The career of Dan Hicks calls to mind that of another outstanding broadcaster, Verne Lundquist. Both spent decades at their respective networks — Lundquist at CBS and Hicks at NBC. Both are responsible for some of the most memorable calls in recent sports television history. Think of Lundquist’s iconic call of the ending of the game now known as “Kick Six.” Think of Hicks’ passionate call of the United States’ come-from-behind win in the men’s 4×100-meter freestyle relay at the 2008 Summer Olympics.
Yet for much of their tenures, both men flew a bit under the radar. Steady, dependable and distinctive, Lundquist and Hicks could always be trusted to give a major event the polish and gravitas it deserved. But at times, it seemed the networks for which they worked consistently chose other voices to handle more prestigious assignments.
Lundquist, now 86, is still around to hear the tributes and to receive the appreciation he richly deserves. Sadly, and suddenly, Hicks is not. His passing at the age of 64 has shaken the industry. Still at the top of his game, Hicks was scheduled to call this weekend’s Boston College-Notre Dame broadcast on NBC.
Costas. Enberg. Albert. Hammond. Michaels. Tirico. Over the course of Hicks’ 34 years at NBC, those five names stood tall like mighty sequoias. Yet, Hicks became a legend in his own way, blending uninhibited passion with understated brilliance.
In an on-air tribute, longtime colleague and friend Jimmy Roberts captured that brilliance, “Plenty of people will come along in the next few days and weeks to tell you how good a broadcaster he was. No matter what any of them say, it will never do justice to his immense talent. He’ll never get the credit he deserves because he never made it about himself.” Never pretentious, never too syrupy, always authentic, Hicks was the constant and consummate professional.
Before the year 2000, Hicks’ NBC career could be best described as nondescript. He’d worked on lower-tier NFL and NBA games and was a tower announcer for the network’s golf coverage. But when Dick Enberg left NBC for CBS, Hicks was tabbed as the network’s new lead golf announcer — just in time to call Tiger Woods’ commanding 15-stroke victory at the U.S. Open. To this day, it’s considered by many the most dominant performance in golf history.
Eight years later, Woods claimed his third U.S. Open title while playing on a torn ACL and two stress fractures in his left tibia. As he sank a 12-foot birdie putt to force a playoff against Rocco Mediate, Hicks delivered the now famous line, “Expect anything different?”
As the years passed, Hicks became a familiar voice for historic moments, calling every one of Michael Phelps’ 28 Olympic medal performances.
Hicks was there in January 2014, lending his voice to the improbable as the Indianapolis Colts erased a 38–10 deficit to stun the Kansas City Chiefs in an AFC Wild Card thriller.
And he was there a decade later, when Northern Illinois toppled fifth-ranked Notre Dame, giving voice to one of college football’s most stunning upsets in recent memory.
The biggest moments have a way of finding the voices worthy of them. For three decades, across multiple sports, Dan Hicks gave greatness its soundtrack. His legacy will live on in the moments he helped make indelible, calling them with a storyteller’s gift for language and a fan’s undiminished sense of wonder.
