Calls games for the Steelers and Pitt men’s basketball, football
There may be others, but Bill Hillgrove has been the voice of three sports institutions. The Pittsburgh Steelers and both the University of Pittsburgh men’s football and basketball programs for many years. He is unlike many folks that may have a limited impact on whatever life’s work they choose; this legendary radio and television broadcaster is and has always been far from being a “one-trick pony.”
Regarding radio and television broadcasting, it is a rarity that one man or woman is the core of a broadcasting effort that represents two sports programs of a university and a major professional football franchise all located in the same city.
Hillgrove is a rare triple threat broadcaster that oftentimes uses his unique voice to describe the game for listeners as if it were an intimate operatic performance held in the privacy of their living rooms with his richly layered and multi-timbres voice serving as if it were a conductor wielding a baton. During his 55-plus years as a radio and television broadcaster, he has been the “voice of consistency,” a voice that has consoled Pittsburghers when they lost, celebrated with them when they won, never abandoning them and choosing to ride the roller coaster of athletic incompetency and poor performances along with them through times both good and bad.
When it comes to what he means to the fan bases of the Steeler Nation and the Pitt Panthers, the saying, “Heavy is the head that wears the crown” is an appropriate description regarding him being the voice of these three sports entities simultaneously. However, in the case of Bill Hillgrove, that saying should be amended to say; “Heavy is the head that wears the crowns.” That being true, on occasion, Bill Hillgrove might sometimes feel as if he is wearing a fedora made from lead.
How did such an iconic broadcasting journey begin? Bill Hillgrove explains that: “It began when I was 13. My aunt, who was a sister of charity, suggested to me that I go to the Pittsburgh Diocesan Radio and TV school, which was being run by a friend of hers from that charity order, Sister Rosalie. My dad was an electrician and I showed up at this radio and TV school expecting to learn how to fix radios and TVs.
“Well, she handed me a script and said, ‘Read it.’ I read it and she said, ‘That’s perfect. You’re just what I’m looking for?’ And I said, ‘What’s that, sister?’ And she said, ‘A 13-year-old brat.’ And it was a thing called ‘Morning, Noon, and Night’ and it was a weekly live radio drama about this Catholic family. And it was on WDUQ, Also WMCK McKeesport, and WEDO McKeesport. So, at the age of 13, I discovered I had a talent for being on this side of the microphone. And, you know, just being able to combine that with my passion for sports, kind of led me down a path that has brought me to this day,” Hillgrove explained.
Most of the public might falsely assume that with Bill Hillgrove being on center stage, the fanatically loyal Pittsburgh sports demographic might present a challenge for the now 80-plus year old broadcaster. But Hillgrove will not even indirectly agree with that assessment of his role. “I wouldn’t call it pressure,” he says in a rather matter-of-fact tone of voice. “You know, you realize that you’re on a big stage and that you’re reaching a lot of people. But in the case of both Pitt and the Steelers, these are people that I grew up around so it’s been kind of natural for me and I can’t imagine doing anything else. And there’s no such thing as neutrality; if there’s a game, somebody’s rooting for one team and somebody else is rooting for the other team, but if the other team does something well, then I have to point that out. I learned from a young age that you have to be fair. And I think that’s what I’ve tried to do.”
With NFL budgets being far more demanding than the college games, most people might mistakenly think that calling an NFL game is more challenging, but Bill Hillgrove assesses it differently. He explains it this way. “The most difficult thing about college football is the numbers. You know, it used to be, and I don’t know what the number is now, but you could travel 65 players and they could all dress for the game but now you have 65 players for the visitors and probably 80 something for the home team and if the score gets out of whack all of these players might get into the game. You better be on top of it, or you hear from their parents. The NFL rosters are more controllable with 53, with 45 active plus the quarterbacks. And basketball rosters are 5 against 5 as opposed to 11 against 11.”
Bill took us on a stroll down memory lane when he was asked what was the most memorable Steelers game and Pitt football and basketball games that he called. “Okay, let’s start with the Steelers. I think Super Bowl 43 with that touchdown pass to Santonio Holmes. But yet they couldn’t have won the game without James Harrison’s great interception return. So that game produced two of the biggest plays in Steelers history. For Pitt football, it had to be Tony Dorsett breaking Archie Griffin’s record at Navy. It was where it happened. The Navy Midshipmen doffed their caps in honor of Tony Dorsett. And in basketball, it was Pitt’s first Big East Tournament Championship win (in 2003) against Connecticut in Madison Square Garden.”
Hillgrove is also a jazz music lover, promoter, and philanthropist. He was once quoted as saying, “I don’t know how I developed my passion for jazz, I was just a kid from Garfield. I think it was listening to Earl Bostic tunes on the jukebox at Katz’s tavern. But it is my passion. I was a sophomore at Duquesne University when I landed my first commercial job as an announcer on WKJF-FM on Mount Washington when many people were not aware of what FM was. It was what they called a ‘good music station.’ My shift was at 9 o’clock on Saturday nights and we had the dance party. And I was able to play some Benny Goodman and Eddie Haywood, stuff that was danceable. I got into it big time and was kind of fulfilled when the Pittsburgh Jazz Channel came and asked me to do a show on Saturdays. So, I did it for 10 years. I also listened to the late Tony Mowood when he was broadcasting out of a station in New Kensington along with a guy named Dole Brooks. So when Tony ended up at WYDD I used to guest host and it was fun.”
Many people don’t know this, but when bluesman Leroy Wofford was murdered and did not have burial insurance, Bill Hillgrove spearheaded the effort to provide a proper burial for the iconic Pittsburgh musician.
As far as the modern-day TikTok experts and internet bloggers are concerned, Bill Hillgrove has this timeless bit of advice. “Someone once said: ‘You should be yourself because everybody else is taken.’ If you’re yourself, it’s not an act, it’s true. What you do on the air is the same thing that you would do sitting and talking to a friend.”