James Webster Hill (born October 21, 1946) is a

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

-based sportscaster and currently lead sports anchor and sports director at KCBS-TV. He is a former

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

defensive back In gridiron football, defensive backs (DBs), also called the secondary, are the players on the defensive side of the ball who play farthest back from the line of scrimmage. They are distinguished from the other two sets of defensive players, the ...

who played in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

Football career

Hill played college football at

Texas A&I University Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by bo ...

(now Texas A&M University–Kingsville). Prior to becoming a sportscaster, Hill played professionally in the

for the San Diego Chargers,

Green Bay Packers The Green Bay Packers are a professional American football team based in Green Bay, Wisconsin. The Packers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. It ...

, and

Cleveland Browns The Cleveland Browns are a professional American football team based in Cleveland. Named after original coach and co-founder Paul Brown, they compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference ( ...

Broadcasting career

During his first season as a

player in 1972, Hill started his broadcasting career as a contributor to the Monday and Tuesday evening newscasts of Green Bay station

WBAY-TV WBAY-TV (channel 2) is a television station in Green Bay, Wisconsin, United States, affiliated with ABC and owned by Gray Television. The station's studios are located on South Jefferson Street in downtown Green Bay (across from the historic ...

;TV Guide magazine, Wisconsin Edition dated September 23–29, 1972, WBAY-TV ad on page A-40 as the primary affiliate of the CBS-TV Network in Green Bay at the time, WBAY-TV carried most Packers games during the 1970s. After retiring from the NFL, Hill started in 1976 at KCBS-TV (then KNXT) in Los Angeles, where he was a sports anchor for 11 years. Hill began on the ''

NFL on CBS The ''NFL on CBS'' is the branding used for broadcasts of National Football League (NFL) games that are produced by CBS Sports, the sports division of the CBS television network in the United States. The network has aired NFL game telecasts sin ...

'' in 1980 as an analyst. But in 1984, 1985, and 1992–93, he was the play-by-play announcer on selected games. He also served as Sideline Reporter for

CBS Sports CBS Sports is the sports division of the American television network CBS. Its headquarters are in the CBS Building on W 52nd Street in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, with programs produced out of Studio 43 at the CBS Broadcast Center on W ...

's coverage of

Super Bowl XVIII Super Bowl XVIII was an American football game played on January 22, 1984, at Tampa Stadium between the National Football Conference (NFC) champion and defending Super Bowl XVII champion Washington Redskins and the American Football Conference ( ...

(1984). He left KCBS in 1987, and spent a near five-year stint at rival

KABC-TV KABC-TV (channel 7) is a television station in Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California, United States, serving as the West Coast of the United States, West Coast Flagship (broadcasting), flagship of the American Broadcasting Company, ABC network. ...

, where he anchored the sports segments on its 5, 6, and 11 p.m. newscasts. He also worked for

ABC Sports ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Televisi ...

's coverage of the

1988 Winter Olympics The 1988 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XV Olympic Winter Games (french: XVes Jeux olympiques d'hiver) and commonly known as Calgary 1988 ( bla, Mohkínsstsisi 1988; sto, Wîchîspa Oyade 1988 or ; cr, Otôskwanihk 1998/; srs, Guts� ...

as a Correspondent in

Calgary Calgary ( ) is the largest city in the western Canadian province of Alberta and the largest metro area of the three Prairie Provinces. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806, makin ...

and as Sideline Reporter for the Super Bowl XXII (1988). He returned to KCBS in March 1992, and has remained there since. In addition to KCBS-TV duties, Hill files sports reports for sister station KCAL-TV. Hill is also one of the hosts for pay-per-view boxing telecasts produced by the

Showtime Showtime or Show Time may refer to: Film * ''Showtime'' (film), a 2002 American action/comedy film * ''Showtime'' (video), a 1995 live concert video by Blur Television Networks and channels * Showtime Networks, a division of Paramount Global w ...

cable network. A popular broadcast personality in

Southern California Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and Cultural area, cultural region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. It includes the Los Angeles metropolitan area, the second most po ...

for years, Hill has been active in community activities. He is a member of the Los Angeles

Urban League The National Urban League, formerly known as the National League on Urban Conditions Among Negroes, is a nonpartisan historic civil rights organization based in New York City that advocates on behalf of economic and social justice for African Am ...

's board of directors, as well as serving on the board of directors of the Grossman Burn Center in Sherman Oaks, California. He is a spokesman for the City of Los Angeles Department of Recreation and Parks and is involved in developing youth outreach and fitness programs.

Honors

Hill has been honored by the

Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. newspa ...

Los Angeles Press Club The Los Angeles Press Club is an American journalism organization founded in 1913. It honors journalists through its annual National Arts and Entertainment Journalism Awards and SoCal Journalism Awards. The Board of Directors includes the organi ...

United Press International United Press International (UPI) is an American international news agency whose newswires, photo, news film, and audio services provided news material to thousands of newspapers, magazines, radio and television stations for most of the 20th ...

, the California Press Television and Radio Association, and

USA Today ''USA Today'' (stylized in all uppercase) is an American daily middle-market newspaper and news broadcasting company. Founded by Al Neuharth on September 15, 1982, the newspaper operates from Gannett's corporate headquarters in Tysons, Virgini ...

for his outstanding work in sports reporting. Hill was honored on May 9, 2006, with the 2,311th star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Colleagues, friends, family and dignitaries such as Los Angeles mayor

Antonio Villaraigosa Antonio Ramón Villaraigosa (; né Villar Jr.; born January 23, 1953) is an American politician who served as the 41st Mayor of Los Angeles from 2005 to 2013. A member of the Democratic Party, Villaraigosa was a national co-chairman of Hillar ...

were in attendance to honor the popular sportscaster. Mayor Villaraigosa declared May 9, 2006, in Los Angeles as "Jim Hill Day."

Personal life

Hill is an avid golfer who often plays at Wilson & Harding Golf Courses at

Griffith Park Griffith Park is a large municipal park at the eastern end of the Santa Monica Mountains, in the Los Feliz neighborhood of Los Angeles, California. The park includes popular attractions such as the Los Angeles Zoo, the Autry Museum of the Ameri ...

in Los Angeles. He also plays golf with

Ernie Camacho Ernest Carlos Camacho (born February 1, 1955) is a former professional baseball player who pitched in the major leagues from 1980 to 1981 and 1983 to 1990. His best season came with the 1984 Cleveland Indians, when he led the team with 23 saves. ...

. He was formerly married to Erma White (1965–1973). Hill has one son, Walter J. Hill, San Antonio, Texas. He is divorced from actress

Denise Nicholas Denise Donna Nicholas (born July 12, 1944) is an American actress, author, and social activist. Nicholas is known primarily for her roles as high-school guidance counselor Liz McIntyre on the ABC comedy-drama series ''Room 222'' and Councilwoma ...

. His younger brother is former Los Angeles Rams tight end David Hill. He has appeared as himself in movies and television shows such as ''

Rocky III ''Rocky III'' is a 1982 American sports drama film written, directed by, and starring Sylvester Stallone. It is the sequel to '' Rocky II'' (1979) and is the third installment in the ''Rocky'' franchise. Along with Stallone reprising the title r ...

'' and '' Arli$$''.

Partial filmography

*''

Polyester Polyester is a category of polymers that contain the ester functional group in every repeat unit of their main chain. As a specific material, it most commonly refers to a type called polyethylene terephthalate (PET). Polyesters include natural ...

'' (1981) - Picket Reporter *''

'' (1982) - Sportscaster

References

External links

Jim Hill's bio on CBSLosAngeles.com
*

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hill, Jim American sports announcers San Diego Chargers players Green Bay Packers players 1946 births Television anchors from Los Angeles Living people Olympic Games broadcasters Sportspeople from San Antonio Texas A&M–Kingsville Javelinas football players National Football League announcers National Basketball Association broadcasters Boxing commentators Players of American football from San Antonio