No Ordinary Joe

Edgar Melik-Stepanyan

As Joe Hillman reflected on a distant but memorable career, the

Indiana resident’s voice trailed off when mentioning a topic that has

forever altered his life.

To the Hoover High boys’ basketball icon, a split second that

occurred three years ago in an industrial manufacturing factory

serves as a constant reminder of what was once a brilliant and

incredible journey.

On the right-shooting hand of a revered athlete who produced an

astonishing 41.4 points per game in the 1983-1984 season -- before

the innovation of the three-point arc -- an index finger has been

severed and a middle finger has lost its tendons.

Three years ago, Hillman’s hand was crushed by a 60-ton hydraulic

press, forcing doctors to perform multiple surgeries on a hand that

grips golf clubs nowadays instead of basketballs.

“It’s a blessing in disguise,” the 36-year-old Hillman said with a

laugh.

“I play a lot of golf now. [My golf game] has gotten to a point

where I’m competitive and I play in [invitational] tournaments.”

His playing partner, Keith Kinsel, a Glendale native who competed

earlier this month in the 102nd United States Amateur at Oakland

Hills Country Club in Bloomfield Hills, Mich., said Hillman has taken

his hindrances very well.

“He jokes around about it,” Kinsel said. “But deep down inside,

he’s affected by it a little bit.

“He’s lucky enough to have a hand.”

*

Eighteen years removed from his glory days at Hoover -- where the

confident and vocal 1984 graduate led the Tornadoes to their only

appearance in a CIF Southern Section final in 1982 as a sophomore --

and 15 years withdrawn from an Indiana University men’s basketball

program that won the 1987 NCAA national championship, Hillman has

kept his competitive nature in tact on the golf course.

Hillman -- who averaged 26.6 points per game during his

three-year career at Hoover -- and Kinsel won the Bakersfield Country

Club Invitational in April in a partner’s best-ball, two-day

tournament.

The tandem also competed at the Northern California partner’s

best-ball invitational tournament in May at Spyglass Hill Golf

Course, where, according to Kinsel, “We didn’t do too well.”

“He’s very competitive,” said Kinsel of his friend who has been

married for four years to Kris and has two children in Kara, 2, and

Jack 1.

“Joe is a winner. You could see that on the golf course.”

“He’s still a very good ball striker [despite his accident]. But

it does make a big difference. He can’t hit down on certain shots.”

Hillman’s friend, Bob Mulcahey, -- a member of the Glendale High

1985 CIF Southern Section Division 4-A championship team -- poked fun

at Hillman’s friends inability to defeat the three-time All-CIF

Division 3-A athlete.

“He was a scratch golfer before [his accident] and two years

later, he’s still a scratch golfer,” said Mulcahey, who played

against Hillman for three years in high school.

“We thought we would be able to beat him in golf, but it didn’t

happen.

“Joe is such a great athlete that he will excel at whatever he

does.”

*

Teammates and opponents spoke in awe as they recalled arguably the

best athlete to come out of this area.

“We would force Joe to either make a layup against three guys or

shoot a 25-footer,” Mulcahey said. “And he’d still score 40 points

per game.

“He did all of that scoring while being double-teamed all the

time.

“He was unbelievable. You couldn’t stop him.”

Kevin Brown remembered an intelligent sophomore who took over an

older team that compiled a 4-18 record a year before Hillman’s

arrival.

“Understand the change he made on our team,” said Brown, who was a

senior during Hillman’s first year, in which Hoover advanced to the

division championship game, where it lost to Playa del Rey St.

Bernard, 57-49.

“Joe showed up and he was not just a great basketball player, but

he seemed to know what all of us should be doing.

“He was a coach on the floor. This sophomore kid was able to tell

me what I should be doing.

“We all recognized it. He had the ability and power to do that.”

Said Hillman: “I was more of a vocal leader than anything else. We

had good guys,” alluding to Brown, Ron Young, Bill Carr and Shane

Carriger.

“We started believing. I didn’t like losing and I willed that

personality to some of the other guys.”

Hillman’s senior season scoring outburst ranks fourth on the

all-time CIF list for most points in a season. His 1,074 points is

behind only Tracy Murray of Glendora (1,505 in 1988-1989), Greg Goorjian of Crescenta Valley (1,259 in 1977-1978) and Leon Wood of

Santa Monica (1,203 in 1978-1979).

“In my senior year, I was the only guy who had played varsity

basketball before,” said Hillman, whose 41.4 points-per-game average

is fifth on the all-time list for a season, trailing Mike Fisher of

San Marino Southwestern Academy (45.9), Murray (44.3), Goorjian

(43.4) and Wood (41.5).

“In my junior year, I averaged 20 points per game and Ron averaged

20 points per game, and [when he graduated] I took over his scoring.

“The guys [on my senior team] sacrificed.”

Hillman is also eighth on the all-time CIF list in career scoring

average (minimum 50 games) with his 26.6 points-per-game average.

*

To no one’s surprise, Hillman was heavily recruited by Pacific-10

schools, but it was the interest of Indiana Coach Bobby Knight that

caught people off-guard.

Knight had never recruited players west of the Mississippi, until

the future four-time National Coach of the Year talked to Pete

Newell, a legendary hall of fame coach at the University of

California from 1954-1960, who guided the Bears to the national

championship in 1959.

“Knight never saw me play,” said Hillman, whose dad, Pete, was

coached by Newell at Amateur Athletic Union camps during the summer.

“[Newell] used to come to some of my games, and Knight said if

Pete Newell said you can play, then you can play for me.

“It was completely different in Indiana. There were 17,000 people

for an exhibition game.”

Hillman, who redshirted his freshman year, made an immediate

impact off the bench during the 1986-1987 campaign.

Indiana won its fifth and last national championship in 1987 when

Keith Smart hit the game-winning shot to lift the Hoosiers to a 74-73

victory against Syracuse in front of 64,959 at the New Orleans

Superdome.

With Syracuse hounding consensus All-American Steve Alford,

Indiana went to a three-guard set in the second half, with Hillman

running the point.

“[Our three-guard set] created a lot more space and ability to cut

and move,” Hillman said.

“It freed Keith to make some plays and was he lucky that ball went

in.”

As a composed sophomore, Hillman wasn’t fazed by the pressure of a

championship game.

“It was like second nature,” Hillman said. “It was worse sitting

on the bench in anticipation.

“You didn’t want to lose at Indiana. Knight got on everybody and

ripped everybody. Everybody had their fair chance to play.

“I learned that winning is hard. I didn’t realize how much work

went into winning and being good.”

Hillman went on to lead Indiana to the Big Ten title in 1989, the

year he was named the team’s most valuable player.

But when Hillman didn’t win the conference MVP, Knight made his

feelings known.

“We were going to win the Big Ten and Knight said, ‘Joe Hillman is

the MVP of this conference and for all who don’t agree with me, you

could kiss my [butt],’” said Hillman, who finished 54th on the

all-time Indiana scoring list with 733 points.

After being cut by the Utah Jazz and one-year stints in Australia

and England, Hillman retired, only to have his life altered in a

freak accident six years later.

He might have lost his finger, but he won’t lose the cherished

memories from a remarkable career.