At this month's Final Four in San Antonio, Jake Poses caught up with Calvin Hill, father of Duke basketball standout Grant Hill and former star running back for the Dallas Cowboys. Hill, who retains close ties to Yale--his alma mater--and Duke, spoke about his son, the state of college athletics and recent changes at Duke.
Q How many Final Fours have you been to?
A Before Grant went to Duke, starting in '84, he and I went to every Final Four. The only one we missed was the one when Duke lost to UNLV. So I went to three out of four when he was there, and I have only missed one since then.
Q What is Grant up to these days and how is he doing?
A He goes back to Duke on occasion because his doctor is at Duke. He is getting involved in a couple of other things. He has taken several courses in real estate over the last couple of years, so he is a lower case Donald Trump. He has been involved with an art tour. He has a collection of his art that is going around, and it will end up at Duke in the next year or so.
Q What about you, what fills your time these days?
A Other than watching as much Duke basketball as I possibly can and as much Missouri basketball and as much Michigan basketball, I'm still doing some consulting in sports, some with the Cowboys.
Q As a father of a former Division I athlete and as a former Division I athlete yourself, what do you think about the state of Division I athletics?
A There are problems, but the problems are pretty high profile.
Obviously one big problem is the whole state and impact of TV and whether or not student-athletes are in fact students at some places. You hear a lot about what doesn't happen, but that is unfortunate because most of my focus is at Duke and things are going pretty well in that sense. Some people are concerned about kids coming out early and not really valuing an education, and that concerns me. I think sometimes the problems are minuscule compared to all the participants; it's not a large percentage. All in all I wish other segments of society were in as good as shape as this.
Q President Keohane is stepping down at the end of the year. Have you had any interaction with her while she was at Duke?
A She was at Wellesley and my wife is on the board of Wellesley, so we knew Nan before she got there. Certainly she has done an exceptional job. I mean, look at the capital improvements, it's remarkable. So her tenure seemingly has been a very, very good tenure. The new president coming in is a Yale guy, and Dick [Broadhead] was a year ahead of me at Yale. I think the people are going to be very, very happy. He was very, very popular at Yale.
Q Do you have a personal relationship with him?
A I knew him. I knew his roommate who was on the basketball team at Yale. I didn't know Dick as well as an undergraduate. I got to know him as an alumnus going back to Yale. He has been the Dean there for years. All the students and faculty alike love him, so I am excited for Duke, and I know he is very, very excited.
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