David Herbert Wills (March 13, 1964 – March 5, 2023) was an American sportscaster best known as an announcer for the

Tampa Bay Rays The Tampa Bay Rays are an American professional baseball team based in the Tampa Bay area. The Rays compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League East, East Division. They are one of two major ...

radio broadcasts. A native of the Chicago area, he was involved in both sports and journalism in high school and college. After a short stint as a

college baseball College baseball is baseball that is played by Student athlete, student-athletes at institutions of higher education. In the United States, college baseball is sanctioned mainly by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA); in Japan, ...

coach, he began covering sporting events on local radio and television, then did play by play radio for a

minor league baseball Minor League Baseball (MiLB) is a professional baseball organization below Major League Baseball (MLB), constituted of teams affiliated with MLB clubs. It was founded on September 5, 1901, in response to the growing dominance of the National Le ...

club. Wills joined the Chicago White Sox Radio Network as a pre- and post-game host in 1997. In 2005, he and broadcast partner Andy Freed became the radio voices of the Rays, a position he held until his sudden death in March 2023.

Early life

Wills was born in Chicago and raised in nearby Oak Lawn, where he was a "die-hard" fan of the

Chicago White Sox The Chicago White Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The White Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League Central, Central Division. The club plays its ...

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

(MLB). He played baseball and basketball at Oak Lawn Community High School, where he also wrote for the school newspaper. He attended

Elmhurst College Elmhurst University is a private university in Elmhurst, Illinois, United States. It has a tradition of service-oriented learning and an affiliation with the United Church of Christ. The university changed its name from Elmhurst College on July ...

, where he pitched on the baseball team and worked for the school's newspaper until graduating with degrees in speech communications and urban studies in 1988. While in college, he also worked for SportsPhone, a call-in service that provided one minute of sports scores and updates for the Chicago area. After graduation, Wills served as the

pitching coach In baseball, a number of coaches assist in the smooth functioning of a team. They are assistants to the manager, who determines the starting lineup and batting order, decides how to substitute players during the game, and makes strategy decision ...

recruiting coordinator In college athletics in the United States, recruiting is the process in which college coaches add prospective student athletes to their roster each off-season. This process typically culminates in a coach extending an athletic scholarship offer ...

for the Elmhurst College baseball team in 1989 and as the interim head baseball coach at the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, or UChi) is a Private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Its main campus is in the Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood on Chicago's South Side, Chic ...

in 1990.

Broadcasting career

Wills began his on-air broadcasting career covering sports for radio stations WMAQ and

WMVP WMVP (1000 kHz) is a commercial AM radio station licensed to Chicago, Illinois, carrying a sports radio format. Owned by Good Karma Brands, the station serves the Chicago metropolitan area as the market affiliate of ESPN Radio, the flagship st ...

in Chicago. His first play-by-play position was with the Class-A

Kane County Cougars The Kane County Cougars are a professional baseball team located in Geneva, Illinois, and are members of the American Association of Professional Baseball, an official Partner League of Major League Baseball (MLB). They play their home games a ...

, for whom he was the radio voice from 1991 to 1995. From 1997 to 2004, Wills served as the pre-game and post-game analyst and back-up for John Rooney on White Sox radio broadcasts. During the same period, he also co-hosted a daily

sports talk Sports radio (or sports talk radio) is a radio format devoted entirely to discussion and broadcasting of sport, sporting events. A widespread programming genre that has a narrow audience appeal, sports radio is characterized by an often-low comed ...

radio show, hosted a local cable television sports show, hosted the pre- and post-game radio broadcasts for Notre Dame football and basketball, and did radio play-by-play for

University of Illinois Chicago The University of Illinois Chicago (UIC) is a public research university in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Its campus is in the Near West Side community area, adjacent to the Chicago Loop. The second campus established under the Universi ...

(UIC)

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

. Wills and Andy Freed were hired as the new broadcast team by the

before the 2005 season, replacing the club's original radio team of

Paul Olden Paul Olden (born 1954) is the public address announcer for the New York Yankees of Major League Baseball, a position he has held since the team moved to the present-day Yankee Stadium in 2009. Early life and career Born in Chicago, Olden moved wi ...

and Charlie Slowes. The pair become popular in the Tampa Bay area and well respected across the league for their knowledge of the game and on-air comradery, and Wills was particularly known for his "big personality" and his ability to connect with fans off the air. Wills and Freed alternated play by play and color commentator duties during Rays game broadcasts, usually trading roles every three

inning In baseball, softball, and similar games, an inning is the basic unit of play, consisting of two halves or frames, the "top" (first half) and the "bottom" (second half). In each half, one team bats until three outs are made, with the other tea ...

s. They each signed several contract extensions with the Tampa Bay Rays Radio Network, last signing a "multi-year" deal after the 2017 season. In 2016, Wills was inducted into the Irish-American Baseball Hall of Fame. On April 14, 2024, Wills was inducted into the Tampa Bay Rays Hall of Fame, the fourth individual to be inducted, after Don Zimmer, Wade Boggs, and Carl Crawford.

Personal life

Wills lived in

Lutz, Florida Lutz is an Unincorporated area#United States, unincorporated community in Hillsborough County, Florida, Hillsborough County and Pasco County, Florida, Pasco County, Florida, United States, north of Tampa. While there is a Census-designated plac ...

. He and his wife, Liz, had two children.

Health and death

While covering the Rays on a roadtrip to

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

in September 2022, Wills was hospitalized with a heart condition which was diagnosed as

supraventricular tachycardia Supraventricular tachycardia (SVT) is an umbrella term for fast heart rhythms arising from the upper part of the heart. This is in contrast to the other group of fast heart rhythms – ventricular tachycardia, which start within the lower cham ...

. He missed the last two weeks of the Rays' regular season and returned to the radio booth for the

2022 American League Wild Card Series The 2022 American League Wild Card Series were two best-of-three playoff series in Major League Baseball (MLB) that determined the participating teams of the 2022 American League Division Series (ALDS). Both Wild Card Series began on October 7, w ...

. Wills returned to regular duties for

spring training Spring training, also called spring camp, is the preseason of the Summer Professional Baseball Leagues, such as Major League Baseball (MLB), and it is a series of practices and exhibition games preceding the start of the regular season. Spri ...

in 2023. Hours after broadcasting a Rays spring training victory against the

New York Yankees The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Am ...

, he died in his sleep at his home early on the morning of March 5, 2023, eight days before his 59th birthday.

References

External links

Official bio from raysbaseball.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wills, Dave 1964 births 2023 deaths American radio sports announcers Chicago Maroons baseball coaches Chicago White Sox announcers College basketball announcers in the United States College football announcers Elmhurst Bluejays baseball players Major League Baseball broadcasters Notre Dame Fighting Irish football announcers People from Lutz, Florida Place of birth missing Radio personalities from Chicago Tampa Bay Rays announcers