Jimmy Hill

English association football personality (1928-2015)

James William Thomas "Jimmy" Hill OBE (22 July 1928 – 19 December 2015) was an English football personality.[1]

Jimmy Hill
Hill (left) with former Fulham team-mate Maurice Cook
Personal information
Full name James William Thomas Hill
Date of birth (1928-07-22)22 July 1928
Place of birth Balham, London, England
Date of death 19 December 2015(2015-12-19) (aged 87)
Place of death Hurstpierpoint, West Sussex, England
Position(s) Forward
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1949–1952 Brentford 83 (10)
1952–1961 Fulham 276 (41)
Teams managed
1961–1967 Coventry City
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

His career has taken in every role in football, including player, union leader, coach, manager, director, chairman, television executive, presenter, analyst and match official.

Early life change

Hill was born in Balham, London.[2] His father was a World War I veteran. He studied at Henry Thornton Grammar School.

Career change

Hill started playing in 1949 with Brentford, making 87 appearances before moving to Fulham in March 1952. He played nearly 300 games, scoring 52 goals. In 1957, he became chairman of the Professional Footballers' Association (PFA)

In November 1961, after retiring as a player aged 33, Hill became manager of Coventry City. His time at Coventry was marked by great changes to the club, nicknamed "The Sky Blue Revolution".

After winning the Division Three championship in 1963–64, and the Division Two title in 1966–67, Hill quit the club shortly before the start of the 1967–68 season.

After leaving Coventry in 1967, Hill moved into broadcasting, acting as technical adviser for the BBC. In 1999, Hill moved from the BBC to Sky Sports, where he featured on Jimmy Hill's Sunday Supplement. It was a weekly discussion show between Hill and three football journalists talking over a Sunday breakfast.

In 2007, he was replaced from the show because of his ill health.

Personal life change

Hill married three times, having three children by his first wife, Gloria, and two by his second, Heather. In September 2013 it was revealed that he was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease in 2008.[3]

Hill died from the disease on 19 December 2015 in Hurstpierpoint, West Sussex at the age of 87.[4]

References change

  1. Nick Barratt Published: 12:04 am GMT 10 March 2007 (10 March 2007). "Family detective". London: Telegraph. Archived from the original on 27 March 2007. Retrieved 8 June 2009.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  2. Jimmy Hill (3 September 1998). Jimmy Hill Autobiography. Hodder & Stoughton Ltd. ISBN 978-0-340-71248-1.
  3. Mendick, Robert (29 September 2013). "Jimmy Hill's family in turmoil over his battle with Alzheimer's". Sunday Telegraph. London. Retrieved 29 September 2013.
  4. Jimmy Hill: Former Match of the Day presenter dies aged 87

Other websites change

  Media related to Jimmy Hill at Wikimedia Commons