I wanted to introduce myself as one of the new sportswriters for the Independent. My name is Dennis “Oscar” Hansen, but I have had the nickname “Oscar” for the last 60 years.

I was born and raised in Tyler, and I graduated from Tyler High School in 1968. I attended the University of Minnesota, Morris and was a member of the football and basketball teams.

The number of minutes I played per game probably didn’t match my GPA, but it allowed to meet several athletes from all over the state. In 1977, I started a 40-year career as a Financial Advisor with IDS (now Ameriprise) in Minneapolis. After selling my practice, I went to work as an Internal Wholesaler, working with Wells Fargo.

My wife, Dariel, is a Ruthton native. Last July, she had just finished 20 years at General Mills, so we decided to retire and move back to our house in Tyler that we built in 2001 on my Dad’s old garden spot. So I didn’t get very far in life, considering that our house is about 100 feet from where I grew up.

That house has turned into a Mini-Museum of Southwest Minn. sports, history and music.

We have 2 adult sons and 6 grandchildren but I have always been a huge sports fan, and I have dabbled in writing a few articles for the Tyler paper.

I have attended hundreds of sporting events in the area, mostly RTR games. That has given me the chance to meet several area coaches and athletes over the years. It is that passion for high school sports that has led me to sports writing.

I am thrilled to be able to continue this love of sports, and I look forward to meeting people from the area, as well as renewing old acquaintances. It should be a great opportunity to enlarge the coverage of many sporting events that are going on in the area.

When you see me on the sidelines, please come up and introduce yourself, I would enjoy meeting new friends.