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 the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Western Pennsylvania, the second-most populous city in Pennsylva ...

, and has worked exclusively in that market. He is the lead play-by-play broadcaster for the Pittsburgh Steelers football network (102.5

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." WDVE's studios are located in Green Tree, while its transmitt ...

) and for the

University of Pittsburgh The University of Pittsburgh (Pitt) is a public state-related research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The university is composed of 17 undergraduate and graduate schools and colleges at its urban Pittsburgh campus, home to the univers ...

sports network ( 93.7 The Fan). He calls 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. Originally published locally as ''Jon'' in 1976, then in nationwide syndication from 1978 as ''Garfield'', it chronicles the life of the title character Garfield the cat, his hum ...

. He attended Central Catholic High School and

Duquesne University Duquesne University of the Holy Spirit ( or ; Duquesne University or Duquesne) is a private Catholic research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Founded by members of the Congregation of the Holy Spirit , image = Holy Gh ...

. 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.

Early career

Hillgrove's first job was as a disk jockey 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 Format may refer t ...

, 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 signed o ...

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 announcer for Pitt football play-by-play man Ed Conway. Following Conway's death in 1974, he assumed the 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 to succeed the retiring Jack Fleming 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". Cope ...

, his Steeler broadcast partners now include former Steelers players like Merrill Hoge (former color), Craig Wolfley (color), and Max Starks (sideline).

Pittsburgh Panthers

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

Dick Groat Richard Morrow Groat (born November 4, 1930) is a former 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 most accomplished t ...

(who had been an All-America guard at

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

in the early 1950s following schoolboy stardom in nearby Swissvale) 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 (1974–1994), Bill Osborn (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 colle ...

(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 and develop amateur American football on all levels throughout the United States and "developing the qualities of leadership, sportsmanship, competitive zeal and the dr ...

, 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, known formally by its legal name in its Charter as The Municipality of Murrysville, is designated as a home rule status community in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 20,079 at the 2010 census. I ...

. The couple have two children and two grandchildren. On June 19, 2020, Hillgrove was charged with driving under the influence 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 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; it is expressed as mass of alcohol per volume or mass of blood. For example ...

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 National Football League announcers Pittsburgh Panthers basketball Pittsburgh Panthers football announcers Duquesne University alumni Central Catholic High School (Pittsburgh) alumni