Frederick Hickman (October 17, 1956 – November 9, 2022) was an American sports broadcaster with CNN, TBS, YES Network, and ESPN. He was later an anchor and managing editor for the evening newscast of the African-American cable news channel Black News Channel. Hickman was an original co-host of the CNN show Sports Tonight in 1980. He received CableACE awards in 1989 and 1993, and was a New York Sports Emmy Award Winner in 2004. Hickman died on November 9th, 2022 in Kissimmee, Florida. Early life and education Hickman was born on October 17, 1956, in Springfield, Illinois, to George Henry and Louise Winifred Hickman. He graduated from Springfield Southeast High School in 1974, then attended Coe College in Cedar Rapids, Iowa from 1974 to 1978, where he earned a B.S. in sociology. While there he worked at the low power KCOE-FM radio station. Career In 1977, Hickman began his professional radio broadcasting career as a news anchor at KLWW-AM in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. After leaving Coe College, Hickman moved back to his hometown of Springfield, Illinois to work at the radio station WFMB-AM, where he was responsible for playing country music. In February 1978, at age 21, Hickman became an anchor and sports director of the Springfield television station WICS-TV. He stayed there until May 1980. CNN and TBS In 1980 Hickman joined the young cable television company Turner Broadcasting System (TBS) in Atlanta, Georgia, working with Nick Charles as part of a four-person sports department for the company's Cable News Network (CNN). The duo took to the air on June 1, 1980, as hosts of CNN Sports Tonight, a nightly sports wrap-up show in which Hickman and Charles reported scores and events, showed highlights of college and professional games, and selected a "Play of the Day". The show was a nightly rival to ESPN's SportsCenter, which Hickman later joined. In 1984, Hickman briefly left CNN to serve as a sports anchor for WDIV, the NBC affiliate in Detroit, Michigan. He served as an anchor, a beat reporter for Major League Baseball's Detroit Tigers, and a boxing specialist from June 1984 to May 1985. In November 1986, he returned to TBS to serve as a co-anchor with Charles for CNN/Sports Illustrated. He remained with CNN until September 2001, and while there served as host for both the NBA and NFL pre-game and post-game shows, a commentator on the Atlanta Hawks,