A life well lived: Lloyd Hill Sr. was a North Quincy coach, principal, 'man of character'

QUINCY – For his former football players at North Quincy High School, coach Lloyd Hill Sr. left a lasting legacy. A dozen or so still get together every month to talk about the 1960s and his inspiring combination of Hall of Fame talent, toughness, determination and kindness.

They describe "a gentle giant" and role model, a Brockton boy who grew up in the Great Depression, was a sparring partner for Rocky Marciano and relentless in his work ethic. As he pursued his own competitive gifts and developed those of others, he retained "all the character in the world."

Lloyd H. Hill Sr. died April 15 in Milton at age 94, leaving his wife, four sons, a daughter and eight grandchildren.

"Everybody who was in contact with him was better off for it," said Ken McPhee, who played for Hill at North Quincy. "He was a tough, tough coach, but there were so many good things he did, and it was always to make you better. You lose people like that who have such quality, and the world just isn't as good."

Quincy School Committee member Frank Santoro, 73, who graduated in the North Quincy Class of 1967, had Hill as a teacher, assistant principal and football line coach. Santoro later succeeded him as the principal of Quincy High School.

"I watched this man develop," Santoro said. "He was soft and gentle-hearted, but on the football field, he turned into a different man. In the classroom or outside of practice, he was mild mannered, a good listener. The kids felt comfortable talking to him and when he spoke, they were words of wisdom."

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McPhee, 73, of Weymouth, loves to share favorite stories about the line coach who helped lead the North Quincy football team to an undefeated Class A Division season in 1966-67.

After North Quincy High won an important game, Hill sought out the team's center, a discouraged Donny Thomas, in the locker room. Thomas had a very disappointing game and Hill told him, "I apologize that I didn't coach you better. You are a better player than that and I let you down."

Hill was displaying what his youngest son, Rich Hill, a Red Sox pitcher, later might call "a life lesson" in leading by example.

"I was very fortunate growing up to see how he put in time and effort and persistence so that things were done right," Rich Hill said.

Lloyd H. Hill Sr. was captain of the football teams at Brockton High School and Brown University, where he was an All-American tackle.

"He was known as a very tough player and wouldn't accept a subpar performance from his teammates," McPhee said, leading into another story.

In college, the practices could become quite rough. At one, a teammate finally protested by saying, "Hey I'm your roommate!"

Hill, 6-foot-2 and 205 pounds, quickly responded, "Not out here you're not!"

Some years later, as an assistant principal in Quincy, this same tough guy lauded for his fierce determination would present a school program on "the fears and feelings of seventh grade students."

A South Shore upbringing

Lloyd Hill Sr. grew up in Brockton in the Depression with two brothers and a sister. Times were hard, and each day before school Lloyd and his brother delivered 100 newspapers across the city. He graduated from Brockton High School in 1946, won a football scholarship to Brown University in the Class of 1951 and then was drafted by the Pittsburgh Steelers.

The U.S. Army took him instead, and he served in Korea and Japan from 1951 to 1958.

He returned home, earned a master's degree in education at Bridgewater State and met his future wife, Peggy, on a beach in Dennis. Married in 1960, they settled in Milton to raise their family and had their first four children in five years.

After serving as head football coach at Canton High School, he came to Quincy in 1962 as a teacher, assistant coach and assistant principal at North Quincy High. In 1978, he made the move to principal of Quincy High School.

Along the way, he went Suffolk University law school, working nights as a security guard at Pneumatic Scale. He became an adjunct professor at Northeastern University and Quincy College.

A natural runner, he ran in 37 Boston Marathons, preferring to use "shoe goo" rather than buy new sneakers.

As principal, he led Quincy High through major changes, serving more diverse cultures and keeping up with new technology. A 1982, Patriot Ledger article quoted him telling his students that their "survival will depend on whether you can work with a computer."

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When he retired in 1998, the school named the new auditorium The Lloyd Hill Center for the Performing Arts. Then-School Superintendent Eugene Creedon praised the 35-year career of a gentleman who was "honest, fair, forthright and zealous," especially about guarding the school's reputation.

"I don't know anyone who strives more to make people see the positive side of his school," Creedon said.

At Brown, one of his teammates had been Joe Paterno, who would become head football coach at Pennsylvania State University.

“Of all the people I have been around, you were probably as good a football player pound for pound as anybody, and as fine a person, and as good a friend as anybody could want,” Paterno said in a statement sent to Hill's retirement party.

His four sons – Lloyd Jr., Larry, John and Rich – and daughter Cathi grew up with a mother who loved to cook and made sure everyone was well provided for and a father who was busy but always present at all their school events: plays, musicals, debates, band and choir.

"Our father was a remarkable personification of strength and purpose ... true grit in continuous motion," Lloyd Jr. said in his father's eulogy at St. Agatha's Church. "As we grew older, we saw how our father loved being a dad. It was his true vocation."

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He described a father who "always made you the priority with each encounter. Dad would listen intently and sincerely understood what was needed to be said at the right moment and at the right time – encouraging and inspiring – a source of motivation and hope to meet every challenge in our personal lives."

He never lost his competitive spark, which was reflected in his youngest son, who was born when he was 51.

"I just love the way you pitch ... the intensity and competitiveness," he told Rich Hill after watching a Red Sox game at Fenway Park in his late 80s.

Rich Hill has thought about how, because of the Korean War, his father "was drafted early on and his own opportunities in professional football didn't come to fruition." As his father's constant companion growing up, he "had the importance of persistence, fortitude and continuing to move forward instilled in myself."

He hears stories about how good his father was as a football player, how he could make things happen on the football field and of the respect he got from other players. In his father's belongings from Korea, he found letters of commendation about his coaching the Army football team, "using football as a way to bring everybody together."

All his children appreciated that Lloyd Hill Sr. was formed in difficult times with the attitude that, as Rich Hill said, "If something needs to be done, I will create that change. It is your own actions and ability that create your own success."

"His hopes were our dreams and he did everything to help us realize them," eldest son Lloyd Jr. said. "We will always strive to emulate (his) grace and humility, bringing these virtues forward in our lives."

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This article originally appeared on The Patriot Ledger: Lloyd Hill Sr. remembered as an icon, legendary North Quincy coach