DALLAS — Almost five decades into his celebrated, Texas Radio Hall of Fame career, legendary Dallas sports radio host Norm Hitzges is hanging up his microphone.
He made the announcement shortly after 10:35 a.m. on Thursday during his "Norm & D Invasion" show that he co-hosts with Donovan Lewis on Sportsradio 1310-AM/97.6-FM The Ticket each weekday from 10 a.m. to noon.
He will continue co-hosting in his time slot for a little more than a week. His last day on the air will be Friday, June 23.
When he turns off his mic that day, it will mark the end of a remarkably storied career. Hitzges has worked 48 years as a sports commentator in North Texas.
Hitzges, 78, was the host of the first sports-focused morning radio show in the country when he began broadcasting on 570-AM KLIF in 1986. In 2000, he left KLIF to join the ranks at The Ticket, where he's been a midday host on the top-rated and award-winning sports station ever since.
Renowned for his seasoned perspective and folksy presentation, mainstays in Hitzges' on-air arsenal include his annual fantasy Kentucky Derby call and the "name game" he performs to preview each year's NFL Draft. Hitzes was also an early adopter of fantasy sports and sports gambling, now-mainstream concepts that were long regular features of his shows.
Outside of radio, Hitzges has held myriad other positions in sports media throughout the years, too – both in North Texas and beyond. He worked for a time as a color commentator for ESPN's baseball broadcasts, and has served as the television play-by-play voice of the Dallas Sidekicks indoor soccer team.
Notably, Hitzges has also regularly utilized his platform for philanthropy, having long supported in his shows the efforts of the Texans! Can Academy organization that provides at-risk youth with education and life-skills training, and annually hosting his 18-hour marathon "Norm-A-Thon" broadcasts each holiday season to raise millions of dollars for the Dallas homeless shelter Austin Street Center.
Although he announced on the air in August 2020 that he had been diagnosed with a very treatable form of bladder cancer, he made it clear during his retirement reveal Thursday morning that his decision to step away from working was not a health-related decision.
Hitzges also added that he still plans to regularly appear on The Ticket in the months and years to come in a fill-in anchor capacity. He additionally said he expects to continue hosting the station's annual NFL and NBA draft coverage.
Still, there's no overstating what his stepping away from full-time studio work means for the Dallas radio landscape.
"It ends the greatest talk show career in the history of our city and one of the greatest in the country," Ticket morning show co-host George Dunham said on the station shortly after Hitzges' reveal.
Hitzges' retirement is the latest newsworthy event in a tumultuous few years in Dallas sports talk radio.
In 2020, Hitzges' fellow Texas Radio Hall of Famer and colleague Mike Rhyner, who helped found The Ticket, announced his own retirement only to come out of retirement two years later to join the ranks at upstart rival station 97.1-FM The Freak – a station whose own host roster is heavily populated with former Ticket personalities.
No replacement has yet been named for Hitzges' hosting duties at The Ticket.