William Thomas Hillgrove (born November 20, 1940) is an American sports broadcaster, radio personality, and sports journalist. Hillgrove is a notable broadcaster in his hometown of

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, second-most populous city in Pennsylvania (after Philadelphia) and the List of Un ...

, and has worked exclusively in that market. He served as the lead play-by-play broadcaster for the

Pittsburgh Steelers The Pittsburgh Steelers are a professional American football team based in Pittsburgh. The Steelers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC North, North division. Founded in 1933 P ...

football network (102.5 FM

WDVE WDVE (102.5 FM) is a classic rock music-formatted radio station in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States at 102.5 MHz. It is often referred to by Pittsburghers as simply "DVE". Its studios and offices are located on Abele Rd. in Bridgevil ...

) from 1994 to 2024. He is also the lead broadcaster for the

University of Pittsburgh The University of Pittsburgh (Pitt) is a Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. The university is composed of seventeen undergraduate and graduate schools and colle ...

sports network ( 93.7 FM The Fan), calling Pitt football games with former Pitt quarterback Pat Bostick and Pitt basketball games with former Pitt guard Curtis Aiken.

Early life

Born William Thomas Hillgrove in

's Lawrenceville neighborhood, he grew up in nearby

Garfield ''Garfield'' is an American comic strip created by Jim Davis (cartoonist), Jim Davis. Originally published locally as ''Jon'' in 1976 (later changed to ''Garfield'' in 1977), then in nationwide Print syndication, syndication from 1978, it chro ...

. He attended Central Catholic High School and

Duquesne University Duquesne University of the Holy Spirit ( ; also known as Duquesne University or Duquesne) is a Private university, private Catholic higher education, Catholic research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. Founded by members of ...

. He worked as a student sports broadcaster for Duquesne basketball games while in college. Hillgrove graduated from Duquesne in 1962 with a degree in journalism.

Career

Early career

Hillgrove's first job was as a

disk jockey A disc jockey, more commonly abbreviated as DJ, is a person who plays recorded music for an audience. Types of DJs include radio DJs (who host programs on music radio stations), club DJs (who work at nightclubs or music festivals), mobile ...

with WKJF (now

KDKA-FM KDKA-FM (93.7 MHz, "93.7 The Fan") is a commercial FM radio station licensed to serve Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The station is owned by Audacy, Inc. through licensee Audacy License, LLC and broadcasts a sports radio format. Studios are loca ...

, known as "93.7 The Fan"), and in 1968, he joined

WTAE-TV WTAE-TV (channel 4) is a television station in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States, affiliated with ABC. It has been owned by Hearst Television since the station's inception, making this one of two stations that have been built and signe ...

as the station's booth announcer. A year later, he swapped jobs with WTAE Radio announcer Del Taylor, wishing to get back into radio. In the mid-1960s, he served for a short period of time as "proprietor" (the name given to the host) of "The Place", a television show on WQED (Channel 13) that was a coffee-house style format. In 1969, he was hired as a road game broadcaster for the Pitt Panthers basketball team. The following year, he became the regular color commentator for Pitt football alongside lead play-by-play announcer Ed Conway. Following Conway's death in 1974, Hillgrove assumed play-by-play announcer duties. Hillgrove was named the sports director for WTAE-TV in 1978 and acted as sports anchor for WTAE News.

Pittsburgh Steelers

In 1994, Hillgrove was handpicked by Steelers owner

Dan Rooney Daniel Milton Rooney (July 20, 1932 – April 13, 2017) was an American professional American football, football executive and diplomat best known for his association with the Pittsburgh Steelers of the National Football League (NFL), and son of ...

to succeed the retiring

Jack Fleming Leo W. "Jack" Fleming Jr. (February 3, 1923 – January 3, 2001) was an American sports announcer for the National Football League's Pittsburgh Steelers and the National Basketball Association's Chicago Bulls in professional sports, and al ...

as the play-by-play broadcaster for the Pittsburgh Steelers. After working for many years alongside famous color broadcaster

Myron Cope Myron Sidney Kopelman (January 23, 1929 – February 27, 2008), known professionally as Myron Cope, was an American sports journalist, radio personality, and sportscaster. He is best known for being " the voice of the Pittsburgh Steelers". Cop ...

, his Steeler broadcast partners now include former Steelers players like

Merrill Hoge Merril DuAine Hoge (; born January 26, 1965) is an American former professional football player who was a running back for eight seasons in the National Football League (NFL) for the Pittsburgh Steelers and Chicago Bears. He played college foot ...

(former color),

Tunch Ilkin Tunch Ilkin (; September 23, 1957 – September 4, 2021) was a Turkish-American professional American football, football player and sports broadcaster. A two-time Pro Bowl selection as an offensive tackle with the Pittsburgh Steelers, he was th ...

(former color), Craig Wolfley (color), and

Max Starks Maximillian Weisner Starks IV (born January 10, 1982) is an American former professional American football, football player who was an offensive tackle for 10 seasons in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Flo ...

(sideline).

Pittsburgh Panthers

Hillgrove has also been a commentator for Pitt football and basketball games. Former Pittsburgh Pirate

Dick Groat Richard Morrow Groat (November 4, 1930 – April 27, 2023) was an American professional baseball and basketball player who was an eight-time All-Star shortstop and two-time World Series champion in Major League Baseball. He rates as one of the ...

(who had been an All-America

guard Guard or guards may refer to: Professional occupations * Bodyguard, who protects an individual from personal assault * Crossing guard, who stops traffic so pedestrians can cross the street * Lifeguard, who rescues people from drowning * Prison gu ...

Duke Duke is a male title either of a monarch ruling over a duchy, or of a member of Royal family, royalty, or nobility. As rulers, dukes are ranked below emperors, kings, grand princes, grand dukes, and above sovereign princes. As royalty or nobi ...

in the early 1950s following schoolboy stardom in nearby

Swissvale Swissvale is a borough in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States, east of downtown Pittsburgh. Named for a farmstead owned by James Swisshelm, during the industrial age it was the site of the Union Switch and Signal Company of George We ...

) served as Hillgrove's broadcast partner for basketball until the 2018–2019 season; former Pitt player Curtis Aiken is now his broadcast partner. His partners for football have been

Johnny Sauer John Edward Sauer (August 31, 1925 – March 4, 1996) was an American football player, coach, and broadcaster. A Dayton, Ohio native, Sauer was a multi-sport athlete at Oakwood High School. His father, Eddie Sauer, played for the Dayton Tria ...

(1974–1994),

Bill Osborn Bill Osborn (born ) is a former American football player who attended the University of Pittsburgh and played in the National Football League, World League and the Arena Football League. Osborn has also worked as an NFL scout, a color analyst a ...

(1995–2003, 2015–2017),

Bill Fralic William P. Fralic Jr. ( ; October 31, 1962 – December 13, 2018) was an American professional football player who was a guard for the Atlanta Falcons and Detroit Lions of the National Football League (NFL) from 1985 to 1993. He played colleg ...

(2004–2010), and Pat Bostick (2010–2015, 2018–present).

Awards and recognition

He was the 2007 winner of the Chris Schenkel Award, presented by the

National Football Foundation The National Football Foundation (NFF) is a non-profit organization to promote amateur American football on all levels throughout the United States and develop "the qualities of leadership, sportsmanship, competitive zeal and the drive for academi ...

, for his work as Pitt's football broadcaster. In July 2012, Hillgrove began hosting a Saturday jazz program presented by the online Pittsburgh Jazz Channel.

Personal life

Hillgrove married Rosette Sapienza, a vocal music teacher, in 1965. They live in

Murrysville, Pennsylvania Murrysville is a Home rule municipality (Pennsylvania), home rule municipality in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 21,006 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. It is part of the Greater Pittsburgh, Pit ...

. The couple have two children and two grandchildren. On June 19, 2020, Hillgrove was charged with

driving under the influence Driving under the influence (DUI) is the crime of driving, operating, or being in control of a vehicle while one is impaired from doing so safely by the effect of either alcohol (drug), alcohol (see drunk driving) or some other drug, whether re ...

for an incident four days earlier. Hillgrove drove a vehicle into the front of a Murrysville grocery store, breaking two windows, and then went inside to fill a prescription. He then returned to the car and drove home, where police later arrived and conducted a

breathalyzer A breathalyzer or breathalyser (a portmanteau of ''breath'' and ''analyzer/analyser''), also called an alcohol meter, is a device for measuring breath alcohol (drug), alcohol content (BrAC). It is commonly utilized by law enforcement officers ...

test. His

blood alcohol content Blood alcohol content (BAC), also called blood alcohol concentration or blood alcohol level, is a measurement of alcohol intoxication used for legal or medical purposes. BAC is expressed as mass of alcohol per volume of blood. In US and many i ...

was found to be 0.16, twice the legal limit in Pennsylvania. Hillgrove told officers he "had a couple beers" and that the "car just got away from im. He subsequently received a two-game suspension from both Steelers and Pitt football broadcasts.

References

Hillgrove proud to be a 'homer'
By Doug Kennedy, PittsburghLIVE.com, November 19, 2004, accessed January 23, 2006 {{DEFAULTSORT:Hillgrove, Bill College basketball announcers in the United States College football announcers 1940 births Living people American radio sports announcers Radio personalities from Pittsburgh Pittsburgh Steelers announcers NFL announcers Pittsburgh Panthers basketball Pittsburgh Panthers football announcers Duquesne University alumni Central Catholic High School (Pittsburgh) alumni