Shooting Hoops for a Cause

KCBS-TV sports director Jim Hill firmly believes in his commitment to the community and to its youth, which is why he is the honorary chairman of the Jim Hill Celebrity Basketball Tournament on Friday to raise money for Los Angeles City College.

He does not want his team to wipe up the court with LACC’s team of students and staff.

“Wipe? Wipe?” he asked incredulously. “It’s going to be worse than that.”

It suddenly dawns on us that 15 years ago, Hill played free safety for the Green Bay Packers, a position that requires brains, speed and a killer instinct. To make sure his gang of retired and current athletes and sportsmen take no prisoners, Hill is bringing in ringers and “stacking the deck.”

“I’m writing the rules, and my finger is on the scoreboard,” he said. “I want the hard-nosed people who are going to run and bang into people.”

Guys like heavyweight boxer Henry Tillman, former Raider linebacker Rod Martin, former Portland Trailblazer Kenneth Fields, former Laker Flynn Robinson. They will be coached by former Laker and Clipper Norm Nixon.

Hill will leave nothing to chance. He won’t even say how long the game will go on, just in case the impossible happens and LACC is ahead when the whistle blows.

But all joking aside, Hill really is interested in raising money for the college. “I’ve always felt that what you do for yourself, that’s great for you. But it really means nothing in the grand scheme of things. You’ve got to do something to give back.”

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Admission is free to the 2 p.m. event in the men’s gym on campus at 855 N. Vermont Ave. But people will be passing the bucket for donations, as well as raffling off a computer and selling T-shirts.

Hill promised a few other surprises, but if we told you what they were, they wouldn’t be surprises, would they?