Sugar Hill: Detroit Pistons forward Grant Hill is basketball's heir apparent - Cover Story

Janet and Calvin Hill did something right. The evidence of their inspiration and plain hard work is everywhere these days: Behold Grant Hill, their 23-year-old son and basketball's newest sensation, who slam-dunked his way to become an NBA Rookie of the Year last season. See Grant garner more votes for the 1995 All-Star Game than any other player, more than such high-profile vets as Sir Charles of Phoenix. The Mailman of Utah and that colorful character they call The Worm in Mr. Robinson's San Antonio neighborhood. Witness Grant's clean-cut good looks adorning cereal boxes; watch his lithe yet powerful six-foot, eight-inch frame strut its fine stuff in ubiquitous soda, truck and sneaker commercials. See this legend in the making lend his boyish elegance to magazine covers, then listen as he graciously protests that he's no hero--he's just an ordinary guy. Not a chance, Sugar Hill. But keep that resolute sense of balance about yourself just the same. In a world of superstar hype and sports-fan hysteria, it's part of your extraordinary charm.

Family and friends, not fame and fortune, are what really matter to Grant Hill, the NBA's hottest young superstar. This is as true now of the high-flying Detroit Pistons scorer as it was when he was a bashful freshman at South Lakes High School in Reston, Virginia. Back then, the basketball coach recognized Hill's athletic gifts and proposed that he move up to the varsity team. But Hill wanted to stay with his friends on the freshman team. The coach told young Grant that he had the talent to play with the older squad, and Hill, never one to shrink from competition, finally agreed to the move. He went on to become one of the most acclaimed high-school players in the country. Later, at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina, the unassuming but ferociously competitive young star led his team to two national championships, earning a degree in history and political science in the process. Observes Hill: "I've always been unsure of myself, but I've always set high goals. Those things may seem to contradict each other, but that's how I am."

Grant Hill is still a history buff, and when he's not honing his hoop skills, you're likely to find him browsing in bookstores for the latest historical offerings. Despite his talent and the attention it brought him, Hill was never tempted to ditch college early to turn pro. In college, academics were as important to him as basketball. "I've seen the rewards of getting a good education," he explains. "It's been very beneficial to my family, to my parents and me. I think a lot of the problems out there are due to people not getting a good education."

He credits his successful, hardworking parents with passing on to him their respect for academics and a sound set of values. His mother, Janet, is a Wellesley College alumna who, as an undergraduate, shared a suite with Hillary Rodham Clinton. Still friendly with the First lady, Janet is now the co-owner of a corporate consulting firm. Grant's father, Calvin, was an All-Ivy football running back at Yale and later a star player in the NFL.

But if the Hills were financially comfortable, Grant didn't spend his childhood eating caviar with a silver spoon. The Hill household ran on a strict code of discipline. "Calvin's "an only child, and I'm an only child," explains Janet Hill. When we had Grant we didn't know anything about raising children. So we set very limited boundaries." Growing up, Grant had an early curfew, was allowed to watch TV only in moderation and had phone privileges restricted to weekends. Hill's friends dubbed his mother "The Sergeant," but later promoted her to "The General" at Janet's insistence. She may have been a four-star general at that. Once, when Grant was late for his curfew, his mother broke his watch--then repaired it and gave it back to him as a birthday present. Because both parents had such demanding schedules, the rules had to be clear-cut, but there was also a lot of warmth: Janet made sure to call Grant every day at 4 p.m., when he got home from school and before she began the commute home from work. Calvin, whose interest in religion led him to attend divinity school while holding down his NFL job, imparted strong spiritual values and a sense of proportion about wealth and celebrity.

"My parents always taught me that in life there are going to be successes and failures, and you just try to learn from both of them," Grant says. "It applies to everything. In basketball, for example, you can come down the court and make a great play, or you can come down the court and make a bad play. But you can't dwell on that play--there'll be so many more plays. It's like life: There will be high highs and low lows, and you have to take it all in stride and move on to the next."

After college, Hill's next play was signing a lucrative contract that will pay him $45 million over eight years with the Detroit Pistons. Already sportswriters are touting Hill as "the next Michael Jordan." Like His Airness, Hill is demonstrating that he can score big off the court as well as on it. His endorsement deals with Fila shoes and clothing, Sprite, GMC trucks, Kellogg's and other companies earn him an estimated $5 million yearly. Tom George, a vice-president at Advantage International, the sportsmarketing firm that represents Hill, says advertisers and the public are not only attracted by Grant's good looks, they're also impressed by his strength of character. "The first marketing meeting we had with Grant, he came in unaccompanied," George recalls. "No lawyers, no friends, no entourage. There were ten of us, ten suits around the table. And Grant handled that room perfectly for two hours." Adds George, "I'm 41 years old, and when I grow up, I want to be Grant Hill. You just feel good being around him."

Hill exudes a quiet, good-natured confidence. But beneath his well-mannered demeanor lies the soul of a fierce competitor. "What motivates me?" he says, considering the question. "To be the best. I'm very competitive. Whether it's playing a particular sport or doing something with my friends, I always want to be the best."

He admits that his drive to win may come from a childhood perception that he had some very large shoes to fill. "When I was 6 or 7 years old, I used to think, What did my dad do at this age? What awards did he win? And I'd try to match that in basketball. And I've done that throughout my "career, trying to match or outdo what my dad had done at that particular stage of his career."

Hill stands six feet eight inches with 225 pounds of lean muscle, and his athletic success has been so exceptional that some time ago friends of the family stopped calling him "Calvin's son" and began calling the elder Hill "Grant's dad." But success hasn't spoiled Grant Hill. He's the kind of player who calls assistant coaches "sir" and doesn't throw temper tantrums even when refs make questionable calls. His slam dunks are thunderous crowd pleasers, but he never talks trash or taunts opponents. Off the court, he claims, he leads a fairly unspectacular life, filling spare time reading, playing golf or hanging out with longtime friends. Still single, he dated actress Jada Pinkett back in college. Laughing shyly, he confessos to an infatuation with singer Janet Jackson.

In the three-bedroom suburban Detroit condo where Hill resides, his main indulgence is a half-dozen areade-style video games. "I'm just a normal, typical 23-year-old," he insists. "I like to have fun, but I'm an only child, so I like to have time to myself too." Hill doesn't quite fathom his frequent portrayal as The Last Nice Guy of Sports--an out-of-style, nearly extinct being who is going the way of rotary telephones and knee-high white athletic socks. Hill points out that he is not the only gentleman in basketball. His mother, janet, is quick to cite the names of other nice young men: Patrick Ewing, for one; Hakeem Olajuwon, for another--and many more. As janet puts it all in perspective, one senses that perhaps it is not just Grant, the reigning heartthrob of basketball, but Grant's whole family that draws our admiration.

When things get tough, Grant says he still falls back on those rules of righteous living instilled by his parents. It helps him keep a level head about his stardom. "You've got to be consistent in your performance and in your image, he explains. "You can't project yourself one way and act another way. I've never wanted to be putting on something phony; that's not who I am. What you see with me is what you get."

Yes, Janet and Calvin Hill did something right.

Christopher John Farley's first novel, My Favorite War, will be published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux, Inc., in summer 1996.

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