Dan Hicks, Longtime NBC Sports Broadcaster, Dies at 64

Hannah Storm Announced the Death of Her Husband of More Than 30 Years

Dan Hicks, who called golf, the Olympics and Notre Dame football during 34 years with NBC Sports, died at 64. His wife, ESPN anchor Hannah Storm, announced his death on Thursday, November 12, and said he had died following an “acute illness.” Hicks died late Wednesday in Connecticut. His family has shared no further details about the illness.

“Our family is heartbroken by the sudden and unexpected passing of Dan,” Storm wrote. She remembered Hicks as a devoted husband, a loving father and a cherished friend. The couple married in January 1994 and had three daughters, Hannah, Ellery and Riley. “His loss is immeasurable,” she added.

At the time of his death, Hicks was in his seventh season calling Notre Dame football. His work at NBC had also taken him to 16 Olympic Games and put him in the lead announcer’s seat for golf coverage that included the U.S. Open, The Open Championship and the Ryder Cup.

From CNN Sports Anchor to 16 Olympic Games

A native of Tucson, Arizona, Hicks began working as a sports anchor at CNN in 1989. He joined NBC Sports in 1992, the same year he covered the Barcelona Olympics. That assignment was the first of 16 Olympic Games he would cover for the network, a run that reached the Milan Cortina Winter Games in 2026.

Between Barcelona and Milan Cortina, Hicks called events at both the Summer and Winter Games. NBC singled out his work in swimming and skiing when it announced his death. The two sports gave viewers very different ways to hear him work. In swimming, a race could turn in the final stretch as athletes came into the wall together. In skiing, the time of a single run could change the standings with several competitors still to come.

His Olympic assignments continued alongside the work that made him a regular presence on NBC’s golf broadcasts. He won a Sports Emmy for his coverage of the 2024 Paris Olympics, more than three decades after his first Olympic assignment. Paris and Milan Cortina were among the final stops in a broadcasting career that began with a sports anchor’s desk at CNN.

Hicks Became the Lead Voice of NBC’s Golf Coverage in 2000

Hicks took on NBC’s lead golf play-by-play role in 2000. Over the following 26 years, he called some of the sport’s most prominent events, including the U.S. Open, The Open Championship and the Ryder Cup. Golf gave him a continuing role on the network across the years between Olympic assignments.

The tournaments he covered called for different kinds of storytelling. During an individual championship, a shot on one hole can affect the position of a player competing elsewhere on the course. A broadcaster has to keep both parts of the picture clear as the coverage moves between groups. At the Ryder Cup, individual matches contribute to a team score, and the meaning of a result can depend on what is happening in another match.

That ability to explain the stakes was part of what NBC recognized in its tribute. The network credited Hicks with bringing knowledge, enthusiasm and humor to his broadcasts. For golf viewers, his voice was a familiar part of following a tournament from the early rounds through the shots that decided it.

He Was in His Seventh Season Calling Notre Dame Football

Hicks also served as the play-by-play announcer for NBC’s Notre Dame football broadcasts. He was in his seventh season calling the Fighting Irish when he died. It was an assignment that brought him to a regular college football audience alongside the golf and Olympic viewers who had been hearing him for years.

A football game required him to keep track of a different set of details. The account of a play had to arrive as it happened, followed by what it meant for field position, the clock or the next down. A season of broadcasts also gave him time to follow changes that could only become apparent over several games, as the team met different opponents and reached different points in its schedule.

NBC included Notre Dame in its remembrance alongside Olympic swimming, skiing and golf. Those assignments span much of what Hicks did during his time at the network. Golf was his longest-running lead role, while Notre Dame remained part of his work through the season in progress at the time of his death.

NBC Sports Remembered a Storyteller and an Encouraging Colleague

“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 leaders said in a joint statement.

They pointed to the range of events Hicks covered and to the qualities he brought to the microphone. His knowledge helped explain what was happening, while his enthusiasm and humor helped make the broadcasts familiar to viewers across different sports. The network called particular attention to the 26 years he spent as the signature voice of its golf coverage.

The statement also described the welcome colleagues could expect from Hicks when they saw him at work. He might greet someone with a smile, a joke or a word of encouragement. His colleagues remembered that he could fit all three into a single sentence. They closed their tribute by sending condolences to Storm and the couple’s daughters.

Storm’s Tribute Centered on Their Family

Hicks’s death came less than two weeks after Storm shared that she was recovering from a second cancer diagnosis. In announcing his death, she described the sudden loss in terms of the people who knew him at home and as a friend. She had been married to him for more than three decades, and they had raised three daughters together.

Storm and Hicks both worked in sports television, where audiences came to know them through the events and stories they covered. Her announcement drew on a much longer acquaintance than viewers could have with any broadcaster. She spoke about the husband she had married in January 1994 and the father Hannah, Ellery and Riley had lost.

For viewers, the memories may begin with a golf tournament, an Olympic race or a Saturday watching Notre Dame. For the people who worked beside Hicks, NBC’s tribute recalled the colleague who greeted them before a broadcast and found a moment to make them laugh. He is survived by Storm and their daughters, Hannah, Ellery and Riley.