EDINBURG — Hundreds of friends, family members, coaching colleagues and current and former Vaqueros players gathered Tuesday afternoon to pay their respects to late UTRGV men’s basketball head coach Lew Hill at a memorial service held at the UTRGV Fieldhouse.
Dozens more who could not attend in person due to COVID-19 travel precautions created video tributes that were played throughout the afternoon to a melancholy arena filled with mourners, many of whom wore black “Peace and Love” masks.
The scoreboard above the court read “Lew Hill: 65-21,” symbolizing his 55 years of life beginning in 1965 and ending in 2021. He had led his team onto the court for the final time the night before he died, more than two weeks ago.
A stage surrounded by orange and white roses sat below the scoreboard that displayed his name and above his wooden casket.
That’s where a collection of Hill’s lifelong friends, colleagues, family members and players convened to eulogize the late coach, share memories of their time together and reflect upon the legacy he has left.
“My sister Erica and I went to (his last game) and we watched our father coach the game that he loved. I call it his last dance,” said Sierra Hill, the oldest of Hills’ five children. “After the game, we went around to the bus. We hugged him so tight like we hadn’t just seen him the month before and he told us how much he loved us.”
Between the tears and laughs, a vivid picture was painted of the full life that the former Vaqueros head coach lived.
Hill was a relentless competitor, a character trait that occasionally spilled over into family game nights where he was known to bend the rules and sometimes create new ones.
Hill’s children remarked that their father was more than just a basketball coach, but a life coach, which was a sentiment echoed by many of his current players who took to the podium to speak about their head coach.
“He was more than a coach to me. He was a father figure,” junior guard Ricky “Doc” Nelson said. “In those office talks, we never talked about basketball. I would always wonder why he would talk to me about the stuff he did like (his wife) Miss Renee, how to treat a woman and his kids. … Coach Hill was more than a coach. He would push you to the limits you had because he really cared about you.”
Beyond being a man of his word, though, it was clear that Hill was also a man of action.
Hill spoke up about racial inequality amid the George Floyd protests that swept the country during the summer of 2020. It was a personal stand for Hill after being personally subjected to police brutality as a younger man several decades earlier.
That strength in the face of adversity is also what compelled Hill to return to coach his final game, the day before his death, to set an example for his family and his team.
“That last game Feb. 6 made me really understand how remarkable of a man he really was,” junior power forward Sean Rhea said. “To be a Black man, let alone a Division I college basketball coach as a Black man, which is very rare, and I was happy to be around and see a Black man that strong in front of me changed my life. He was the captain of this ship and he’ll always be the captain of this ship.”
Hill’s fortitude was fueled by his determination to live his dreams.
After a brief stint playing professional basketball in Germany was ended in a brutal car accident, Hill returned to the United States to pursue a career as a basketball coach starting at the high school ranks and gradually working his way up.
He finally earned the opportunity to interview for his first Division I head-coaching job but was turned away after administrators at a California school were underwhelmed by his vocabulary.
Hill, however, did not make excuses and continued to grind until his dreams were realized at UTRGV where he gave others similar second chances.
“I had no other real offers, so I came to his office asking if I could get a spot on his team,” said senior guard Nick Mora, a Weslaco native. “He allowed me to get that chance and I’ll always be thankful to him for taking that chance on me. … He taught me so much more than Xs and Os on the basketball court. He taught me about the game of life and how to be a man. I’ve had a lot of injuries and surgeries, but after each and every one, Coach Hill was always one of the first people to reach out to me and that meant a lot to me.”
“Coach Hill pulled me to the side (one day at practice) and said, ‘I don’t care if you’re first, but don’t ever be last. Don’t let adversity define how you live your life,’” sophomore forward Quinton Johnson II said. “I want everybody to know this is adversity and something Coach Hill preached. He wants us to be strong like he was strong. He was a leader for everybody.”
Before the memorial ended with a symbolic white balloon release outside the gym doors, Hill’s closest confidants from fellow coaches to lifelong friends said he had relayed his hopes of capturing a Western Athletic Conference championship with this year’s UTRGV squad.
It’s a promise his players and coaching staff have committed to, finishing what Hill started by getting the Vaqueros their first NCAA Tournament berth.
“He had a five-year plan and said when he had all his recruits here, we were going to go win the WAC,” said senior point guard Javon Levi, one of Hill’s first recruits at UTRGV. “He stuck to his word, built this program and got us to this point in his fifth year. All we can do is go out there and do our best to finish what he started.”
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Twitter: @ByAndyMcCulloch
