Longtime Sports Broadcaster Fred Hickman Dies at 66

Fred Hickman, an iconic sports broadcaster who graced television screens for more than 40 years, died on Wednesday. He was 66.

Hickman worked in several markets during his long sports broadcasting career. He is well known from his time co-anchoring Sports Tonight with Nick Charles at CNN, beginning in 1980. 

However, the longtime sportscaster left the network to join WDIV-TV in Detroit in 1984 as a sports desk anchor while also covering MLB’s Tigers.

ESPN anchor Hannah Storm, a former co-worker of Hickman’s at CNN, tweeted that she had much respect for Hickman and enjoyed working with him.

“So very sad to hear about the passing of Fred Hickman,” Storm tweeted. “I was the only female anchor at CNN Sports, and Fred was such a welcoming presence…always with a laugh, a quip, a story…and supremely talented. Rest In Peace, my friend.”

Beyond CNN, Hickman also worked for Yankee Entertainment and Sports Network (YES), ESPN, Fox Sports South and TBS, where he hosted the first version of Inside the NBA. In 2000, Hickman was the lone media member who voted for former 76ers guard Allen Iverson over the Lakers center Shaquille O’Neal in MVP voting, preventing O’Neal from being a unanimous selection that year.

Hickman was also the first person to make an appearance on air for YES when the network launched on March 19, 2002. Michael Kay, the Yankees announcer, described Hickman as someone who was a “joy to work with” and a “joyful” person. 

“A total pro that you felt comfortable with knowing he would lead you the right way on the air,” Kay said, per WDIV-TV in Detroit. “He was the first voice ever heard on YES, and his professionalism put us on the right track, a track we are on all these years later.”

More recently, Hickman served as an anchor and managing editor at the Black News Channel, now referred to as TheGrio following its acquisition by Byron Allen’s Allen Media Group.