Dan Hicks, the NBC Sports announcer who was the lead voice of the network's golf coverage for 26 years and called Olympic swimming for decades, died Wednesday, Nov. 11, after an acute illness. He was 64.
His wife, the sportscaster Hannah Storm, announced the death in a family statement she posted on Thursday. "Our family is heartbroken by the sudden and unexpected passing of Dan following an acute illness," she wrote. "He was a devoted husband of over 30 years, loving father to our three daughters, and cherished friend to so many. His loss is immeasurable." The USGA, whose championships he called for NBC, also confirmed the Nov. 11 date.
The family has not given more detail about the illness. No funeral or memorial plans had been announced as of Thursday morning.
From Tucson to NBC
Hicks was born in Tucson, Arizona, on June 2, 1962, and graduated from the University of Arizona in 1984, according to his biography). He worked in local radio and as a weekend sports anchor at a Tucson TV station, then joined CNN in Atlanta in 1989. He met Storm there, and they married in 1994.
NBC hired him in 1992. In his first years there he called NFL games through 1998 and NBA games in the late 1990s. Notre Dame football came later, and in 2019 he added the French Open. On golf broadcasts he started as a tower announcer and moved into the lead play-by-play chair in 2000.
The calls fans remember
Two of his best-known calls came in the same summer. At the 2008 U.S. Open, he called the putt Tiger Woods made on the final hole to force a playoff. That August at the Beijing Olympics, he was on the microphone with analyst Rowdy Gaines when the U.S. men came from behind to win the 4x100-meter freestyle relay, part of Michael Phelps' run to eight gold medals.
Swimming was his longest Olympic assignment, with Gaines beside him starting in 1996. He also called speed skating at three Winter Games and alpine skiing at two more. In golf, he worked alongside analyst Johnny Miller for nearly two decades.
Three NBC Sports executives, Rick Cordella, Sam Flood and Molly Solomon, released a joint statement Thursday. "Dan Hicks was an extraordinary colleague, friend and person," they said. "In his 34 years at NBC Sports, he was an exceptional storyteller and caller of games and events who elevated some of the biggest moments in sports history."
They sent condolences to Storm and to the couple's daughters, Hannah, Ellery and Riley.
NBC has not said who will take over as the lead voice of its golf coverage.
