Sam Nover

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Sam Nover (March 5, 1941 – December 4, 2018) was an American sportscaster known for his 30-year run as the lead sports anchor at Pittsburgh’s WPXI-TV. Born Samuel A. Nover in Detroit, he studied at the University of Michigan, Ferris State University, and Eastern Michigan University. He started in radio in the 1960s and then moved to television in Detroit before settling in Pittsburgh in 1970, where he stayed until his retirement in 2001, except for a two-year stint with NBC Sports in New York. He also called games for the USFL Pittsburgh Maulers and did boxing assignments for NBC Sports and NBC Sportsworld, often with partners like Ray Mancini.

Nover is remembered for the last sit-down interview with Roberto Clemente before Clemente’s death in 1972. He handled Penguins play-by-play in the 1970s and did Steelers preseason TV in the late 1980s and 1990s. He briefly worked with NBC at the Moscow Olympics, but the U.S. boycott led him back to WPXI. He lived in West Palm Beach, Florida, and Pittsburgh, had two daughters named Dana and Molly, and died in 2018 at age 77.