to college and I wasn’t planning on going into debt; I was going to go into the service,” Hansen said. “It seemed like an opportunity and I took it.”

The second round draft pick played in three Super Bowls (1992-94) with the Bills and he was inducted into the Buffalo Bills’ Wall of Fame in 2011.

Hansen discussed his metamorphosis as a player from the high school to college transition and then as a rookie joining the Bills coming off a Super Bowl loss in a locker room stacked with future Hall of Fame players.

“I’m just a rookie from NDSU, a Division II college at the time; it was intimidating for all of us walking into that locker room,” said Hansen.

Hansen had many anecdotes from his time in the NFL like taking an elevator alone with Thurman Thomas the opening week of his time in Buffalo.

“I don’t think I took a breath until we got to the bottom floor…the doors opened to get to the locker room and he gets out and walks out of the elevator and turns back and looks at me and says, ‘You’re from North Dakota?’ and he walks away. I remember thinking he doesn’t know my name but he knows where I’m from, I guess that’s a good start,” Hansen said.

The two would go on to be good friends.

Hansen also discussed some of his most memorable games, including the then-largest comeback in NFL history against the Houston Oilers on January 3, 1993, when the Bills overcame a 35-3 deficit in the third quarter to win 41-38 in overtime of a wild card playoff game, a game famously known as “The Comeback,” led by backup quarterback Frank Reich.

A highlight reel of his career with the Bills from the Wall of Fame ceremony was shown before Hansen took questions from the audience.

He transitioned from the NFL to living in Detroit Lakes by discussing his family, including wife Dianna, originally from Dickinson, N.D., and their decision to move back to this area. The couple married in 1998 and had their first child, Hope, in 2001, and two more children Jillian and Ross.

“I would have stayed in Buffalo; I loved Buffalo,” Hansen said. “They do get more snow but it’s not as cold there as it is here.”

The Hansens decided on a lake house in Detroit Lakes on a temporary basis and then they would decide where to move from there.

“It just became home; Hope started in dance class and had made friends and we like Detroit Lakes,” he said. “There wasn’t really a plan to move back here. We like the area but we didn’t realize, at the time, that it was going to become home.

“Our kids all graduated from school here in Detroit Lakes; we’re empty nesters now; where does all that time go?” he continued. 

After retirement from the NFL, Hansen became a color commentator for NDSU football radio broadcasts, a referee of high school football and basketball games, and eventually joined local government as a Lakeview Township Supervisor.

Last November, Hansen ran for a county commissioner seat at the behest of outgoing Chairman and District 3 Commissioner John Okeson. Hansen won Okeson’s open seat and began on the board this past January.

“Way more work than I ever thought, especially if you want to do it right,” he said.

Hansen asked the audience trivia questions about Becker County to transition out of Q&A about the NFL, which likely could have kept on going with the captive audience.

He worked his way to recent issues like the preliminary levy increase of 9 percent that was set and explained what taxpayers get for their tax money like social programs, highway maintenance, solid waste disposal, the judicial system, planning and zoning, the Sheriff’s Department, etc.

“Two things that have become clear to me: number one, the state dictates a lot of stuff,” he said. We’re the front door. The state made some rules and we have to implement them. If they don’t give us money to do it, where do you think we get it? You. We call that an unfunded mandate. They pass a law and say we have to enforce it and we’re not going to give you any money to do it. The second thing is union contracts. We agreed to a contractual union contract…I’m not against unions or mandates but when you don’t fund them… I felt I had more control at a township level than I did at the county level.”

Union employees make up 86 percent of the county workforce.

Hansen discussed Wannigan Regional Park and highlighted its progress, including the new paved trail that is currently being completed.

The ENGAGE program offers wellness and opportunities for adults 50+, focusing on body, mind, and spirit. Wednesday’s event attracted 32 ENGAGE members. For more information visit www.dlccc.org/engage/