‘Forever Part of My Story’: Swimming Community Mourns Loss of Dan Hicks
For Rowdy Gaines, being broadcast partners with Dan Hicks was more than just meeting up a few times a year to call swimming.
It was a friendship that stretched through the year, through decades, through eight Olympics calling swimming together.
Gaines was one of many left mourning the sudden passing of Hicks on Wednesday at the age of 64.
“My heart is broken,” Gaines wrote in a post on social media. “Danny wasn’t just my partner in the booth for eight Olympics. He was one of my closest friends, someone I trusted with everything, both in and out of that arena. He was the glue that held us all together at all of those Games. He made me laugh like no other person ever has. We shared thousands of races and a friendship that went way beyond the pool deck.
“I’ll miss his voice, his steadiness, and just having him next to me. My heart is with Hannah and his daughters.
“Love you so very much, partner.”
Swimming was one facet of Hicks storied career but among his best known work. Hicks called 16 Olympics upon arriving at NBC in 1992. In the Winter Games, he worked three installments in speedskating and five in alpine skiing. He was also one of NBC’s top voices in golf as well as Notre Dame football.
Many of the iconic American swimming moments of the last three decades have Hicks’ voice as the soundtrack, the perfect broadcasting gravitas to Gaines’ encyclopedic knowledge of times and the grounding voice to Gaines’ boundless enthusiasm.
Hicks forged relationships with swimmers, among the closest with Michael Phelps. Now an Arizonan, Phelps connected with the Tucson native Hicks first over swimming and then golf.
Phelps wrote, in part:
“There are certain voices in sports that you hear and instantly know who it is…. Dan had one of those voices. A voice that so many of us grew up listening to, a voice that brought some of the biggest moments in sports to life…. And for me, a voice that will forever be part of my story. But he was so much more than that to me. He was a friend.
“We shared so many memories over the years, both in and out of the pool. The laughs, the conversations, the moments I’ll never forget….”
As USA Swimming put it in a post, “His voice was the backdrop to many iconic Olympic moments in our sport’s history, and his presence will be greatly missed in the swim, sports, and broadcast communities.”
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Phelps’ long-time coach Bob Bowman posted that “Dan was an integral part of our Olympic journey and will forever be part of our story. He was kind, smart and had a keen interest in people . Just a world-class human.”
I’m heartbroken by this news. Dan was an integral part of our Olympic journey and will forever be part of our story. He was kind, smart and had a keen interest in people . Just a world-class human. We will miss him terribly. RIP my friend.
— Bob Bowman (@coach_bowman) November 12, 2026
Hicks was a decorated announcer in many sports. His call of the 2008 U.S. Open win by Tiger Woods is one of that sport’s most iconic. It came mere weeks before the call he’s most known for in swimming, at the 2008 Beijing Olympics in the men’s 400 freestyle relay.
Dan Hicks was a master of unscripted play-by-play, voicing many of golf’s most famous moments over the last 30 years.
Jimmy Roberts remembers his iconic call of Tiger Woods’ putt at the 2008 U.S. Open:
“Expect anything different?” https://t.co/sIzzzJDt89
— Golf Channel (@GolfChannel) November 12, 2026
Among those who expressed condolences was Lindsey Vonn, the five-time Olympian and three-time Olympic medalist skier. She did so a day after having her ninth knee surgery after a crash at the Olympics in Milan Cortina.
“This is hard to believe …,” she wrote. “Dan was the best. RIP my friend. You will be missed.”
Elizabeth Beisel, who worked with Hicks as part of the NBC crew as well as having known him from her swimming days, posted photos of them through the years, labeling Hicks’ as part of “my second family.”