William Randolph "Sonny" Hill (born July 22, 1936) is an American former announcer. He is a member of the Philadelphia Sports Hall of Fame, and current sports radio personality in

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

, Pennsylvania. He also serves as an executive advisor for the

Philadelphia 76ers The Philadelphia 76ers, colloquially known as the Sixers, are an American professional basketball team based in the Philadelphia metropolitan area. The 76ers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eas ...

. He is known as ''Mr. Basketball'' and "''The Mayor of Basketball''" in Philadelphia for founding the eponymous Sonny Hill League and for his many contributions to the game.

Biography

Early life

Hill was born and raised in Philadelphia. After graduating from Northeast High School in 1955, he attended college for two years and then joined the

Eastern Basketball League Eastern may refer to: Transportation *China Eastern Airlines, a current Chinese airline based in Shanghai * Eastern Air, former name of Zambia Skyways *Eastern Air Lines, a defunct American airline that operated from 1926 to 1991 *Eastern Air L ...

. Hill is the father of filmmaker

K. Brent Hill K is the eleventh letter of the Latin alphabet. K may also refer to: General uses * K (programming language), an array processing language developed by Arthur Whitney and commercialized by Kx Systems * K (cider), a British draft cider manufact ...

Broadcasting career

Hill began his broadcast career in 1969 as a color commentator with Andy Musser for the

. He was also a commentator with the '' NBA on CBS'' from 1973 until 1977. He has hosted a weekly show on SportsRadio 94 WIP since 1987.

The Sonny Hill League

The Sonny Hill Community Involvement League is an amateur summer basketball organization in the Delaware Valley. The league was founded in 1968 as a safe haven from

gang A gang is a social group, group or secret society, society of associates, friends or members of a family with a defined leadership and internal organization that identifies with or claims control over Territory (animal), territory in a communi ...

warfare and other violence. The league, which began as an extension of the

Charles Baker Memorial League Charles is a masculine given name predominantly found in English and French speaking countries. It is from the French form ''Charles'' of the Proto-Germanic name (in runic alphabet) or ''*karilaz'' (in Latin alphabet), whose meaning was " ...

, today consists of more than 60 teams serving more than 800 student athletes.

Awards and honors

* Hill received the Mannie Jackson Human Spirit Award from the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2008.

References

External links

*
Philadelphia Sports Hall of Fame profile
1936 births Living people American men's basketball players American sports announcers Basketball players from Philadelphia Central State Marauders basketball players National Basketball Association broadcasters Philadelphia 76ers announcers {{1930s-US-basketball-bio-stub