'To Know Dave Was To Love Dave': Oak Lawn Native Wills Dies At 58

OAK LAWN, IL — Dave Wills, the Oak Lawn native who devoted his life to calling baseball games on the radio first in the minor leagues and then at the Major League level with the Chicago White Sox and, for the past 18 years with the Tampa Bay Rays, died in his sleep Sunday morning.

He was 58.

Wills graduated from Oak Lawn Community High School, where he played baseball and basketball and wrote for the school newspaper. Wills then attended Elmhurst College, where he was a pitcher and worked for the school newspaper. Wills also served as an interim baseball coach at the University of Illinois-Chicago for a year before his broadcasting career began a year later.

Wills was the radio play-by-play voice of the Kane County Cougars between 1991 and 1995 while hosting pre-game and postgame radio shows for Notre Dame football and basketball and doing radio play-by-play for the University of Illinois-Chicago’s basketball team.

After spending 11 years in the Chicago White Sox radio booth, Wills was hired by the Tampa Bay Rays in 2005 and has worked for the team ever since. He called many of the franchise’s key moments, including the Rays’ World Series appearances in 2008 and 2020.

Wills missed time in the booth with a heart issue last fall before returning to work to call the Rays’ playoff series against the Cleveland Guardians. He had just worked in the Rays’ radio booth on Saturday in a game against the New York Yankees and, according to family members, had not experienced any recent health issues, The Tampa Bay Times reported on Sunday.

Last fall, Wills said he was diagnosed with an irregular or erratic heartbeat that affects the heart's upper chambers.

“Dave was the classic Chicago South Sider: friendly, welcoming, big voice, big character, caring and die-hard when it came to his sports,” White Sox communications vice president Scott Reifert told the Tampa Bay Times on Sunday. “The Chicago genes never completely left him, and he was celebrated each time the Rays visited. Dave loved baseball, and his voice and presence will be missed in ballparks and by fans across the major leagues. A sad day.”

Wills was inducted into the Oak Lawn Community High School Alumni Hall of Fame in 2003. In addition to his radio work, he was recognized for his charitable contributions to Hope Children’s Network, the St. Germaine Courage Program, and Children’s Memorial Hospital.

Former Sox radio partner Darrin Jackson called Wills “bigger than life”, adding “He was always a legend in the City of Chicago”, Jackson told the Tampa Bay Times.

On Facebook, his daughter, Michelle, wrote, “to know Dave was to love Dave. He had an infectious personality and an uncanny ability to talk to anyone and everyone and make them laugh.”

Wills is survived by his wife, Liz, son Alex and daughter Michelle.