Dave Wills (college)

David Herbert Wills

• School Elmhurst College

• Born March 13, 1964 in Chicago, IL USA
• Died March 5, 2023 in Lutz, FL USA

Biographical Information

Dave Wills has been an announcer and a college coach.

Wills was pitching coach and recruiting coordinator at his alma mater in 1989 then was head coach at the University of Chicago in 1990. He then went into the broadcast booth, working for the Kane County Cougars (1991-1995), Chicago White Sox (1997-2004) and Tampa Bay Rays (2005-2022). He also has done football and basketball coverage for the University of Notre Dame and the University of Illinois-Chicago.

He passed away suddenly during spring training in 2023 at the age of 58, one day after calling a Rays Grapefruit League game. Towards the end of the previous season, he had been diagnosed with a erratic heartbeat and had had to miss a couple of weeks of work. With the Rays, he mostly teamed up with Andy Freed.

Source: 2013 Rays Media Guide

Further Reading

• Gabe Lacques (USA Today): "Tampa Bay Rays play-by-play radio broadcaster Dave Wills dies at 58", Yahoo! News, March 5, 2023. [1]
• Mark Topkin: "Rays radio broadcaster Dave Wills dies at age 58: After joining the team in 2005, Wills and partner Andy Freed became one of the league’s most veteran and respected duos", Tampa Bay Times, March 5, 2023. [2]