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, 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" of "The Place", a television show on WQED 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, Tunch Ilkin, and Craig Wolfley. He also continues to broadcast Pitt football and basketball games. Former Pittsburgh Pirate Dick Groat serves as Hillgrove's broadcast partner for basketball. His partners for football have been Johnny Sauer, Bill Osborn, Bill Fralic, Pat Bostick. Bill Osborn returned to the booth in 2016 after Bostick stepped down.
Other sports
Hillgrove has also been a commentator for Pitt football and basketball games. Former Pittsburgh Pirate Dick Groat 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, Bill Osborn, Bill Fralic, and Pat Bostick.
Hillgrove married Rosette Sapienza, a vocal music teacher, in 1965. They live in Murrysville, Pennsylvania. The couple have two children and two grandchildren. On June 19, 2020, Hillgrove was charged with driving under the influence for an incident four days earlier. Hillgrove drove a vehicle into the front of a grocery store, breaking two windows, and then went inside to fill a prescription. He then returned to the car and drove home, where police later arrived and conducted a breathalyzer test. His blood alcohol content was found to be 0.16, twice the legal limit in Pennsylvania. Hillgrove told officers he "had a couple beers" and that the "car just got away from ".
