William Thomas Hillgrove (born November 20, 1940) is an American sports broadcaster, radio personality, and sports journalist. Hillgrove is a notable broadcaster in his hometown of Pittsburgh, and has worked exclusively in that market. He is the lead play-by-play broadcaster for the Pittsburgh Steelers football network (102.5 WDVE) and for the University of Pittsburgh sports network (93.7 The Fan). He calls Pitt football games with former Pitt quarterback Pat Bostick, and Pitt basketball games with former Pitt guard Curtis Aiken. Early life Born William Thomas Hillgrove in Pittsburgh's Lawrenceville neighborhood, he grew up in nearby Garfield. He attended Central Catholic High School and Duquesne University. He worked as a student sports broadcaster for Duquesne basketball games while in college. Hillgrove graduated from Duquesne in 1962 with a degree in journalism. Early career Hillgrove's first job was as a disk jockey with WKJF (now KDKA-FM, known as "93.7 The Fan"), and in 1968, he joined WTAE-TV as the station's booth announcer. A year later, he swapped jobs with WTAE Radio announcer Del Taylor, wishing to get back into radio. In the mid-1960s, he served for a short period of time as "proprietor" (the name given to the host) of "The Place", a television show on WQED (Channel 13) that was a coffee-house style format. In 1969, he was hired as a road game broadcaster for the Pitt Panthers basketball team. The following year, he became the regular color announcer for Pitt football play-by-play man Ed Conway. Following Conway's death in 1974, he assumed the play-by-play announcer duties. Hillgrove was named the sports director for WTAE-TV in 1978 and acted as sports anchor for WTAE News. Pittsburgh Steelers In 1994, Hillgrove was handpicked by Steelers owner Dan Rooney to succeed the retiring Jack Fleming as the play-by-play broadcaster for the Pittsburgh Steelers. After working for many years alongside famous color broadcaster Myron Cope, his Steeler broadcast partners now include former Steelers players like Merrill Hoge (former color), Craig Wolfley (color), and Max Starks (sideline). Pittsburgh Panthers Hillgrove has also been a commentator for Pitt football and basketball games. Former Pittsburgh Pirate Dick Groat (who had been an All-America guard at Duke in the early 1950s following schoolboy stardom in nearby Swissvale) served as Hillgrove's broadcast partner for basketball until the 2018–2019 season; former Pitt player Curtis Aiken is now his broadcast partner. His partners for football have been Johnny Sauer (1974–1994), Bill