Dan Hicks, the sportscaster whose voice carried golf, Olympic swimming and Notre Dame football into living rooms for 35 years at NBC Sports, has died. His family and NBC announced the news Thursday. He was 64.

The Dan Hicks death came without warning. He died late Wednesday in Connecticut of an acute illness, according to his wife, Hannah Storm.

A Family’s Heartbreak

“Our family is heartbroken by the sudden and unexpected passing of Dan,” Storm 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.”

She painted him as a human magnet. “Dan was truly one of a kind and, quite simply, the person everyone wanted to be around,” she said. When he entered a room, she added, he brought the energy, the laughter and the people together. “He was endlessly kind, thoughtful and funny, and he made everyone feel like they mattered.”

From CNN to NBC’s Biggest Stages

Hicks was best known as lead announcer for golf, Olympic swimming and skiing, and Notre Dame football. He landed at NBC in 1992 after three years at CNN.

Longevity in television is rare, and he knew it. “I’m incredibly lucky to stay at one place this long,” he said in an Associated Press interview in September. It takes a lot of things going your way, he explained, including NBC keeping the properties he worked on. “So lots of variables, lots of things that can happen in your career. But I think I appreciate it more and more the longer it’s been.”

The Man Behind the Golf Microphone

Golf was his first love. Hicks was on the call for 27 tournament victories by Tiger Woods, three of them at the U.S. Open. He started as a tower announcer from 1995 to 1999, then took over as the lead voice in 2000.

NBC golf commentator Roger Maltbie compared him to a floor general. “He was a great quarterback, a point guard,” Maltbie said. “If you listen to his broadcast, to me he was terrific at passing the ball around.” Hicks always came armed with a question, Maltbie added, and always kept his partners engaged. “That’s a big part of the job.”

Tributes From Golf’s Biggest Institutions

Hicks called 27 U.S. Opens and 23 U.S. Women’s Opens. USGA CEO Mike Whan said in a statement that Hicks was a true friend to the game and to the USGA, but more importantly, a wonderful person whose warmth, generosity and friendship touched everyone fortunate enough to know him.

He also called the Ryder Cup, the British Open and PGA Tour events, including The Players Championship. The PGA Tour said Hicks’ voice “filled our living rooms” with steady narration of countless broadcasts and some of the game’s biggest moments. His voice, the tour said, is woven into golf memories, and the warmth he brought to the booth was matched only by his kindness to those around him.

Splashing Through Olympic History

In the pool, Hicks teamed with Rowdy Gaines for eight Olympics. Together they chronicled Michael Phelps’ eight gold medals at the 2008 Beijing Games and Katie Ledecky’s 14 medals across four Olympics, from 2012 to 2024.

NBC Sports executives Rick Cordella, Sam Flood and Molly Solomon called him an extraordinary colleague, friend and person. They praised him as an exceptional storyteller who elevated some of the biggest moments in sports history. His mix of knowledge, enthusiasm and humor informed and entertained fans for decades. Off the air, they said, he welcomed teammates with a smile, a joke or a word of encouragement, “sometimes all three in the same sentence.”

16 Olympics and a Barcelona Debut

Hicks worked 16 Olympics in all: nine Summer and seven Winter. His first was the 1992 Barcelona Games, where he hosted the Olympic triplecast. He called alpine skiing at the last four Winter Games, plus speed skating in 2002, 2006 and 2010.

Two-time Olympic champion Ted Ligety, NBC’s alpine skiing analyst the last two Olympics, said Hicks excelled at calling the race and at telling the athlete’s story.

“I was always in awe of his ability to know so much about so many sports so fluidly,” Ligety said. Hicks never walked in assuming he had all the answers, he noted. “He asked a million questions and was really curious. He was able to instantly bring that into the broadcast.”

Ligety said sitting beside Hicks to watch him work was a pleasure, as was sharing a beer after a call. “Just a genuinely fun and awesome dude,” he said. “The amazing part is his on-air personality and likeableness was only greater in real life.”

One More Saturday on the Schedule

This was Hicks’ seventh season calling Notre Dame games. He worked them from 2013 to 2016 and returned in 2024. He was scheduled to call the Fighting Irish’s Saturday game against Boston College.

His résumé stretched further still. Hicks called regional NFL games on NBC from 1992 to 1997, five French Opens, and some NBA coverage from 1992 to 2000.

He is survived by Storm and their three daughters, Hannah, Ellery and Riley.