Dan Hicks, who called golf for NBC Sports for 26 years and handled play-by-play at 15 Olympic Games, died Wednesday at age 64, the network said Thursday.
His wife, Hannah Storm, a longtime NBC Sports and ESPN anchor, posted on X that the family was “heartbroken by the sudden and unexpected passing of Dan following an acute illness.” She called his loss “immeasurable.”
“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,” NBC Sports executives Rick Cordella, Sam Flood and Molly Solomon said in a statement.
Hicks joined NBC Sports in 1992 and became its lead golf voice in 2000. This fall was his seventh season as the Notre Dame football play-by-play voice, and over the years he also called NBA and NFL games and the French Open.
The calls people remember
Two of his calls never really left the highlight reels. When Tiger Woods sank the putt that forced a playoff at the 2008 U.S. Open, Hicks asked, “Expect anything different?” Two months later in Beijing, he called all eight of Michael Phelps’ gold-medal swims. He ended up calling every one of Phelps’ 28 Olympic medals, from 2004 through 2016.
Tributes came in Thursday from across golf and winter sports. The PGA Tour said Hicks “provided the soundtrack to some of golf’s most memorable moments” across three decades. The USGA called him “a true friend to the game and to the USGA.”
Hicks and Storm were married for more than 30 years. They had three daughters, Hannah, Ellery and Riley.