It's a story worth telling: Raised in New Orleans’ Magnolia Housing Project by a single parent, Thomas Hill earned respect as a collegiate and Olympic hurdler and then as a student affairs leader. Even so, it was simply a yen to assist a few causes dear to him that led to a children’s book about his life, “Thomas Hill: From the Track to Academic Leadership,” published last summer by Curry Brothers Publishing.
He grew up running, but who doesn’t? Hill, however, was exceptionally agile over hurdles, and he ran at Arkansas State University, capturing the NCAA indoor 60-yard high hurdles title in 1970, the same year he tied two world records and ranked as the world’s best high hurdler. At the 1972 Olympic Games, he earned bronze in the 110-meter high hurdles.
Equally important, Hill completed his bachelor’s degree in 1972. Master’s and doctoral degrees in counselor education followed, as did positions in coaching, athletics, student life, and student services at the U.S. Military Academy, Arkansas State, Tulane University, University of Oklahoma, and University of Florida before he arrived in Ames. At Iowa State, he led the student affairs division for 18 years (1997-2015).
“A children’s book is not something I thought I’d be involved in, but it’s been an eye-opening experience,” Hill says. “It underscored the fact that when young kids see someone who looks like them, it becomes real for them.”
Hill says the book fits into a retirement project to document his family’s history. Those who know him won’t be surprised to learn it also supports a connect-the-dots philanthropic web.
Executive editor Gerald Curry and Hill are brothers in Sigma Pi Phi, an African American professional fraternity. They’re also members of a group organizing a reunion of 1964, 1968, and 1972 American track and field Olympians. To raise funds for it, Curry proposed a subscription children’s book series about Olympians and professional athletes who, like Hill, overcame incredible odds. Curry’s staff wrote the book.
“A tenet of the fraternity is academic achievement, so Gerald gets the importance of that balance,” Hill says. “Kids will focus on athletics and seem to think that if you’re a good athlete, you can’t be a scholar as well.
“I tell my grandsons (ages 17 and 14) just as I told my sons, it’s not that they can go together; they have to be together.”
Royalties from individual sales of Hill’s book support New Orleans high school graduates via the Mattie Hill Memorial Scholarship Foundation, established 30 years ago by Hill and his four brothers to honor their mother, the biggest proponent of education they knew. Royalties also are shared with Iowa State’s Thomas and Billye Hill endowed scholarship fund, which supports student development.
“Sharing this with Iowa State is consistent with who we are as a family,” Hill says. “Our intent has always been to help students.”
