Grant Hill Beyond The Glory | 2004 | Documentary

makes the game look so easy just a very very beautiful player to see golden child he was like the golden child he was perfection he was a child of power and privilege when he came home from school he had to call me at the pentagon oh can I believe who reached so high transformed duke into a dynasty this good athlete like everyone had him they didn't have Grant Hill you redefined the image of professional basketball Grant is everything good about the NBA he was promoted as an heir to the king who is one of the best players who has never played this game.

Then crippling injuries turned Grand Hill's career into an epic test of character. Grant has been put to sleep and operated on four times. This is not the first time he has returned. This is not the second time. He's back, people think I'm done, that I'm stupid for trying, that I'm done, but Hill vows to beat the odds and makes one last effort to claim greatness for himself. He has the spirit of a true warrior and will not give in. feels like something was taken from him and he's ready to get it back if I can come back man watch out this is Grand Hill beyond

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absolutely January 16, 2003, a Thursday night game between the Washington Wizards and the Orlando Magic and a final twilight. confrontation between the former and future kings of basketball, michael jordan and grand

hill

, i wanted to go against jordan, i knew it was probably the last time i would play against him at 40 years old, michael jordan was in the final stretch of a perfect career, brant

hill

was 10 years younger. and the player who was once destined to inherit Jordan's mantle as the best in the game, he does things on the court, he said, you know, you have to go watch the replay and say how he did it, somehow he did it. hit, Brad Hill understood it and stays.

But three ankle surgeries in three years had turned Hill into a ghost of his former self. He has now struggled to keep up with an aging Jordan. His ankle was falling apart once again. He knew going into the game he was fractured. He knew it. A few games before that, but this time I really couldn't move feeling Hill's physical weakness. Jordan erupted for 32 points that night. Grand Hill scored two and then limped off the court. Another basketball season in ruins and its future etched. You sit there with a tear. in your eye and a lump in your throat because you knew it wasn't good, he really had to start asking himself some questions that no one else could answer questions about if it was worth it, he just knew that you know I can.

I can't keep prolonging this. I can't delay the inevitable. This could be the last time Grant Hill grew up with an aura of high expectations. His father Calvin graduated from Yale and was a star running back in the NFL. His mother Janet worked in the Pentagon with the secretary of the army his social circle included friends like bill and hillary clinton graham was his only child calvin was an only child and I were also only children very happy as children ourselves Grant was very unhappy his entire life as an only child and he blamed us Of course, I always wanted brothers, I wanted cousins, I wanted aunts and uncles in some ways, I mean I feel like I missed out, you know, I don't care now, but when I was a kid I didn't like him from his position lonely Grant gained great insight into the world.

His parents took him to far-flung places from Asia to Egypt to the Capitol, but he felt most comfortable growing up in the D.C. suburb of Reston, Virginia. A planned community of residents from all walks of life. Grant grew up. Being with a lot of different types of people has helped me, uh, get along, I always wanted to blend in and fit in and be like everyone else and I always wanted to downplay my parents' success, but Grant was never in danger of being coddled by the crowd. fame and fortune not in the house where his mother was known as the general

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he was not allowed too much independent thought when he was a small child he had to clear everything with his mother when he came home from school he had to Call me at the Pentagon if not I would get that call, he was on duty, there were times when my friends were at my house and they would get in trouble and my mother would send them to my room, yes, a little nervous when walking.

In there, um, just hello Mrs. Hill, hello Mr. Hill, you walked softly, you know, you went to Grant's room, you didn't make too much noise, I was the disciplinarian and Calvin was the fun dad when he wasn't playing professionally. Calvin joined in. Grant and his friends played street games on family trips and took his son to art galleries. You know, I always see my father as a kind of renaissance man. He doesn't fit the mold of what you think of as a football player. One thing Calvin didn't let his son do was play organized soccer. People compared him to what they thought I was and the expectations were sometimes unrealistic.

I tried to encourage Grant to play basketball, where everyone can dribble the ball and everyone has a chance. to shoot, Grant showed ability on the court from an early age when he entered South Lakes High School, his coach thought he was good enough to skip freshman basketball and go straight to varsity, but Grant resisted to the offer, said coach, you really know. He really didn't want to do that and the reasoning behind that was because he didn't want to surpass his peers. I wanted to play freshman basketball. I wanted to play with my friends. You know, I didn't want to jump on them. seem better than them in some way, his friends found out and were excited, but I think once he realized that they didn't feel that somehow he felt like he was better than them, he relaxed and let himself go.

Grant's cutting style reflected his personality. He was a modest star who inspired his teammates with intelligent and selfless play. If you won on Grant's team, it just made you better, but while Graham's fame and popularity grew in South Lakes, he never had the chance to be a big shot, his parents put him under strict control. Standard I had to be at a certain time and one time I was late and she told me to take off my watch and I broke it because I said you're not wearing it so you don't really need it. to the point where my friends didn't want to go out with me because they knew they would have to take me home at some point, so it was better not to go at all in the spring of 1990.

Grant was a high school. -American and eager to get ahead I wanted him to go to georgetown and my husband wanted him to go to north carolina and that is the reason Grant went to Duke, unlike georgetown in north carolina, Duke had never won a national title, but after meeting Blue Devils coach Mike Shishefsky, Grant decided to share that challenge. He just knows how to connect with people and he connected with me. I think he longed for brothers, sisters and a family. He wanted to be part of something bigger than himself. The coach did it. a point to engage him, make him feel like part of the team, like he's an important part of the team, when you're in that trench, you can look at each other and it's not just hey, this is my teammate, but this is a boy.

I know this is like a brother, this is like a family as his freshman season unfolded. Grant fit in perfectly in the spring of 1991. Duke faced defending champion UNLV in the NCAA Final Four. Grant held American Stacey Ogden to six points as Duke surprised everyone to advance. to the final as a good athlete as everyone had done they did not have Grant Hill look at this incredible play Duke has won his first national championship Grand Hill, a 19-year-old freshman, had made his entrance onto the national stage few imagined what would make for an encore, will the dream die here? for duke two points something seconds left on the clock coach k asked me if he could make the pass there is the pass for leitner puts it beyond

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on fox sports net brought to you by the docker professional style shirts and pants that they do it all winning their first ncaa title in the spring of 1991 put duke university and

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hill on the map with the core of that team primed for the following season they vowed to win two in a row we had that Arrogance we had that confidence, we felt like we could win without Coach K, that's how confident we were.

Duke was wire-to-wire in the number one spot during the 91-92 regular season and we were favorites to win it all when we faced Kentucky in the ncaa regional finals earlier. the game, you know, we feel like you know it's just the ceremony that we were going to go out and play Duke even down the stretch and into overtime. I was really afraid that we weren't going to win that game and, um, you. I know it came down to the wire two or three times, there were 7.8 seconds left and then as the clock was ticking Kentucky made a move to ice the game and all of a sudden our run for this big number one year all season seemed like that was going to end. with two seconds left, Duke had to throw the ball from the other end of the court.

The coach turned to concede. I said, can you throw the ball 75 feet? and he said yes, I can do that. I knew it as soon as he gave it to me. his word that he would do it, there's the pass to lightner, what's up, football was in my jeans and I once had to show them on national television, so it was pretty neat that duke won their second straight title in 1992, but . while seniors christian leitner and bobby hurley earned the applause scholarship they remained comfortably in the background, he'll do whatever you ask, but sometimes, because he's reluctant to push his limits, you have to say "go" because still wants permission in part.

It was my upbringing to respect your elders respect those who are older than you I think sometimes that got in the way of my talent my abilities my greatness whatever you want to call it I took them aside one day after playing and I told them: you know you are very strong you are very big you are very good with the ball be more aggressive in his first and second year with everyone who was older than him he gave them up when they left he accepted the subsidy of the low mantle not only did he hit himself in the back, but he also he hit the elbow his senior year at Duke Hill.

He was demonstrating leadership in competitive fire in the spring of 1994. Coach K turned to Grant to lead his shorthanded team into the NCAA tournament. I said we're going to ride you as much as we can, we had something and coach K called it the go to charlotte offense because that's where the final four were, the go to charlotte offense gave the ball to Grant and he got out of his way . Hill led his team to the NCAA Finals for the third time in four years, and although Duke lost to Arkansas in the '94 title game, Grant's dominant play impressed a legion of fans.

I like Duke basketball because I like Grant Hill. It is now my great pleasure to retire the jersey of a young man who has exemplified all that is best about this sport, number 33, Grant Hill, when he left Duke he was a celebrity, not only a great player, but an outstanding player with the third pick in the 1994 NBA draft, Detroit. pistons select Grant Hill from Duke University Grant Hill came to the NBA in the fall of 1994 after Michael Jordan stepped away, at the time there was a void in Michael's departure to baseball and the feeling was who would take his place , here's Grant Hill.

Hill didn't disappoint even when he was a rookie. He played the professional game with the grace of an artist. He had a calmness on the court that seemed as if he had been there before, as if he had done this before three months of his first debut. season Grant was the leading vote-getter in the NBA All-Star game at the time His wholesome image had advertisers aligning with the simple notion of playing the game with grace and joy He's back Say hello to Grant Hill You know you didn't have to make him do anything he sold out just by being himself it was all this talk of you know he's a good guy and he's just telling others so I was like you know let's make fun of this you're too nice I guess the pendulum had swung in the direction of the bad boy image and Grant entered the picture when the pendulum was ready to swing back in the opposite direction, but Hill felt uncomfortable when some media hailed him as a savior of basketball it was almost as if you were a African American, you're upper class, upper middle class, whatever and you're not like the rest of them, I just feel like it was an opportunity for people to beat other players in the league and use me for that person Hill's special status It didn't go unnoticed by opponents, it became a physical target and would continue to be so for years to come, they see that the league is advertising you and they want to go.

After you, there's definitely jealousy in the NBA, I mean, people will attack you as a competitor that you like, that you want to get the best out of everyone, so on the court I didn't have any problem with that. Hill didn't back down, he shared. honors with jason kidd as nba rookie of the year we are rookies every year and we love this game, but when doug collins arrived to coach the pistons tohill's second season, he challenged his young star to up his game, i said, "give it." I'm not going to let you take a backseat to anyone in this league and what that means is the last three minutes of the game for us, when the game is on the line, the ball has to be in your.

I remember the hands in the game were like a triple. double and then Doug was still demanding more of him and I was like, man, the guy just had a triple-double, I put a lot in his lap just because I knew he was capable of it, I think maybe it made him uncomfortable times, but I think it really helped him grow. Grant led the All-Star voting again in his second season and led the Pistons to the 1996 playoffs. That summer he won a gold medal with the US Olympic team. He possessed everything you looked for in a superstar.

Hill seemed to be the master of his destiny, but his career was about to take a surprising turn, we make an express, the train is like shit, what he's looking at he couldn't believe what he saw in his third professional season. Grant Hill was an NBA icon and the leader in which he led the Pistons to 54 wins. the 96-97 season and he finished third in the MVP race behind Carl Malone and Michael Jordan. He has the ability to not necessarily dominate his scoring by passing his rebounds and that's the way I used him in Detroit and he was great in Grant's game. was blossoming off the court also a blind date with popular singer tamiya washington soon became something more officially i miss you we went to the movies like two so there was no one there we were alone and i really had a chance to talk and you know , finding out about each other and what we liked and what we didn't like and we were finishing each other's sentences, so it was good, you know, you just know, you know and sometimes just the chemistry, it all seems to work.

It worked well and we really clicked right away. He wasn't used to hanging out with such tall men, but he was a gentle giant, but not everyone admired Grant's calm personality when the Pistons failed to make the playoffs in Hill's fourth season. Doug Collins was fired. and Grant heard that despite everything his talent lacked the toughness and killer instinct of a true superstar. It all goes back to Grant's behavior and who he is. I want everyone to like me. I don't want to say anything to anyone that might upset them. You can't please everyone and not everyone will like you.

You know that sometimes your teammates may not even like you, but you continue to do the right thing. You work hard. Are You professional. He quietly sets out to respond to criticism by working harder. in his game in the offseason than ever before, that fourth year really was kind of a wake-up call and I said you know I'm going to work hard and I got in the best shape I've ever been in and that was a turning point. to me, Grant also changed his team in the spring of '99, the pistons returned to the playoffs. People talk.

I think they think Grant was too nice and he wasn't fierce enough on the court. I know that's totally the opposite. What was in the 99-2000 season was Hill's best, but he averaged more than 25 points and attracted the admiration of his main rivals. Brad Hill has a tremendous amount of skill on the basketball court and is capable of doing everything, and he is a total package. a point where you feel like everything comes together and everything is easy. Great play by Hill Boy who is great for six seasons in the NBA. Hill was an iron man on the court, so when his left ankle began to hurt as the 2000 playoffs approached, he took the pain in stride.

They told me he had a bone bruise but they never told me otherwise. play, you know, it was like you had a bone bruise, but you'll be fine, there was so much pressure on him to play through the pain and there seemed to be a lot of pressure on him to play no matter what, but when the 2000 playoffs started against Miami, the pain worsened in the middle of the second game. Grant hit the wall, I came out and he was killing me on an upcoming play. and he comes to the bench and spins around, he was like I'm feeling a little weird and I heard a pop and I said, well, come out and he's like, no, no, just give me one more set for the next timeout, third quote, I took myself out. out of the game and it was strange because no, I don't think the team knew the severity of the problem after Hill found out about the game, we do an x-ray and an x-ray comes out, he looks at it and the coach says.

Holy shit, he's looking, he couldn't believe what he saw and I look at him like don't you move, I'll get you some crutches, I looked at the x-ray and the bone was completely removed. Grand Hill's season was over, as was his six-year contract with the Pistons, but despite Hill's broken ankle, NBA teams lined up that summer to court him out of Detroit, Chicago, and made a videotape. where they had oprah and she was like come to chicago and new york came in and they had like five or six celebrities there and keep in mind his leg was up so everyone knew he was injured but it really wasn't a big deal to them In August 2000, Hill agreed to a seven-year, $92 million contract. deal with orlando another star free agent, tracy mcgrady quickly followed suit, you put Grant Hill with tracy mcgrady and I mean your talking championship, okay the question is which place would I rather live in Orlando or Detroit.

Orlando with crutches or without crutches. Grant's future looks bright. I'll have surgery, I'll get better and I'll come back, you know? I didn't know what he was waiting for. We're running down the hall and the doctor says, Could there be a chance that he overdosed? Then I start crying after spending. the summer of 2000 recovering from a broken ankle Grant Hill was eager to start over in Orlando I wanted to be on the court I wanted to prove I was worth the contract I went from being on crutches in three months to getting off those crutches and then playing a month later , Grant's wife, Tamiya, opened proceedings for her first play with magic.

Grant took it from done grand. There, Hill helped lead the Magic to victory that night, but he wasn't the same after the first game, he comes home and he's like my ankle hurts and you know I'd put it on the table and it would be huge. . He couldn't do the things he could do before I got shots blocked and couldn't stay in front of people afterward. four games into Hill's season ended the doctors discovered that Hill's ankle had been fractured again they suggested a second operation as crazy as it sounds I was relieved I was relieved to know that it wasn't in my head that there is actually something physically wrong with him me and uh okay, hey, something's wrong, let's fix it as Hill sat on the sidelines, sympathetic fans voted him to the all-star team for the sixth time, eager to reward his faith, he spent long hours rehabbing when you're hurt and you've been away for a long period of time, sometimes you fall victim to I have to make up for lost time as I begin my second season in Orlando.

I mean, I trained too much, I did too much. You know I was trying to make up for that whole season. For Orlando fans, the fall of 2001 brought a return of high hopes Tracy McGrady Daryl Armstrong Boris Grant Patrick Ewing Brent Hill Sports Illustrator predicted Hill would bring the magic to the NBA Finals Grant thought so too No more crutches No more boots I have a bunch of clean left cleats at home that are looking to be worn so I'm looking forward to wearing them, oh man, this time Hill lasted 14 games before his ankle landed him on the bench, there was a lot of doubt and some sort of concern from me part. will he ever be able to come back even if ankle heels a week before christmas he had another season ending surgery in the middle of grants trials there was a ray of light a few weeks after his surgery he and tamiya celebrated the birth of his first child myla to me and what i have been going through personally, it was great that you met a welcome addition when milo was born, he was there all the time and we enjoyed being a family because our minds were on more than just how is your ankle. today, as he prepared for his third season with magic in 2002, Grant put on a brave face, but few shared his confidence anymore, they would have articles about whether he will ever return and what a failure, and we spent all this money and it was just starting. for the first time you go negative you feel like people are looking at you as a man you really like him you know he's taking advantage of things you know he just gave you all this money and man he should be fine he acted like he wasn't .

It really phased him, but he did it, you know it hurts, then the season started and Grand Hill was really back, super impressive at this point, I was able to outrun people, I was able to cut, I was able to be exciting, fast and fast on the field open. On the court, everyone started to have high hopes again and were starting to surprise. He returned a game here on Christmas Day against Detroit on national television. He and McGrady were just wonderful in Detroit and it was a beautiful sight and you thought we were there and it was Right after that everything fell apart, a growing pain in Hill's left ankle was at first attributed to tendonitis when they sent tendonitis and we said that yeah, ten, he can fix it, I'd sit out some games, you know, I'd play. sitting down, it just got progressively worse over a period of two months, he would come home and know, he would talk about how it hurt and I would think, I can't believe it, the end came one January night in Washington DC, it was another fracture and the same fracture and um, that was hard because I knew it had been close.

Hill consulted with doctors at Duke Medical Center, who proposed a more complex surgery than the previous one, which required breaking a bone in his heel to correct the alignment of his legs. It was nice to finally get an explanation as to why this might have happened in the first place and then why it keeps breaking down, which really gave him hope and I think that really cleared up any questions he had in mind about whether or not he was going to try this again. new. The surgery performed at Duke Medical Center in March 2003 was considered a success, but a week later, an infection from the operation caused Grant to go into febrile delirium.

Tamiya took him back to the hospital. I arrived at the emergency room. room and they have the stretcher and he's shaking and we're running down the hall and the doctor says he's taking medication, the ankle had always been serious, but now it could be his life, I ended up getting a skin graft off my arm . to make a patch over the infected area, so it was quite an ordeal, we really stayed silent for a long time because it was very scary for both of us with the surgery, the infection and the long recovery. he kept Grant on crutches for six months.

It has been a terrible ordeal. I think she's held on to his sense of humor, but she's also shown a healthy sense of humility. You just appreciate being able to walk. You know, maybe more than ever. The magic began the 2003-

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season in November. Brown Hill was not in uniform but was back on his feet and setting his sights on the prize one last time. He is preparing silently. You know, for one last push. One last effort. I know there is. those who listen to this and still think I'm crazy but know I still feel like I can make it beyond glory on fox sportsnet, brought to you by Docker's pro-style shirts and pants doing it all spring

2004

, another long lost season. for the orlando magic for Grant Hill, another season seen from the sidelines as difficult as it is, I also think it is necessary to be somehow connected as much as I can with the team and the guys, so you know you can't play, this It's the next best thing I guess for a new generation of NBA players Grand Hill is an old school throwback, the spotlight that was once theirs has shifted to a new generation of stars when a Lebron or a Carmelo comes along Anthony, deep inside Grant, would love that challenge, so he does it.

It's got to be frustrating, you know he's sitting totally on the sidelines, all he can do is watch as Grant faces an uncertain future, he draws strength from his family, his father Calvin had suffered painful knee injuries throughout his career, even when you are succeeding. I know you get knocked down constantly and you have to get up. The key is to keep trying and keep aiming to see how hard he has worked to recover from his ankle. He is inspiring to me. Many athletes would have imploded. through that injury he turned to drugs or something else and he's been, you know, he's been stoic and busy, he's stayed busy too.

We are very grateful to Randall and his wife Tamia for making their treasures available to the nation. Recurring injuries forced Hill to imagine a life. Beyond basketball, in the midst of everything, he always finds a way to turn the positive into a negative. The positives have been all the things he has been involved in outside of basketball. franklin, the turtle dragged his shell behindhe. He's been involved in so many things. habitat for humanity child abuse programs here we go Michael thought he wants to share what he has and he wants others to share with him, come on man, you and me, he's not afraid of what would happen if he can't play anymore because he's an optimist. about the rest of his life and the other things he's going to do, but Grant believes he can come back day after day, he strives to rebuild his body for one last chance, you really don't know how much you love something until that he breaks you. heart and if you keep coming back he tells you how much you love him he really hadn't faced any adversity before the ankle injury, so he looks at it like this, you know, this is my testimony, this is my big story, he's constantly being made fun of.

You know that you are so close but so far, but I know that I know that my time will come, my day will come. Grand Hill's athletic odyssey hasn't reached its final destination yet, but for those who watched him persevere with grace and strength, he's already gone the distance when you see a guy who has heart, is doing everything he can to get back to get up, that's what it's all about, we see so many young athletes come and fall apart. Grant has been able to overcome that, that may be the biggest achievement of all in getting through this. circus we live in you know and keep your values ​​it's a journey man it really is and I don't think the journey is over I think there's more I think there's a lot more and you know I'm on this journey I'm going to finish