This is the latest post for an ongoing media project — SoCal Sports History 101: The Prime Numbers from 00 to 99 that Uniformly, Uniquely and Unapologetically Reveal The Narrative of Our Region’s Athletic Heritage. Pick a number and highlight an athlete — person, place or thing — most obviously connected to it by fame and fortune, someone who isn’t so obvious, and then take a deeper dive into the most interesting story tied to it. It’s a combination of star power, achievement, longevity, notoriety, and, above all, what makes that athlete so Southern California. Quirkiness and notoriety factor in. And it should open itself to more discussion and debate — which is what sports is best at doing.
The most obvious choices for No. 39:
= Roy Campanella: Not-quite-Los Angeles Dodgers
= Sam Cunningham: USC football via Santa Barbara
= Mike Witt: California Angels via Anaheim Servite
The not-so-obvious choices for No. 39:
= Milt Davis: UCLA football
= Willie Strode: Los Angeles Rams via UCLA
= Chris Kluwe: UCLA football
The most interesting story for No. 39:
Jim Hill: Los Angeles sports TV anchor (1976 to present)
Southern California map pinpoints:
Hollywood, every major sports venue in Southern California
As by protocol for any sports televised press conference in Southern California over the last several decades, Jim Hill was dutifully called upon to ask the first question when the Los Angeles Chargers reeled in the media for a Feb. 1, 2024 announcement, moving it from their Costa Mesa headquarters to the YouTube Theater in Inglewood next to SoFi Stadium.
Jim Harbaugh, who had just won a national championship at the University of Michigan, was introduced as the Chargers newest head coach.
“Coach, I’m Jim Hill, KCAL-9 news … congratu …” is how Hill began.
“The legend,” Harbaugh interrupts. “Of course I know who you are.”
“No, no, no, you’re the legend,” Hill responds.
“You’re the legend,” Harbaugh repeats.
Hill continued by congratulating Harbaugh, wishing him good luck and noted that by seeing “all of us here today, what does this tell you about how popular this choice is by the Chargers to make you as a the head coach, and, the great expectations that come?”
“Well, thank you for that question, Jim,” Harbaugh replied. “And you are a legend.”
Harbaugh got in the last word.
As the Chargers began honored players from its past during Black History Month in that same February of 2024, Hill was a natural to profile. It started “Before legendary sports anchor Jim Hill got his start in television and became one of the well-known faces in Los Angeles and around the country, he was the one being interviewed.”
There’s that “legend” thing tossed around. And the Chargers have the rights to Hill’s No. 39 origin story, how it launched his sports broadcast career –a byproduct of the work ethic he established as an NFL player — and how he became a role model of African-American success in the community, setting him apart more than any other in Southern California local TV history.
Continue reading “No. 39: Jim Hill”
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