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Irish Breakdown

Notre Dame TV Play-By-Play Voice Dan Hicks Dies Unexpectedly at 64

Hicks had been on NBC's Notre Dame coverage dating back to 2013
Nick Shepkowski|
NBC lead golf announcer Dan Hicks will call his 33rd Players Championship this year.
NBC lead golf announcer Dan Hicks will call his 33rd Players Championship this year. | USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect

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Notre Dame Fighting Irish

Awful news was announced Thursday morning as longtime NBC Sports play-by-play voice Dan Hicks died at the age of 64.

Hicks has been a mainstay at NBC for decades, leading its golf coverage for years, but also found a recurring role on fall Saturdays as a regular voice of Notre Dame football.

That was fitting for Hicks, who leaves his wife, Hannah Storm, a 1983 graduate of Notre Dame, and their three daughters.

Storm mentions that Hicks passed away following an acute illness.

Dan Hicks as Notre Dame's TV Play-by-Play Voice

Dan Hicks replaced Tom Hammond as NBC's Notre Dame play-by-play in 2013 and held the role through the 2016 season, when Mike Tirico took over.

Tirico left for the Sunday Night Football position, replacing Al Michaels, in 2024.

Hicks then took over again, calling all Notre Dame home games that weren't in primetime, and some that were.

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Hicks was most recently on the call for Notre Dame's 58-7 victory over Stanford on October 10, and seemingly, was theoretically supposed to be on the call for this Saturday's afternoon home game against Boston College.

The Most Memorable Dan Hicks Call

Hicks was the voice of Sundays for golf fans nationwide, but that's not the call I most remember him for.

Instead, the 2008 Summer Olympics are what come to my mind, as Michael Phelps was swimming to make history. Ironically, it wasn't Phelps who was in the pool at the time of what will forever be the most iconic call Hicks ever made in my eyes.

It's been more than 18 years since that moment, and even watching it back now, already knowing what happens, hairs stand up on my arms and the back of my neck when Hicks realizes that Jason Lezak is starting to close, and proceeds to knock the call to the wire out of the park.

Prisoner of the moment, perhaps, but considering that's a sport the masses care about for only a week every four years, there is a case to be made that it belongs on the Mount Rushmore for best sports TV calls of all time.

It is literally impossible to meet the moment better than Hicks did as the historic upset and comeback unfolded in front of his eyes.

64 is way too young for Dan Hicks, but that is one incredible life well-lived.

Thoughts, prayers, and all the positive energy to Hannah and his family, friends, and colleagues.

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Nick Shepkowski
NICK SHEPKOWSKI

Managing Editor for Notre Dame On SI. Started covering Chicago sports teams for WSCR the Score, and over the years worked with CBS Radio, Audacy, NBC Sports, and FOX Sports as a contributor before running the Notre Dame wire site for USA TODAY.

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