Sportscaster Dan Hicks, who was the voice of golf, Olympic swimming and Notre Dame football during a 35-year career at NBC Sports, has died, his family and NBC announced Thursday. He was 64. Hicks died late Wednesday in Connecticut after an acute illness, according to his wife, Hannah Storm.
“Our family is heartbroken by the sudden and unexpected passing of Dan,” Storm, a longtime ESPN SportsCenter anchor, said in a statement. “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 family did not disclose a more specific cause of death beyond an acute illness, and the death was announced on Thursday morning.
Dan Hicks and 35 years at NBC Sports
Dan Hicks was born John Daniel Hicks on June 2, 1962, in Tucson, Arizona. He started in local television at KVOA-TV in Tucson from 1986 to 1989 before he moved to CNN, where he worked from 1989 to 1992. He joined NBC in 1992, and he was a tower announcer for NBC’s golf coverage from 1995 to 1999 before he took over as the lead voice in 2000, a role he held for 26 years. He moved into the top spot in 2000 after Dick Enberg left NBC for CBS. He was best known as the lead announcer for golf, as well as swimming and skiing at the Olympics and Notre Dame football.
Dan Hicks and the Notre Dame booth
Dan Hicks had called Notre Dame games since 2013, and Saturday’s game against Boston College in South Bend, Indiana, was next on his schedule. Hicks had been scheduled to call the game alongside analyst Jason Garrett. It would have been his seventh season as the Fighting Irish play-by-play voice. His wife graduated from Notre Dame in 1983. He took over as the play-by-play commentator for Notre Dame football on NBC in 2013 and returned to the role in 2024, serving in that capacity until his death. Notre Dame athletic director Pete Bevacqua said Hicks was a fixture on campus and in the broadcast booth as one of the great voices for Notre Dame football, and a dear friend over the course of the last quarter century.
The calls that defined Dan Hicks
Hicks was on the call for 27 tournament victories by Tiger Woods, including three at the U.S. Open. The USGA said Hicks worked 27 U.S. Opens, including 22 as the lead play-by-play announcer. He also called 23 U.S. Women’s Opens, and he called regional NFL games on NBC from 1992 to 1997, five French Opens and some NBA coverage from 1992 to 2000. NBC golf commentator Roger Maltbie said Hicks was terrific at passing the ball around on a broadcast, and that he always had a question and always got his partners engaged. The PGA Tour said, “Across three decades, Dan Hicks provided the soundtrack to some of golf’s most memorable moments.”
Dan Hicks anchored NBC’s weekend coverage at TPC Sawgrass for three decades, where he was a fixture at the Players Championship. He also called the Open Championship, the Ryder Cup and the Presidents Cup, and he worked alongside two-time major champion Johnny Miller for nearly two decades.
At the Olympics, Hicks called swimming and skiing for NBC across several Games, and he was part of the network’s coverage of the 2024 Paris Olympics. His work at the Paris Games won a Sports Emmy in the Outstanding Live Special, Championship Event category.
One of NBC’s most versatile Olympic announcers
Hicks worked a total of 16 Olympics, nine Summer and seven Winter, with his first the 1992 Barcelona Games as a host for the Olympic triplecast. He called swimming at the Olympics eight times with Rowdy Gaines, and the duo chronicled Michael Phelps’ eight gold medals at the 2008 Beijing Games and Katie Ledecky’s 14 medals across four Olympics from 2012 to 2024. He was on the call for alpine skiing for the last four Winter Games as well as speed skating in 2002, 2006 and 2010.
NBC Sports said in a statement, “Dan Hicks was an extraordinary colleague, friend and person. 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.” The network added that Hicks had been a fixture in golf broadcasting since he joined NBC in 1992.
Dan Hicks, a native of Tucson, Arizona, is survived by Storm, his wife of 32 years, and their three daughters Hannah, Ellery and Riley. Storm announced the death in a statement posted to social media, and NBC Sports announced it on Thursday morning. No further details about the illness were immediately released.