Hall of Fame
JERRY HILL (Football 1977-80)
Jerry Hill was a four-year football letterman as a receiver for the Lions from 1977-80.
He was on the receiving end of one of the most famous passes in UNA history when he pulled in a pass from Fred Riley and went 87 yards for a touchdown on November 22, 1980 to give the Lions a 35-28 win on the road over Jacksonville State and earn the school its first Gulf South Conference football championship. Hill was selected as a permanent team captain on that 1980 team that not only won the school’s first GSC football title but also made UNA’s first trip to the NCAA Division II Playoffs.
Hill was GSC Offensive Player of the Week for Oct. 27, 1980 against Troy State and was selected second-team All-GSC in 1980. He had two 100-yard receiving games with 129 on nine catches and one TD against Troy State in 1980 and 187 yards on five catches and one TD against Jacksonville State in 1980.
Playing on primarily running teams, he was UNA’s top receiver in 1978 with 11 catches for 189 yards and three TDs and 1980 with 31 catches for 603 yards and two TDs.
An All-Gulf South Conference selection following the 1980 season, he was drafted in the 11th round of the 1981 NFL draft by the Washington Redskins.
Hill was selected as a member of the UNA Alll-Decade Team for 1979-88. Hill began a long tenure as a high school football coach with a five-year stint at Central High School in Florence in 1989 where he led two teams to the semifinals of the state playoffs. He moved to Coffee High School in 1994. In eight years at Coffee his teams made the playoffs three times. In 2004 Hill became the head football coach at Brooks High School.
He led the Lions to the state semifinals in 2007 and is the winningest coach in Brooks football history with a 90-38 record in eleven seasons at the helm. He was the Times Daily Coach of the Year in 1992, 1993, and 2007. Hill coached the North-South All-Star game in 2006, and received the AHSAA Distinguished Service Award at the Alabama-Mississippi All-Star game in 2007.
Hill and his wife, Beth, have a son, Austin, and a granddaughter, Ila Kate. At the time of his induction he was serving as principal at Brooks High School.
