A role model for rural Alaska, Sam Hill enters high school Hall of Fame

August 10th 1:59 pm | Alex DeMarban    

Bush Alaska sports prodigy Sam Hill has struggled with self-doubt, but he never bought into the notion that kids from rural Alaska can't succeed.

"People always use the excuse that they come from the villages, there's not as many opportunities," said Hill, 33 and originally from Kotzebue in Northwest Alaska.

"I believe that to a certain extent, but some people never give themselves a chance, they never even try. I believe you can take advantage of what you have and make the best of what you have."

Hill's done plenty of that. It paid off again Sunday, when the state's school activities association inducted him and nine others into the Alaska High School Hall of Fame.

Executive director Gary Matthews called Hill "a great high school athlete and a good role model. He went to college, did well, and is now an up and coming young leader in Alaska."

During his high school years, Hill was an all-state basketball star, a wrestling champ, and a cross-country state runner-up, to name a few of his accomplishments.

The Anchorage Daily News named him Male Athlete of the Year as a senior, the first time a boy from a 3A school received that honor, according to the Alaska School Activities Association.

But Hill didn't stop there.

After high school, he was the top American finisher in the New York City Marathon in 2007, winning the coveted Alberto Salazar award tens of thousands of runners.

And he excelled in another sort of running: Seward's punishing Mount Marathon race, where he led racers to the top four straight years and once finished second.

Today he's on a hiatus from sports that began two years ago. He's "giving back" by mentoring youth so they can reach their own goals.

He teaches Bible-study classes to children, works with interns in his job at ASRC Energy in Anchorage, and has traveled to North Slope schools to share his message of success.

Hill, who often avoids interviews with reporters, agreed to talk to the Sounder in part because he's friends with the paper's new owners, Jason Evans and Kiana Peacock.

Why the reluctance to talk with media?

He's not competing for recognition. He does it for the personal challenge and to see how he stacks up against others.

But he knows success brings responsibility.

His friend, former Dimond High running coach John Clark, once lectured him on that topic.

Clark was there in New York after Hill's 2007 feat. When an Anchorage sports reporter called Clark to reach Hill, Hill initially refused to talk.

"But then he put the phone down and gave me a talking to, so to speak," Hill said. "I'll never forget him telling me that sometimes the event is bigger than you and you have to realize the recognition you get is supporting the bigger community of that sport, so you have to humble yourself."

For Hill, that bigger community is rural Alaskan youth, who hail from small, remote schools with limited resources for athletes. As a success story, he represents some of those kids.

During the induction ceremony on Sunday, someone read a statement Hill once made during his high school days.

"I represent the hundreds of student athletes from Bush Alaska that never got the chances I did; there are many more out there just like myself."

Hill credits a support network of friends and family

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especially his late father, Joe, and mom, Jackie - for helping him overcome the challenges.

But Hill made his own success, too. For his senior year in high school, he convinced his worried parents to let him move to Nikiski along the state's road system, so he could expand his academic and athletic opportunities.

And in college, he walked on to the University of Oregon's cross-country and track team, joining some of the nation's best collegiate runners. They voted him team captain his senior year.

Friends warned him he'd never make the team. For a while, he believed it. But only for a bit.

"I remember stepping on campus the first day and saying, 'Yep, I can't do this. But I stepped out, I tried it and even though I had doubts in my mind at least I was going to give it a shot. Fortunately, it worked."

 

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Alex DeMarban can be reached at alex@alaskanewspapers.com, or by phone at (907) 348-2444