Golf

Dan Hicks

Golf host

The 2008 season will be Dan Hicks’ ninth as host of NBC’s Emmy Award-winning golf coverage. Working alongside acclaimed analyst Johnny Miller in the 18^th hole tower, Hicks anchors NBC’s coverage of the PGA Tour – including THE PLAYERS and the inaugural FedEx Cup playoff highlighted by The Tour Championship. Hicks also anchors NBC’s coverage of such elite golf events as the U.S. Open, Ryder Cup, President’s Cup, and beginning in 2007, two World Golf Championships, all a part of network television’s premier golf package.

“Dan is a terrific host because of his passion for the game, his sense of golf history and his personality — people enjoy listening to Dan,” said Tom Roy, Executive Producer, NBC Sports. “That’s important because golf fans are extremely knowledgeable about their sport. You have to have someone credible anchoring the broadcast. It has to be someone passionate and that’s Dan Hicks.

“Dan and Johnny Miller, already acknowledged as the preeminent golf analyst working today, are a team which really connects with golf viewers. Dan is the perfect blend of a talented announcer and an extremely knowledgeable student of the game. He does a nice job drawing some incredible insights out of Johnny.”

Hicks added: “Working with Johnny Miller makes it doubly special. He’s the best analyst in golf and one of the best analysts of all-time for any sport. Every time you tune him in, you learn something about the game. What I want to do is make a connection with our viewers. I can relate to the golf fans at home. If I can set Johnny up to tell them more of his insight into the game they love, I will have done my job.”

Since joining NBC Sports in June 1992 as a play-by-play announcer, Hicks has called a wide variety of sports, ranging from Olympic speed skating and swimming to NFL and NBA games. “Announcers over their careers tend to find their niche – the sport they do best,” Hicks said. “For me, it’s golf. If I could call any big moment in sports, it would be at an event like the U.S. Open. For me this is the ultimate assignment. I love the game that much.

Most recently, Hicks served as the speed skating play-by-play commentator for his sixth Olympic broadcast assignment during NBC’s coverage of the Torino Winter Games. Hicks’ initial Olympic experience for the network came in 1992 at the Barcelona Olympics. Most recently, he served as both host of the Olympic Late Night show and the play-by-play commentator for swimming during NBC’s coverage of the Athens Summer Games. At the 2002 Salt Lake Winter Games, Hicks hosted the Olympic Late Night show in addition to his duties as the play-by-play announcer for speed skating and co-anchor of the Salt Lake Closing Ceremony coverage.

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Hicks’ other Olympic assignments at NBC have included handling the lead role for swimming and diving during NBC’s coverage of the 1996 Atlanta Games. His Olympic duties were expanded in March 1998 when he was named host of “The Olympic Show,” an Emmy Award-winning weekly program produced by NBC Sports that aired on CNBC until 2002. In Sydney, Hicks served as the play-by-play voice of NBC’s Olympic swimming and diving coverage for the 2000 Games.

Hicks’ duties for NBC Sports have also included play-by-play for the network’s NBA and NFL coverage and on telecasts of the Ironman Triathlon, the French Open and Visa American Cup Gymnastics.

Prior to joining NBC, Hicks had been a sports anchor at CNN since 1989. He began his professional career in 1984 as a sports anchor/news reporter for KCEE/KWFM radio in Tucson, Arizona. He later moved to KVOA-TV, the NBC affiliate in Tucson, where he served as weekend sports anchor/reporter before joining CNN. During a three-year run at the cable network, Hicks hosted “CNN Sports Tonight” on weekends and both “CNN College Football Preview” and “CNN College Basketball Preview.”

A native of Tucson, Arizona, Hicks graduated from the University of Arizona with a Bachelor of Arts degree in journalism. He is an 8-handicap golfer, who says, ”If I’m not working or with my family, I’m on the golf course.” Hicks and his wife, CBS “Early Show” co-host Hannah Storm, have three daughters.