THE OFFICIAL ATHLETICS SITE OF THE UNIVERSITY OF NORTH ALABAMA LIONS

 
HARLON HILL
A native of Killen, Ala., the late Harlon Hill was a prime example of the unknown small college player with tremendous talents who went on to prove his greatness in the National Fooball League - competing with top players in the game. 

A small college All-American receiver at Florence State Teachers College (now the University of North Alabama), Hill was drafted in the 15th round of the NFL draft by the Chicago Bears - a team willing to take a chance on a player that scout Clark Shaughnessy only heard about from a man in the press box at the annual Blue-Gray Classic in Montgomery.

The Bears didn’t have to wait long for the skinny boy from Florence State to make their gamble pay off, however.
In 1954, Hill caught 45 passes for 1,124 yards and 12 touchdowns and was named National Football Leaue Rookie of the Year. The following year he caught 42 passes for 789 yards and nine touchdowns and was the recipient of the Jim Thorpe Trophy as the NFL Most Valuable Player. In nine years in the NFL, Hill caught 233 passes for 4,717 yards and 40 touchdowns and is still regarded as one of the greatest receivers to ever play the game.

He played in the Pro Bowl in 1955, 1956 and 1957 and was an All-Pro selection in 1954, 1955 and 1956.

He spent his first eight seasons, from 1954-61, with the Bears and split his final season between the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Detroit Lions.

In college, Hill played in relative obscurity for the Lions as an end in a powerful single-wing offense. He caught only 54 passes in four years with the Lions but they went for 1,020 yards and a school record 19 touchdowns. He averaged 18.8 yards per catch. 

Hill was inducted into the Helms Athletic Foundation Hall of Fame in 1958, into the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame in 1976 and into the UNA Athletic Hall of Fame in the initial class in 1990.

Hill served as principal at Brooks High School in Killen before his retirement. He passed away in 2013 at the age of 80.



THE HARLON HILL TROPHY
The top player in college football each season has long been honored with the presentation of the Heisman Trophy. An award symbolic of the best.

But while that award may have recognized the top player in NCAA football, no one playing at a school below the Division I level had ever received recognition for their accomplishments in the voting.

Players like Walter Payton, Neil Lomax, Ken O’Brein, John Stallworth and others played in the NCAA Division II, and would have never achieved recognition, had they not gone on to outstanding careers in professional football. That began to change in 1986, however, when a group of Shoals area residents, with sponsorship of Coca-Cola, worked to establish the Harlon Hill Trophy- to be presented each year to the top player in the NCAA Division II. The originators of the award didn’t feel that accomplishments in professional football should have to be the measuring stick for talent in Division II. So the award was created to honor players whose achievements have placed them among the top players to ever play the game.

The Harlon Hill Trophy has been presented annually to the top player in Division II since 1986, with the winner honored in a ceremony in the Shoals from 1986-2017. The winner is selected in voting by the sports information directors at the 160-plus Division II schools which play football. 

This year, the 36th annual Harlon Hill Trophy will be presented to the Division II Player of  the Year at the conclusion of the 2020 season in Little Rock, Ark., in conjunction with the Little Rock Touchdown Club. The transfer of the presentation in 2018 coincided with UNA's move to the Division I Football Championship Subdivision.

During the first 32 years of the Hill Trophy, more than 100 different schools have had finalists for the award, and the list of past winners includes 16 quarterbacks, 14 running backs, one receiver and one linebacker. 

Brian Shay's 303 points in the 1998 voting stands as the highest point total received by any player. His 88 first-place votes were also the most in Hill Trophy history, as was his 185-point margin of victory.

Not only is the trophy named for a former UNA football player, but the Lions have also had two winners of the award in linebacker Ronald McKinnon in 1995 and quarterback Will Hall in 2003. 

How the Winner is Selected

Nominations for the Hill Trophy are accepted from the sports information directors at NCAA Division II football-playing institutions. The criteria stipulates that the player must have distinguished himself nationally as being among the top players in the game. The nominations are screened regionally by the National Harlon Hill Advisory Committee and the top six candidates from each region advance to the regional ballot. Then there are two actual votes for the Hill Trophy. The players nominated are first voted on by the sports information directors within their respective NCAA region. There are four regions with approximately the same number of schools in each region. The top two vote-getters from each of the four regions then advance to the national ballot where they are voted on by all 160-plus Division II SIDs. On both the regional and national ballots, the SIDs vote for a first, second and third basis.

The Trophy
The Harlon Hill Trophy, created by Herff Jones, Inc., is 30 inches tall and weighs 63 pounds. The football is a life-size replica of a real football and sits on a solid walnut base.

Transition
After being presented in the Florence, Ala., for the first 32 years of its existence, the Hill Trophy will be presented in Little Rock, Ark., beginning with the presentation at the end of the 2018 season. With UNA's transition out of Division II, the Great American Conference (GAC) and the Little Rock Touchdown Club stepped forward to take up the administrative and presenting roles with the award.

Previous UNA Hill Candidates
1986 Marvin Marsh RB
1988 Tommy Compton QB
1990 James Davis LB
1992 Tyrone Rush RB
1993 Tyrone Rush RB
1994 Ronald McKinnon LB
1995 Ronald McKinnon LB
1996 Gerald Smith DB
1997 Greg Manson RB
2003 Will Hall QB
2005 Anthony Merritt WR
2006 Anthony Merritt WR
2007 A.J. Milwee QB
2008 A.J. Milwee QB
2009 Harrison Beck QB
2011 Lee Chapple QB
2013 Tavarius Wilson LB
2015 Luke Wingo, QB
2016 Jacob Tucker, QB
 
Previous UNA Hill Finalists
1992 Tyrone Rush 6th
1993 Tyrone Rush 2nd
1995 Ronald McKinnon 1st
2003 Will Hall 1st
2005 Anthony Merritt 6th
2007 A.J. Milwee 9th
2008 A.J. Milwee 2nd
2009 Harrison Beck 6th
2011 Lee Chapple 9th
2015 Luke Wingo 6th
2016 Jacob Tucker 3rd

UNA Hill Notes
• Ronald McKinnon is the only  defensive player in the 32-year history of the award to claim the Hill Trophy. 
• Ronald McKinnon's 188 total points in the 1995 voting was the second highest point total (at that time) in the award's history, second only to Chris Hatcher's 209 points in 1994.  
• Ronald McKinnon's Hill victory in 1995  gave the Gulf South Conference its second straight Hill Trophy winner.
• Will Hall's selection in 2003 made UNA one of five schools to have had more than one Hill winner and it also gave the GSC it's fifth Hill recipient. 
• A.J. Milwee tied for second in the 2008 voting  and was a two-time finalist for the award. 
* UNA had back-to-back finalists in 2015 and 2016 in quarterbacks Luke WIngo and Jacob Tucker.



1995 Harlon Hill Trophy winner Ronald McKinnon of North Alabama gives his acceptance speech as Hill looks on.