Longtime Pitt analyst Dick Groat won't return in 2019-20

Published Mar. 13, 2019 6:17 p.m. ET

PITTSBURGH (AP) — Pittsburgh basketball announcer Dick Groat won't return for a 41st season as a color analyst on the team's radio broadcasts.

Groat, a Pittsburgh native who was an All-America basketball player at Duke, is one of a select group of athletes to play in both the NBA and major league baseball. He was taken with the third overall pick by the NBA's Fort Wayne Pistons in 1952 and spent a year in professional basketball before moving to baseball.

Groat was an eight-time All-Star and won the National League's Most Valuable Player Award in 1960 while playing for the Pittsburgh Pirates, who won the World Series that year. He retired in 1967 and has served as the color commentator for the Panthers since 1979.

Pitt athletic director Heather Lyke called Groat's "legendary voice" an "asset" to the program. Lyke said the 88-year-old Groat "will always be a revered member of the Pitt family and will remain a fixture around our basketball team for many years to come."

Groat's responsibilities had scaled back recently. He stopped working road games last season.

Groat told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette the decision was not his and called it a "complete shock." Groat told the newspaper he was informed he would not be on air for the 2019-2020 season a couple of weeks ago.