It’s not often one man can find himself directly involved with three major sports, but Calvin Hill has never been ordinary. Hill made it to the NFL out of Yale and became a record-setting running back with the Dallas Cowboys. Now a consultant to the team, Hill has become better known in recent years for being the father of Grant Hill, the Orlando Magic’s all-star forward. Recently, Hill has become a member of one of the groups vying to buy the Washington Senators franchise from Major League Baseball. Late last week, Hill spent some time discussing his life in sports.
Anthony Cotton: So which is your most overriding concern right now: the Cowboys and the fight for the playoffs, getting Grant back onto the court or being selected by Major League Baseball?
Calvin Hill: Well, I guess I deal with them chronologically, so the most important thing right now is playing the New York Giants on Sunday. So then, I guess Grant is talking about a couple of weeks, and I’m not exactly sure when Major League Baseball will make a decision. Both of those things could be very close. Baseball has said they would try to make a decision before the end of the year, so I hope Grant is back on the court before the end of the year. What’s the saying, “Blood’s thicker than everything else”? So emotionally, it’s always going to be your child, but the thing I’m giving the most psychic energy to, and worrying about the most at this juncture, is the Giants.
AC: Let’s deal with each of them, starting with baseball. There are a lot of heavy hitters involved in the various groups. How many different groups are there right now?
CH: Ostensibly, there are seven. Financially, all of them had to satisfy Major League Baseball as far as its asking price for the team. George Soros is a member of one group, and individually he’s probably the wealthiest. I’m not sure what Forbes had him at, but he’s probably around $4 (billion) to $6 billion. All the groups are probably able to meet the price, but to me our group is the best group because of our philosophy and our ability to put together a winning product, both off the field and between the lines.
AC: Who else are you aligned with?
CH: I’m with Jeff Smulyan, who is the chairman of XX Broadcasting and was an owner with Seattle in the early 1990s. (Former Washington Redskins) Art Monk and Charles Mann are in our group. We also have Eric Holden, who was the deputy U.S. attorney general, among others. We feel very, very good about our group. The key is that we cover all the bases in terms of understanding Washington, D.C., from Anacostia to the Upper Northwest.
AC: It being Washington, how fierce are the politics involved? You’ve got people like Colin Powell joining other groups. I would think it could get pretty touchy.
CH: Obviously politics are the big thing here. Colin Powell is a very, very big name, but we hope we are in a good place politically. The city council will have to sign off on the lease for the stadium, and hopefully they’ll understand who we are and agree that we’re the best group to represent Washington.
AC: Why didn’t you ever go into politics? It seems like it would have been a natural for you after you were done playing.
CH: One of the things I’ve learned is that, from a political standpoint, I tend to be an idealist, and while I can look for consensus, I’m not a deal-maker. I’m not quid pro quo, you scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours. And the way politics have gotten recently, I would agree with Bill Bradley, who I believe recently said that they were dead. Things have gotten so, so partisan, it’s hard to find that common ground. It’s gotten nasty. But even in high school I wasn’t political. I never ran for student council or any of that stuff.
AC: Michael Jordan was often criticized for not getting involved in politics. Should more pro athletes become social activists?
CH: I haven’t gotten involved in terms of running for office, but I was very active in terms of helping with people’s campaigns. I was very involved in Bill Bradley’s campaign in 2000, and I’ve been very involved in gubernatorial races here in Virginia where I live. I think athletes need to be involved and understand what the issues are, and they need to take positions. I’ve certainly encouraged my son to get involved in politics and take advantage of his profile to make people understand that it’s their civic duty to be involved.
AC: Last year, one of the great stories in the NBA was Grant coming back after a lot of injuries. You said recently he thinks he’ll be an even better player this season.
CH: He has a sports hernia, just like Donovan McNabb. But before that happened, he said he had “recovered his athleticism.” I don’t know if you watched him play last year, but he was doing a lot of things he hadn’t done before. He wasn’t attacking the basket, he wasn’t playing above the rim. He was shooting more jump shots. This injury occurred in the preseason, but before that, he was playing above the rim, he had a great first step, he was going to the basket. He was doing all the athletic things he did before he initially hurt his ankle.
AC: You hear Earl Woods talk about how he trained and nurtured Tiger to be in the position he’s in now. What was your philosophy regarding Grant?
CH: I tell people the difference between a pat on the back and a kick in the butt is just 18 inches. My father used to tell me that, and that he was going to do both to stay in contact with me. We believed in discipline, and we believed in making him understand the importance of academics. We tried to emphasize on whose shoulders he was standing, whether it was us or those outside of our family who had provided him with opportunities, so he should show his reverence to those people by doing the right thing. Athletically, certainly we encouraged him to be involved, but we didn’t push him. The concern I had was that I didn’t want him to think he had to be this great athlete just because his father was a professional. I just wanted him to do what he was going to do. I remember when his wife was pregnant, I told him that one of the challenges he was going to have was, if the baby was a boy, and he decided not to play sports, was understanding that that was OK. I’ve seen too many people play sports, not because they wanted to do it, but because they felt compelled to do it.
AC: Your business card says you’re a consultant to the Cowboys. I’m curious how that works out working for Jerry Jones.
CH: It’s in a lot of different areas. Jerry likes surrounding himself with people whom he can ask for advice. I’m in player development, but when you are a member of the Cowboys’ team, it’s not unusual for someone to ask your opinion or recruit you in different areas, whether it’s marketing or the new stadium or whatever. I like to say I’m a member of his team and I can give him advice in any number of areas.
Anthony Cotton can be reached at 303-820-1292 or acotton@denverpost.com.
