Former MLB and NBA star Dick Groat died Thursday at the age of 92 after complications from a recent stroke.
Groat served as the color commentator on the University of Pittsburgh basketball broadcasts from 1979 through 2019.
Groat was a member of the Pittsburgh Pirates 1960 World Series team and was announced as a member of the club’s Hall of Fame class for 2023. Additionally, he was the third overall pick in the 1952 NBA Draft and is one of only 13 players who played in both leagues.
After starring at Duke University in both sports, he was inducted into the College Basketball Hall of Fame in 2007 and the National College Baseball Hall of Fame in 2011.
“As great of a sports legend as Dick was, he was a better human being,” Pitt play-by-play voice Bill Hillgrove told the (Pittsburgh) Post-Gazette. “… I think his humility stood out above everything. If anybody should’ve been carried away with himself, it was Dick Groat.
“He was a very special friend. I lost a big brother,” Hillgrove added.
Tributes to Groat came in both on the radio and on Twitter.
“What a legend. It’s overused with people, but it’s fitting for Dick Groat,” 93.7 The Fan’s Colin Dunlap said as the news broke.
“I had opportunities to meet him a bunch of times, and opportunities to talk with him. A fantastic person,” former Pitt Panther and The Fan Morning Show co-host Dorin Dickerson added. “Condolences to his family, his friends, and Bill Hillgrove, who was one of his best friends.”
Longtime college sports broadcaster Tim Brando paid tribute to Groat in a tweet, calling him “a better human being than player” and a “Pittsburgh icon”.
