It’s been nearly four months since legendary broadcaster Bill Hillgrove retired as the play-by-play man for the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Hillgrove, who announced his retirement on Feb. 29, spent 30 years with the team, so his departure from the role has opened up a significant hole on the radio side of things for the Black and Gold.
So far, it’s not a hole that the Steelers have been quick to fill, raising some concerns as training camp and the preseason draws near.
According to the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review’s Tim Benz, at least one candidate outside of the area is under consideration for the play-by-play job, though familiar faces and voices in Bob Pompeani and Rob King are logical succession plans if the Steelers go down that path.
“I have heard that at least one candidate from outside the area is also under consideration,” Benz writes regarding the play-by-play role in his latest First Call piece for the Tribune-Review. “Although, for an organization that loves to publicly position itself as one that operates with a family-first image, and one that values the notion of promoting and retaining talent from within, it would be remarkably hypocritical if the job was given to someone else after the work that King and Pompeani have done for the club under this umbrella in the past.”
The last time the Steelers were in a search to replace a legendary play-by-play voice in the broadcast booth, they stayed local and hired Hillgrove to follow Jack Fleming, who held down the play-by-play job from 1965-1993.
Staying local, keeping it “in the family” so to speak is what the Steelers largely do. Benz bringing up the names of Pompeani and King is certainly reasonable. Pompeani is the preseason play-by-play man for the Steelers on KDKA-TV alongside color analyst Charlie Batch, while King has taken on a large role this year on the video side with player interviews and such following the late, great Stan Savran.
The Post-Gazette’s Ray Fittipaldo stated back in April that King was a “name to watch” for the gig.
But Benz hearing that at least one candidate outside of the area is under consideration isn’t all that much of a surprise. The Steelers want to get this hire right. While Pompeani and King are great in their own right, play-by-play roles aren’t exactly their comfort zone overall, each having more experience on the sports news side of things.
Though both seem rather capable and have handled play-by-play roles well in the past, becoming the Steelers’ full-time play-by-play man would be a huge step up, putting them in hallowed company within the Steelers’ organization, which has had just broadcasters all-time in Joe Tucker, Fleming and Hillgrove.
There’s some pressure that follows that. Maybe that’s why the Steelers are being so cautious with this approach.
They are taking an awful long time though, which is a bit concerning as the NFL calendar continues to zoom ahead.
