Local athlete makes mark

On New Year's Day at 1 p.m., two of the nation's top running backs and early Heisman candidates for the 2007 season - Darren McFadden of 10-3 Arkansas and P.J. Hill of 11-1 Wisconsin - will take center stage in Orlando, Florida at the Capital One Bowl.
From a distance, it is just another bowl game, one of a myriad of contests that begins near the end of December. But here in Queens, particularly in East Elmhurst, it is much more. It is the final chapter of a dream season for the borough's own, 19-year-old redshirt freshman P.J. Hill.
The story is about hard work, dedication and one kid's dream. From East Elmhurst, in the shadows of Shea Stadium, where big time football is known only on fall Sundays when the Jets and Giants play, is where it all began for Hill. The two-and-a-half hour commute on the No. 7 and R trains and the Q 48 bus to Poly Prep, or the years with the Lynvet Youth Football organization.
It was fostered there. It became a reality this season, halfway across the country, in Madison, Wisconsin, where Hill took the Big 10 by storm.
A year after breaking a leg, the 5-foot-11, 242-pound bowling bowl of a halfback proved to everyone who told him he was too big or too slow to be a feature back wrong.
292 carries. 1,533 rushing yards. 5.3 yards per carry. 15 touchdowns. Most rushing yards in the Big 10, sixth most in the nation. 2006 Big Ten Freshman of the Year. All those statistics, that award, belong to Hill.
It's not often New York City produces such a football talent - and Hill still has a ways to go, hundreds of carries and many starts to come. Maybe in basketball, but on the gridiron, a success story so quick in one of the major conferences?
&#8220It means a lot,” he said. &#8220I can put New York on the map. We have some guys that can play.”
Hill first started to play the game as a youngster in Birmingham, Alabama at the age of seven. After moving back to Queens with his father, Perry, he joined the Lynvet Youth Football organization. At the start, he was a lineman, a solid defensive player. But at the age of 12, he was moved to running back, and immediately joined the organization's travel team, leading them to a Pop Warner conference title one year.
&#8220You always could see he had a nose for the game,” said Frank Masella, the Lynvet Youth Football director. &#8220He always seemed to find the seam, always found the holes very quickly, was hard to take down. He just had a lot of upside.”
Masella had connections at Poly Prep, a top-flight private school in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn with a reputation for sending highly touted football players to Division I schools. So Hill went there, and thrived on the football field, scoring 48 touchdowns and rushing for 4,012 yards. It wasn't easy at the school for Hill, however. Growing up with a public school education, he struggled with grades at Poly Prep - Hill was academically ineligible several times in his first two years there.
Furthermore, Bay Ridge is not exactly a stone's throw from East Elmhurst. Three days a week Perry Hill would make the 45-minute drive to Howard Beach to drop his son off at the school bus. But the other two days, Hill would have to find his way there on his own - no easy commute by any means. Leaving his house at 5 a.m., he had to take the Q 48 bus to the 111th street station in Corona for the 7 train, later connect to the R, take it to the final stop, 95th Street, and walk another six blocks to the school.
&#8220I always had thoughts about leaving Poly Prep,” he said. &#8220Probably every year I was there.”
There came a point in the middle of Hill's sophomore year, despite his success on the football field, where it was becoming too much - the late hours, the commute, the homework. However, Perry Hill wouldn't allow his son to leave, knowing his God-given ability and the opportunity the school afforded him.
&#8220It was getting too hard on him,” Perry Hill recalled, &#8220and I was like ‘PJ, nothing's easy. Nobody's going to give you anything.' ”
Hill decided to stay, and improved his grades by the end of that year, keeping them up through graduation. &#8220I kept striving to reach my goals,” he said. &#8220Poly Prep got me through a lot of stuff. I struggled a lot, but I was determined to do my football thing, because it was my future. I just kept working at it.”
Because of his size and quickness, Hill was a terror on the high school level, yet the many doubters that said he couldn't run the ball at a major Division I school because of his girth remained. He ended up choosing Wisconsin over Indiana, Vanderbilt, Syracuse and Buffalo because of their reputation for great running backs and academics.
Then before his freshman year, when he was expected to back up Brian Calhoun, his year ended before it even began: Hill broke his leg after impressing in pre-season. But he remained confident, learned all of his plays in hopes of making a name for himself the following spring and fall.
&#8220I spoke to him when he first broke his leg; he was disappointed, but he was looking forward to the following season,” Masella recalled. &#8220Nothing really fazes this kid. He's just real calm and collected for a young man.”
Then luck finally found his side - Calhoun opted for the NFL (he's now with the Detroit Lions) after his junior season and the incumbent, Booker Stanley, was kicked off the team for legal troubles - and he took advantage.
&#8220We knew he had the potential to be pretty good, but he's exceeded expectations,” Wisconsin's senior quarterback John Stocco said. &#8220He's got a workmanlike attitude. I think that's the key to his success.”
Masella and Perry Hill say they're not surprised at his success, having watched Hill dominate Pop Warner and then elite talent with Poly Prep. Hill says otherwise.
He admits he's taken a step back already to look at his vast accomplishments in such a short time, from producing the second-most running yards by a freshman in his UW debut with 130 yards against Bowling Green, to the comparisons to another bulky back at the school, the 1999 Heisman Trophy winner Ron Dayne, the Houston Texans running back who is the NCAA career record-holder in rushing yards.
&#8220Just to have a great season, great success, was such a big surprise to me,” he said. &#8220I kind of sat back one night and was like, ‘yeah.' I really didn't imagine [this]. I just kept a positive mindset, kept practicing, prepared myself every week for the game.”