Dan Hicks, NBC's Voice of Golf and Olympic Swimming, Dies at 64
Dan Hicks, the NBC Sports broadcaster whose voice was tied to golf, Olympic swimming and Notre Dame football, has died. He was 64.
His family and NBC announced the death on Thursday. The Guardian reported that he died late on Wednesday in Connecticut. His wife, Hannah Storm, said he died of an acute illness, meaning one that comes on suddenly and severely. Storm is an ESPN broadcaster. Hicks is survived by her and their three daughters.
Hicks spent 35 years at NBC Sports. He joined the network in 1992, after three years at CNN. Over that time he became one of the most familiar voices in American sports television, moving between events that rarely shared a season.
In golf, he was on the call for 27 tournament wins by Tiger Woods, including three at the US Open. For anyone who watched those Sunday afternoons, his commentary was part of the scene, the steady voice that carried the final holes.
He was just as well known in the swimming pool. He worked 16 Olympic Games in total, beginning with the 1992 Barcelona Games, where he was a host for NBC's Olympic coverage. He called swimming at eight of those Games alongside Rowdy Gaines. He also chronicled Michael Phelps's eight gold medals at the 2008 Beijing Games, and Katie Ledecky's 14 medals across four Olympics.
College football was another strand of his career. Hicks called Notre Dame games from 2013 to 2016, then returned in 2024. This season was his seventh calling the Fighting Irish. He was scheduled to call Notre Dame's game against Boston College on Saturday.
Earlier in his career, he called regional NFL games on NBC from 1992 to 1997. He also covered five French Opens and NBA games from 1992 to 2000. Few broadcasters move easily between tennis clay, pool decks, golf greens and football stadiums. Hicks did so for decades.
For many viewers, the news will land most sharply in the places where he was heard most often: a final round on a Sunday, a close race in the pool, or a Saturday afternoon game in South Bend. His death leaves a gap in all three.
