Don Hickman, who was an anchor at WICS in Springfield for 29 years, died of natural causes Saturday. He was 74.
Hickman was an anchor at the ABC-affiliate from 1972 until his retirement in 2001.
“He was the Walter Cronkite of central Illinois,” Gus Gordon, WICS chief meteorologist, told the State Journal-Register. “He was the one you trusted and the one who gave the news to the area for almost 30 years.”
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Hickman anchored the first television broadcast about the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr., on April 4, 1968, according to the Journal-Register. In addition to his nightly anchoring duties on the 6 and 10 p.m. newscasts, Hickman served as news director and vice president of news at the station.