Hillgrove, Groat in Pitt Hall of Fame
Broadcaster Bill Hillgrove and his longtime basketball analyst, Dick Groat, will be inducted into the Pitt Athletics Hall of Fame.
Hillgrove learned of his selection while appearing on a show on 93.7 The Fan on Saturday morning.
Show host Pat Bostick had invited Hillgrove to appear but didn’t tell him Pitt athletics director Heather Lyke would be there, too.
“I don’t know if you had plans on Sept. 24, 2024,” Lyke said to Hillgrove on the air. “The committee has selected both you and Dick Groat, posthumously, to be inducted.”
Hillgrove, 83, started his Pitt broadcasting career in 1969 when he called road games for the Panthers men’s basketball team. In 1970, he became the color commentator for Pitt football alongside Ed Conway. After Conway’s passing in 1974, Hillgrove took over the regular play-by-play duties.
“This is really humbling,” Hillgrove said after Lyke’s reveal. “I’ve been privileged to be around various awards, but this is right at the top. I’m bowled over.”
Groat, who passed away in 2023 at the age of 92, worked alongside Hillgrove as Pitt men’s basketball’s color commentator for 40 years from 1979 until his final season in 2019.
Groat, a native of Wilkinsburg, was a legendary twosport athlete who played in both the NBA and MLB.
More college basketball
John Riser, a Washington High School graduate who had a distinguished career at Pitt, died March 31. He was 89. Riser captained the Panthers basketball team and averaged 14.9 points and 9.9 rebounds per game in his college career. He was inducted into the Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame, Washington-Greene chapter, in 1999.
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Basketball Hall of Fame
High-flying Vince Carter and clutch guard Chauncey Billups headlined the new class of inductees to the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame. The 13-member class includes former Lakers, Grizzlies and Warriors executive Jerry West — who was already inducted as a player and as a member of the 1960 U.S. Olympic team — plus players Seimone Augustus, Michael Cooper, Walter Davis, Dick Barnett and Michele Timms, coaches Charles Smith, Harley Redin and Bo Ryan, broadcaster/coach Doug Collins and owner Herb Simon. Induction will be in August.
Golf
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Tennis
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Soccer
Lindsey Horan converted a penalty kick in the 77th minute and the United States came from behind to defeat Japan, 2-1, to open the SheBelieves Cup before a record crowd of 50,644 at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta.
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Motorsports
Kyle Larson won the pole for Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway, turning a fast lap at 96.034 miles per hour to edge Bubba Wallace for the top spot by one onethousandth of a second. Wallace completed his best lap at 96.029 mph. He and Larson were the only two drivers to exceed 96 mph.