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Invoice Hillgrove obtained a name from his boss at WTAE-TV, Tony Quatrini, in the summertime of 1994 to present him some excellent news and a few dangerous information.
The excellent news was that Hillgrove was the brand new play-by-play announcer for the Pittsburgh Steelers, taking up for the retiring Jack Fleming. The dangerous information was that he was going to take a big pay lower.
Tv personalities have been making considerably more cash than radio guys at that time.
“That was OK as a result of I all the time wished to be a full-time play-by-play man within the NFL,” Hillgrove as soon as mentioned.
Even Hillgrove couldn’t think about he can be doing it for 30 years, on prime of calling College of Pittsburgh basketball video games for 55 years and soccer video games for 50 years.
Hillgrove’s fall schedule simply opened up a bit. He introduced Thursday on Steelers flagship station WDVE-FM that he’s retiring because the Steelers’ play-by-play announcer, three a long time after being handpicked for the job by late proprietor Dan Rooney. Hillgrove, 83, will proceed to name Pitt basketball and soccer video games.
“It’s time for me to maneuver on to a different chapter of my life,” Hillgrove mentioned on WDVE.
Hillgrove was the final play-by-play announcer for each an NFL group and main faculty soccer group in the identical metropolis. He was the one one who did basketball, too. Joe Starkey known as each the San Francisco 49ers and the California Bears up till his retirement two years in the past.
Hillgrove known as 4 Tremendous Bowls in his tenure with the Steelers, together with championship-winning performances in opposition to the Seahawks in Tremendous Bowl XL and in opposition to the Cardinals in Super Bowl XLIII. The Steelers have had simply three dropping seasons in his tenure and made the playoffs 21 instances in his 30 seasons, together with 9 AFC Championship Sport appearances.
Regardless of some vital journey conflicts, Hillgrove missed solely a handful of Steelers video games over his profession. Again surgical procedure in 2019 compelled him to overlook two video games late that season. They have been the primary he’d missed in 26 years.
It wasn’t uncommon for Hillgrove to cowl a Pitt basketball sport, a Pitt soccer sport and a Steelers sport in the identical week. His schedule has lightened on the Pitt aspect in recent times, however not by a lot.
So many reminiscences. So many nice calls.
Right here’s to an immaculate twenty fifth season within the sales space, Invoice. pic.twitter.com/nWf7HeRla0
— Pittsburgh Steelers (@steelers) September 9, 2018
Hillgrove grew up within the close by Garfield part of Pittsburgh earlier than graduating from Central Catholic and Duquesne College.
He was employed because the highway commentator of Pitt basketball in 1969 and took over full-time the subsequent yr. He added the soccer job to his bio in 1974 and has remained at each positions since. He was additionally the sports activities director for WTAE 4 for greater than a decade.
Hillgrove gained the Chris Schenkel Award (for excellence in faculty soccer broadcasting) and the Woody Durham Voice of Faculty Sports activities Award. He additionally acquired the distinguished Dapper Dan Lifetime Achievement Award, a longtime Pittsburgh honor given to a number of the finest sports activities figures within the metropolis together with Mike Tomlin, Sidney Crosby, Mario Lemieux, Dan Marino, Chuck Noll, Roberto Clemente, Suzie McConnell and Swin Money.
Story time with Invoice
There’s completely no one you’ll ever meet who’s a greater storyteller than Invoice Hillgrove. Perhaps it needed to do together with his 50-plus years of telling the story of the Steelers and Panthers, however he perfected it. And I liked it.
If you realize something about masking the NFL, you get to the stadium typically three hours earlier than kickoff, principally to beat the visitors. After the compulsory pregame meal, I made my manner over to Hillgrove many instances within the eating space to speak, realizing darn effectively he would have a colourful story to inform. He would by no means disappoint. Whether or not it was some type of wild journey schedule he endured — just like the time he obtained a police escort from Chestnut Hill to the Logan Worldwide Airport in Boston simply in time to make the cross-country journey to Seattle — to outdated tales concerning the late, nice Myron Cope, it could all the time get a bit greater than a chuckle out of me.
Too dangerous I can’t go into element about my favourite Cope story that Hillgrove likes to inform, however I can guarantee you this: When the voice of the Steelers would get on a roll together with his tales, you’d simply let him go.
Greatest Steelers name
There have been many memorable calls over the 30 years of Hillgrove’s Steelers profession, however the one which stands out to me was the interception name of Troy Polamalu in the course of the 2008 AFC Championship Sport in opposition to the Ravens and Joe Flacco. Hillgrove’s patented “INTERCEPTED!” name reeled you in, and the “Troy Polamalu on the 40, 35, 30 … he’s in, for the Pittsburgh Steelers landing” took it residence and despatched the Steelers on their solution to their sixth Lombardi Trophy.
Required studying
(Photograph: Charles LeClaire / USA In the present day)
