Plum Assignment Only Part of Story for NBC Host Hicks

Dan Hicks is one lucky guy. He will host the telecast of the 100th U.S. Open this week--at Pebble Beach, no less--for NBC.

Then after the biggest assignment of his career he gets to go home in suburban Connecticut to his wife, NBC colleague Hannah Storm, and their two young children. They can talk golf and basketball, if they want, but probably won’t.

While Hicks is working the Open, his wife will continue her work at the NBA finals.

Isn’t there a quota on personal good fortune?

Hicks laughed.

“There’s no question I’ve been blessed, but I’m also a firm believer in hard work and being prepared, and that leads to good things in both your professional and personal life,” he said from Pebble Beach. “Hannah thinks the same way; we’re cut from the same cloth.”

Hicks replaced Dick Enberg as NBC’s golf host this year, after Enberg left for CBS.

Hicks, a native of Tucson and an Arizona graduate, has come a long way since his TV-radio days in Tucson. He also worked as a sports anchor at CNN and in his early years at NBC was assigned to the sixth or seventh NFL crew working mini-regional games. He started at NBC in 1992, after three years at CNN.

He met Storm at CNN.

“Her desk was next to mine, and at first we were just really good friends,” he said. “Then about halfway through my stay there, I decided she was just too good, that I had to give it a try.”

They had the same interests, they clicked as friends, and they are 11 days apart in age. Hicks turned 38 June 2.

“I was a little concerned that if things didn’t work out, what with us working together and being on the air together, there could be some problems. But I was willing to take that chance. Well, as they say, the rest is history.

“You talk about being lucky. Well, where luck came into play is Hannah got hired by NBC--they were really after her--and then one month later I got hired. They weren’t really after me, but I had decided that even if I didn’t get hired, I’d move to New York to be with Hannah. Our relationship was that far along.

“At the time we were hired, they didn’t even know we were an item.”

NBC soon found out--and in 1994, Hicks and Storm married.

“It’s been an ideal situation,” Hicks said. “We both work weekends, both can talk about the demands of our jobs and understand what it takes.

“But when we’re home with Hannah Beth [3 1/2] and Ellery [22 months] we can escape from that world, enjoy the kids and talk about other things.”

The marriage got Hicks more recognition than anything he had done in broadcasting. Old friends would ask, “What have you been up to lately?” He would say, “Football for NBC, only games you never see.”

He moved up the depth chart and did swimming and diving at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta.

“That was a wonderful, electric atmosphere,” he said. “But, yes, I’d say doing the Open at Pebble is bigger. I just hope the leaderboard and the finish provide us with some magic moments. I think they will.”

His next major assignment will be Olympic swimming and diving from Sydney. Storm will be at the Games too.

Storm will also be seen during the Open. An interview she did with Payne Stewart’s widow, Tracey, will be shown Sunday.

Golf is not a new assignment for Hicks.

“The first show I did outside a studio for NBC was the Lake Tahoe celebrity tournament,” he said.

After that, he let his bosses know he loved golf, that he had played to as low as a 6-handicap. He’s been on the NBC golf crew ever since, although he was seen on camera only slightly more than the first group off the tee.

Now with Hicks in the seat next to Johnny Miller, both anchors have knowledge gained from first-hand experience. Enberg had tried to learn to play, but said his frustration level was too high.

“The golf audience can’t be fooled,” Hicks said. “Johnny Miller is the star of our show. You’ve got to ride the horse. My responsibility is to make him even better. With the passion I bring for golf, hopefully I can get into a little more of a golf conversation with him.”

Joining Hicks and Miller on the NBC crew are Roger Maltbie, Mark Rolfing, Gary Koch, and Bob Murphy, all former professional players, plus newcomer interviewer Jimmy Roberts, formerly of ESPN.

BLANKET COVERAGE

NBC offers 17 hours of live Open coverage--two hours each of the first two days, then 6 1/2 on Saturday and 6 1/2 on Sunday. ESPN chips in with 11--5 1/2 each of the first two days. ESPN will also have one-hour highlight shows every night at 9.

This will be the sixth consecutive year NBC has covered the Open.

NBC producer Tom Roy has an arsenal of 47 cameras at his disposal, including 27 regular cameras, two movable crane cameras, two mobile camera vehicles and a blimp camera.

New this year is a “boat-cam,” a gyro-mounted camera on a boat that will provide vantage points from the Pacific Open.

“Typically, when you’ve seen the beauty of Pebble, the view has been from the land out to the Pacific,” Roy said. “Holes 4 through 10 and 17 and 18 are all along the ocean, so we wanted to be able to look from the ocean back in. The way to accomplish that was to place a camera on a boat, which will track the leaders and provide a new and dramatic angle that the viewers at home have not seen before.

“Last August, we had the opportunity at the U.S. Amateur at Pebble to test different camera locations and pick the ones that will show viewers just how great these golf holes are. As a result, our camera coverage is set to show the difficulty of this course and at the same time accentuate the beauty of Pebble Beach.”

Another innovation this year will be the Sportvision “Shot Tracker,” which will track drive distance and placement on three key holes--Nos. 2, 6 and 14.

MILLER ON THE OPEN

Miller, the 1973 Open champion, is excited about this one.

“This should be one of the greatest U.S. Opens of all time,” he said. “There are so many compelling stories, starting with everyone’s feelings for Payne Stewart.

“It’s the 100th Open, it’s the year 2000, it’s Pebble Beach--every player’s favorite place to play the Open and the course where the greatest U.S. Open of all time was played in 1972. And there are so many guns playing at the top of their game right now.

“Make no mistake, this is the Tiger Woods era, and the way he’s playing, this could definitely be Tiger’s show. I also like past winners like Lee Janzen and Ernie Els and you can’t look past Phil Mickelson. Jesper Parnevik is also hot and he plays well under pressure. Colin Montgomerie is deserving of winning a major. Vijay Singh is coming off winning two majors. Davis Love III and Tom Lehman are playing well.

“There are so many superstars playing well right now it should be a great finish.”