William James "Jim" Hill
When the Glengarry Sports Hall of Fame inducts Jim Hill into its ranks on September 8, it will be receiving one of its own.
Jim, who passed away in February, embodied the enthusiasm and optimism of a group of men determined to capture for posterity the achievements of Glengarry’s finest athletes.
As an original director and assistant historian of the Sports Hall of Fame, Jim tackled this project in the same way he approached life – with determination and good humor. There was nothing which couldn’t be done, and during the “doing,” there were a lot of laughs.
Jim’s interest in sports was lifelong and varied. During his youth in Montreal he participated in activities as disparate as football, softball, hockey, rowing, and curling. But Jim was not just a player of sports – he was an organizer and above all, a volunteer. During his Quebec days he held numerous executive positions in different sports associations, including the presidency of the Quebec Rugby Football Union, which he continued to hold even after moving to Williamstown in 1962.
In fact, shortly after his permanent arrival in Glengarry (he and his wife, Laura, and family of four had spent summers in the country since 1952).
Jim became involved in the foundation of the Lancaster Curling Club. Here he devoted many house, not only curling, but organizing the club’s annual fish-fry fundraising event, and cooking at it, too.
Perhaps Jim’s main contribution to the Sports Hall of Fame lies in the work he did in keeping alive the history of the Hall. Along with Hall of Famer, the late Angus H. McDonell, Jim kept meticulous records, in triplicate, of everything pertaining to the local sports shrine. Recorded in his scrapbooks are press clippings, ticket stubs, and plans for the new building, which opened in Maxville in 1990. In fact, so thorough was Jim in recording the Hall’s history, that, less than a week before his death, while the ambulance was waiting to take him to the hospital, he insisted upon checking to make sure the latest clipping had been pasted in the scrapbook!
In 1988 Jim and Laura set about to ensure that local interest in the Hall of Fame would continue into future generations. They decided to invite 15 young athletes from all parts of Glengarry to the annual induction dinner, as Laura’s guests. Jim was responsible for choosing the youths from south Glengarry, and acted as emcee for the junior athletes at the dinner, as well. The Hills’ theory seems to have worked. A thank you note from one of the young people says it all. “Thanks a lot for thinking of me. You will be sure to see me there (at the dinner) in the following years.”
Jim Hill – athlete, enthusiast, historian and philanthropist – an exemplary volunteer and very worthy inductee of the Glengarry Sports Hall of Fame.
