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
Jim Hill, according to protocol at any sports TV press conference in Southern California, was called on first when the Los Angeles Chargers summoned the media for a Feb. 1, 2024 announcement, so major it had to be moved from their Costa Mesa headquarters over to the YouTube Theater in Inglewood next to SoFi Stadium.
The team hired a new coach: Jim Harbaugh, just off winning a national championship at the University of Michigan.
“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 continues by congratulating Harbaugh, wishing him good luck and notes that 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 says. “And you are a legend.”
Harbaugh got in the last word.
When the Chargers began honoring players from its past during Black History Month in that same February of 2024, Hill was a natural person 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.”
The Chargers have the rights to Hill’s No. 39 origin story, and how he launched into a broadcasting career that has been a byproduct of the work ethic he established as an NFL player with the franchise. No. 39 synced him up with a post-playing career that made him a role model of African-American success in the community and set him apart more than any other in Southern California local TV history.
Continue reading “No. 39: Jim Hill”
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