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| Born | June 23, 1956 San Diego, California |
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| Career information | |||
| Year(s) | 1977–1986 | ||
| NFL Draft | 1977 / Round: 3 / Pick: 62 | ||
| College | Stanford | ||
| Professional teams | |||
| Career stats | |||
| Receptions | 479 | ||
| Receiving yards | 7,988 | ||
| Touchdowns | 51 | ||
| Stats at NFL.com | |||
| Career highlights and awards | |||
Leroy Anthony Hill, Jr. (born June 23, 1956 in San Diego, California) is a former professional American football wide receiver who played ten seasons in the National Football League for the Dallas Cowboys from 1977 to 1986. Before his NFL career, he played collegiately at Stanford University.
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Early days
Hill was a high school quarterback at Long Beach Polytechnic High School, where he followed in the footsteps of an earlier-day record passer, Gene Washington. Hill broke most of Washington's high school passing records, and then followed him to Stanford University, where he became a wide receiver, and again broke most of his receiving records.
Hill ranks eleventh on Stanford's all-time list for yards receiving with 2,225 yards. He also had 140 catches.
Graduated from Stanford University with a 3.3 GPA in Political Science at the age of 20.
Professional career
He was drafted by the Dallas Cowboys in the 3rd round of the 1977 NFL Draft. He spent 10 successful seasons in the NFL with the Cowboys, from 1977 to 1986
He started his career as a punt retuner and backup wide receiver, but his performance during the 1978 preseason was so outstanding, that he won the starting receiver position, that was shared the previous year by experienced receivers Golden Richards and Butch Johnson.
Hill eventually became one of the top receivers in the NFL from 1978 to 1985, and was dubbed the "Thrill" and "Dial 80", because of his explosiveness and ability to make big plays.
A three-time Pro Bowl selection, during his ten year career with the Cowboys, Hill led the team in both receptions and yardage for eight of those ten years.
Known for his quick speed and big play ability, Coach Tom Landry called him “Our Home Run Hitter. I’ve never seen a guy who could adjust to a ball in mid-air like Tony. He is a very explosive player; the type who can turn a short play into a big play in a hurry, because he has excellent running ability and speed.”
As a rookie, Hill won a championship ring with the Cowboys when they defeated the Denver Broncos 27-10 in Super Bowl XII. The following season, Hill became a starter and made the Pro Bowl, catching 46 passes for 823 yards and 6 touchdowns and assisting the team to their second consecutive championship appearance. In Dallas' 35-31 Super Bowl XIII loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers, Hill caught 2 passes for 49 yards and a touchdown.
Hill went on to make the Pro Bowl 2 more times in his career (1979 and 1985). He never played in a Super Bowl again, but played in 10 more postseason games. One of better performances in his career was in a 1982 divisional playoff game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, when he caught 7 passes for 142 yards in the Cowboys' 38-0 win.
In 1979, Drew Pearson and Tony Hill, became the first wide receiver tandem in Dallas Cowboys history, to record 1,000-yard receiving seasons in the same year.
Hill became the number one receiver when Pearson retired after the 1983 season.
His best season statistically came in 1985, where he caught 74 passes for 1100 receiving yards and 7 touchdowns.
He was waived by the Cowboys in 1987 at the start of training camp. One week later, the San Francisco 49ers outbidded the Los Angeles Rams for his services, but he never played another game, after the 49ers released him before the season started.
Hill finished his 10 NFL seasons with 479 receptions for 7,988 yards and 51 touchdowns in 142 games. He also had 26 100-yard receiving games, rushed for 84 yards, returned 27 punts for 268 yards, and gained 96 yards on 4 kickoff returns. For his career, he averaged 16.1 yards per touch and 16.7 yards per reception.
He ranks second in receiving yards, third in receiving TDs and fourth in catches in Dallas Cowboys history.
He was inducted into the Stanford Athletic Hall of Fame.
Game show appearance
In 2000, Hill appeared as a contestant on the short-lived game show Greed. He did not win any money after he got sacked on his $500,000 question as the team's captain. The question was: Which four and their affiliates have the highest global market share? The 7 choices were General Motors, Ford, Honda, Volkswagen, Hyundai, Toyota, and BMW. Honda, BMW and Hyundai were the incorrect answers.
Broadcasting
Hill was the color commentator for ArenaBowl V on Prime Network and was the color commentator for America One's Canadian Football League broadcasts during the Canadian Media Guild strike.
Personal
Tony has a son, Anthony Hill, who attends Colgate University and plays basketball as a point guard.
External links
This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)
