Grant Hill Beyond The Glory | 2004 | Documentary

he makes the game look so easy just a very very beautiful player to watch golden child he was like the golden child he was perfection he was a child of power and privilege when he came home from school he had to call me at the pentagon oh can you believe he got that high he transformed duke into a dynasty this good athlete as they all had [Music] they didn't have grant hill [Music] you redefined the image of pro basketball grant is everything good about the nba it was touted as an heir to the king [Music] he's one of the best players that's ever played this game then crippling injuries turned grand hill's career into an epic test of character grant has been put to sleep and operated on four times this is not the first time he's come back this isn't the second time he's come back people think i'm washed up that i'm stupid for trying that i'm done but hill vows to beat the odds mounting one final effort to stake his claim to greatness he's got a true warrior's spirit and he will not yield he feels like something was taken from him and he's ready to take it back if i can get back man watch out [Music] this is grand hill beyond the glory absolutely [Applause] january 16 2003 [Applause] a thursday night game between the washington wizards and the orlando magic and a final twilight matchup between basketball's once and future kings michael jordan and grand hill [Applause] i wanted to go against jordan i knew that it was probably my last time playing against him [Applause] at age 40 michael jordan was on the home stretch of a perfect career brant hill was 10 years younger and the player once destined to inherit jordan's mantle as the finest in the game he does things on the court said you know you have to go look at the replay and say how did he do that somehow he hit it brad hill got it and he sticks it [Music] [Applause] but three ankle surgeries in three years had turned hill into a ghost of his former self [Applause] now has he struggled to keep up with an aging jordan his ankle was falling apart once more i knew going into the game it was fractured i'd known that few games before that but this time i couldn't really move sensing hill's physical weakness jordan erupted for 32 points that night grand hill scored two then limped off the court another basketball season in shambles and his future engraved out you just sat there with a tear in your eye and a lump in your throat because you knew it was not good he really had to start asking himself some questions that no one else could give him the answer questions about whether it was worth it i just knew that you know i can't keep prolonging this i can't delay the inevitable this would maybe be my last time [Applause] [Music] grant hill grew up with an aura of great expectations [Music] his father calvin was a yale graduate and a star nfl running back [Music] his mother janet worked in the pentagon with the secretary of the army their social circle included friends like bill and hillary clinton graham was their only child calvin's an only child and so am i we were very happy only children as children ourselves grant was very unhappy his entire life as an only child and blamed us of course [Music] i always wanted siblings i wanted cousins i wanted aunts and uncles in some respects i mean i feel like i missed out on that you know i don't mind it now but as a kid i didn't like it from his lone perch grant got a big view of the world his parents took him to far-flung locales from asia to egypt to capitol hill but he was most comfortable growing up in the dc suburb of reston virginia a planned community of residents from all walks of life grant grew up with lots of different kinds of people it's helped uh be able to you know to get along i wanted to always kind of blend in and fit in and be like everyone else and always wanted to downplay my parents success but grant was never in danger of being spoiled by fame and fortune not around the house where his mom was known as the general grant wasn't allowed too many independent thoughts when he was a little child he had to clear everything with his mother when he came home from school he had to call me at the pentagon if i didn't get that call he was in deep duty there were times when my friends would be at my house and they'd get in trouble and my mother would send them to my room yeah a little nervous walking in there um you just hello mrs hill hello mr hill um you walked gently you just you know went to grant's room you didn't make too much noise i was the disciplinarian and calvin was the fun parent when he wasn't playing professionally calvin joined grant and his friends in pickup games on the street on family trips he took his son to art galleries you know i always look at my dad as kind of a a renaissance man he doesn't fit the mold of what you think of as a football player one thing calvin wouldn't let his son do was play organized football people would be comparing him to what they thought i was and and the expectations sometimes unreal [Music] i tried to encourage grant to play basketball where everybody can dribble the ball and everybody gets a chance to shoot grant showed skill on the court from an early age by the time he entered south lakes high school his coach figured he was good enough to skip freshman basketball and go straight to the varsity but grant resisted the offer he said coach i really you know i really don't want to do that and the reasoning behind that was because he didn't want to surpass his peers i wanted to play freshman basketball i wanted to play with my friends you know i didn't want to jump over them and appear better than them somehow it got back to his friends and they were excited but i think once he realized they didn't feel that somehow he felt he was better than him he sort of relaxed and went with the flow grant's court style reflected his personality he was a modest star who inspired teammates with smart and unselfish play if you won grant's team he just made you better but while graham's fame and popularity grew at south lakes he never got the chance to be a big shot his parents held him to a strict standard i had to be in at a certain time and one time i was late and she told me to take my watch off and i broke the watch because i said you're not using the watch so you don't really need this it got to the point where my friends didn't want to go out with me because they knew that at some point they'd have to drive me home so it's better to just not go at all by the spring of 1990 grant was a high school all-american and eager to step out on his own i wanted him to go to georgetown and my husband wanted him to go to north carolina and that's the reason grant went to duke unlike georgetown in north carolina duke had never won a national title but after meeting with blue devils coach mike shishefsky grant decided to share that challenge he just knows how to connect with people and he connected with me i think he longed for brothers and sisters and family he wanted to be a part of something bigger than him coach k made it a point to get him involved make him feel like he's part of the team like he's an important part of the team when you're in that foxhole you can look at each other and it's not just hey this is my teammate but this a guy i know this is like a brother this is like family [Music] as his freshman season unfolded grant fit right in [Applause] in the spring of 1991 duke met defending champion unlv in the ncaa final four grant held all-american stacey ogden to six points as duke stunned everyone to advance to the finals as a good athlete as they all had [Applause] they didn't have grant hill [Applause] look at this play incredible [Music] duke has won its first national championship [Applause] 19 year old freshman grand hill had made his entrance on the national stage few imagined what he would do for an encore will the dream die here for duke two point something seconds left on the clock coach k asked me if i could make the pass there's the pass to leitner puts it up [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] beyond the glory on fox sports net is brought to you by docker's pro style shirts and pants that do it all [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] winning their first ncaa title in the spring of 1991 put duke university and grant hill on the map with the core of that team in place for the following season they vowed to win two in a row we had that swagger we had that confidence we felt we could win without coach k that's how confident we were [Music] duke went wire to wire ranked number one through the 91-92 regular season and were favored to win it all when we met kentucky in the ncaa regional finals before the game you know we just felt like you know it's just the ceremony we're gonna go out there and we kentucky played duke even down the stretch and deep into overtime i was really scared that we weren't gonna win that game and um you know it came down to the wire two or three times 7.8 seconds remaining then as the clock ticked down kentucky made a move to ice the game [Applause] [Music] [Applause] and all of a sudden our run for this great year number one all season looked like it was gonna be over with two seconds to play duke had to inbound the ball from the far end of the court coach k turned to grant i said can you throw the ball 75 feet and he said yeah i can i can do that i knew that as soon as he gave his word that he would do it there's the pass to lightner what's it up football was in my jeans and i had one time on national television to display them so that was kind of neat duke went on to win their second straight title in 1992. [Applause] but while upperclassmen christian leitner and bobby hurley got the plaudits grant remained comfortably in the background he'll do everything you ask him to do but at times because he's reluctant to overstep his bounds you need to say go ahead because he still wants permission part of it was my upbringing respecting your elders respecting those that are older than you i think sometimes that got in the way of my talent my abilities my greatness whatever you want to call it i took them aside one day after playing and i said you know you're really strong you're really big you're really good with the ball [Music] be more aggressive in his freshman and sophomore year with all those who were older than him he deferred to them when they left he accepted the mantle [Music] grant comes down not only did he hit on his back but he hit his elbow as well [Applause] by his senior season at duke hill was displaying leadership in competitive fire [Applause] [Music] in the spring of 1994 coach k turned to grant to lead his undermanned team into the ncaa tourney i said we're going to ride you as long as we possibly can we had a thing and coach k called it the going to charlotte offense because that's where the final four was that going to charlotte offensement [Music] give the ball to grant and get out of his way [Applause] hill took his team to the ncaa finals for the third time in four years [Applause] and though duke lost to arkansas in the 94 title game grant's dominant play impressed a legion of admirers i like duke basketball because i like grant hill now it is my great pleasure to retire the jersey of a young man who has exemplified all that is best about this sport number 33 grant hill by the time he came out of duke he was a celebrity not just a great player but he was a marquee player with the third pick in the 1994 nba draft the detroit pistons select grant hill from duke university grant hill stepped up to the nba in the fall of 1994 after michael jordan stepped away there was a void of michael's departure to baseball at that point and the sense was who's going to take his place well here's grant hill hill didn't disappoint [Applause] even as a rookie he played the pro game with an artist's grace [Applause] he had a calmness about him on the court that you know it seemed like he'd been there before like he had did this before three months into his first season grant was the leading vote getter in the nba all-star game [Music] by that time his wholesome image had advertisers lining up [Music] the simple notion of playing the game with grace and joy has returned say hello to grant hill [Music] you know you didn't have to do anything he he sold himself by just being himself [Music] it was all this talk of you know he's such a nice guy and he's just saying the others so i was just like you know let's just you know let's poke fun at this you're too nice we'll the pendulum had swung in the direction of kind of the bad boy image and grant came on the scene when the pendulum was ready to swing back in the opposite direction but hill grew uncomfortable when he was hailed by some in the media as a basketball savior it was almost like you're an african-american you you're upper class upper middle class whatever and you're not like the rest of them i just feel that it was an opportunity for people to knock some other players in the league and sort of using me for that person hill's special status didn't go unnoticed by opponents [Music] he became a physical target and would remain one for years to come they see that you're being advertised marketed by the league and they they want to go after you [Music] [Applause] there's definitely jealousy in the nba i mean people will go at you as a competitor you like that you want to get the best of everybody so on the court i didn't have a problem with it hill didn't back down he shared honors with jason kidd as nba rookie of the year we're the rookies every year and we love this game but when doug collins arrived to coach the pistons for hill's second season he challenged his young star to raise his game higher i said grant i'm not gonna let you take a back seat to anybody in this league and what it means is the last three minutes of the game for us when the game is online the ball has to be in your i remember the game hands had like a triple-double and then doug still was demanding more from him and i was like man the guy just had a triple-double i put a lot in his lap simply because i knew he was capable of it i think maybe it made him uncomfortable at times but i think it really helped him grow grant led the all-star voting again in his second season and took the pistons to the 1996 playoffs that summer he won a gold medal with the u.s olympic team he possessed everything that you were looking for in a superstar grant hill appeared to be the master of his destiny but his career was about to take a startling turn we do an express the train is like holy crap he's looking at he's just like couldn't believe what he saw [Music] by his third pro season grant hill was an nba icon and the leader he led the pistons to 54 victories in the 96-97 season and finished third in the race for mvp behind carl malone and michael jordan [Music] [Applause] he has the ability to not dominate necessarily his scoring with passing his rebounding and that's the way i utilized him in detroit and he was he was magnificent grant's game was blossoming off the court as well a blind date with popular singer tamiya washington soon turned into something more i'm officially missing you [Music] we went to the movies at like two o'clock so no one was there we were there by ourselves and we really got a chance to talk and you know find out about each other and what we both liked and disliked and we were finishing each other's sentences so it was good you know you just know you know and sometimes you just the chemistry everything kind of just seems to work well and we really clicked right away i wasn't used to dating men who were that tall but he was a gentle giant but not everyone admired grant's easy going personality when the pistons failed to reach the playoffs in hill's fourth season doug collins was fired and grant heard talk that for all his talent he lacked the toughness and killer instinct of a true superstar it goes back to grant's demeanor and who he is i want everybody to like me i don't want to say anything to somebody that might upset them you can't please everybody and not everyone's gonna like you you know sometimes even your teammates may not like you but you just continue to to do what's right you work hard you're professional he'll quietly set out to answer critics by working harder on his game in the offseason than ever before that fourth year really was kind of a wake-up call and i said you know i'm going to work my tail off and i got into the best shape i've been in and that was a turning point for me grant turned his team around too by the spring of 99 the pistons were back in the playoffs people talk i think they think grant was too nice and wasn't fierce enough on the court i know that's totally totally the opposite of what he was [Music] the 99-2000 season was hill's finest yet he averaged over 25 points and drew the admiration of top rivals brad hill tremendous amount of skills he has in the basketball court and be able to do everything and he has a total package there comes a point where you just feel like everything sort of comes together and it's all easy great play by hill boy that's pretty cool [Music] [Music] for six nba seasons hill was an iron man on the court so when his left ankle began hurting as the 2000 playoffs approached he took the pain in stride i was told i had a bone bruise but i was never really told not to play you know i was just like you have a bone bruise but you'll be fine there was so much pressure on him to play through pain and there seemed to be a lot of pressure on him to play no matter what but when the 2000 playoffs began against miami the pain grew worse in the middle of game two grant hit the wall i went out there and it was killing me one play that comes over and he comes to the sideline and goes around he was like i felt kind of funny and i heard a pop and i said well come on out and he goes no no just give me one more set to the next timeout third quote i pulled myself out of the game and it was weird because i don't i don't think the team knew the severity of it after the game hill found out we do an x-ray and an x-ray comes out looks at it the trainer's like holy crap he's looking at he's just like couldn't believe what he saw and i'm looking at him like don't move i'ma get you some crutches i looked at the x-ray and the bone was completely removed grand hill season was over so was his six-year contract with the pistons but despite hill's broken ankle nba teams lined up that summer to woo him away from detroit chicago did a videotape where they had oprah and she was saying come to chicago and new york came in and they had like five or six celebrities there and mind you his leg is up you know so everybody knew that he was injured but it wasn't really you know a big deal to them in august of 2000 hill agreed to a seven year 92 million dollar deal with orlando another star free agent tracy mcgrady quickly followed suit you put grant hill with tracy mcgrady and i mean your talking championship okay the question is what place do i prefer to live in orlando or detroit orlando crutches or no crutches grant's future look bright i'll have surgery i'll get better and be back you know and i didn't know what i was looking forward to we're running down the hallway and the doctor's like could there be a chance he overdosed then i start crying [Music] [Music] after spending the summer of 2000 recovering from a broken ankle grant hill was eager to make a new start in orlando he wanted to get on the floor he wanted to prove that he was worth the contract i went from being on crutches in three months getting off those crutches and then playing a month later [Applause] grant's wife tamiya opened the proceedings for his first game with the magic grant took it from done grand there hill helped lead the magic to victory that night but he wasn't the same after the first game he comes home and he's like my ankle it's hurting and you know he would put it up on the table and it would just be huge i couldn't do things that i could do before getting my shots stuffed blocked and not being able to stay in front of people after four games hill season was over doctors discovered that hill's ankle had fractured again they suggested a second operation as crazy as it sounds i was relieved i was relieved to know that it wasn't in my head that there's actually something physically wrong with me and uh okay hey something's wrong let's get it fixed as hill sat on the sidelines sympathetic fans voted him onto the all-star team for the sixth time eager to reward their faith he put in long hours of rehab when you're hurt and you've been out for a long period of time you sometimes sort of fall victim to i have to make up for lost time going into my second season in orlando i mean i over trained i did too much i you know i was trying to get that whole season back for orlando fans the fall of 2001 brought a return of high hopes tracy mcgrady daryl armstrong boris grant patrick ewing brent hill [Music] sports illustrated predicted that hill would lead the magic to the nba finals grant thought so too no more crutches no more boots i have a bunch of clean left shoes at home that that are looking to be worn so i look forward to [Music] wearing oh man [Applause] this time hill lasted 14 games before his ankle drove him to the sidelines [Music] there was a lot of doubt and sort of worry on my part will i ever be able to get back even if the ankle heels a week before christmas he underwent another season-ending surgery in the midst of grant's trials there was one ray of light a few weeks after his surgery he and tamiya celebrated the birth of their first child myla for me and what i've been going through personally it was great to have you know a welcome addition when milo was born he was around all the time and we enjoyed just being a family because our minds were on something other than how's your ankle today as he prepared for his third season with the magic in 2002 grant showed a brave face but few shared his confidence anymore they would have articles about you know is he ever coming back and what a bust and we spent all this money and it was starting for the first time to become negative you feel like people are looking at you like man you really like you know he's kind of milking it you know you just gave you all this money and man he should be okay he acted like it it didn't really phase him but it did it you know it hurts then the season began and grand hill really was back [Music] [Applause] super impressive right now i was able to get by people i was able to slash i was able to be exciting and quick and fast in the open court [Music] everyone started to get high hopes again and they were starting to wow he's back one game here on christmas day against detroit on national television he and mcgrady were just marvelous [Music] detroit and it was a beautiful sight and you thought we're there and it was right after that that it all fell apart a growing soreness in hill's left ankle was attributed at first to tendonitis when they sent tendonitis we were like yes ten he can work through that i would sit out a few games you know i would uh you know play sit out it just progressively got worse over a two-month period he would come home and he would you know talk about how it was hurting and i was just like i cannot believe it [Music] the end came on a january night in washington d.c [Music] it was another fracture and same fracture and um so that was tough because i knew i'd gotten close hill consulted with doctors at duke medical center who proposed a more complex surgery than before one which required breaking a bone in his heel to correct the alignment of his legs it was good to finally get an explanation as to why this thing may have occurred in the first place and then why it keeps continuing to break down that really gave him hope and i think that really cleared up any questions he had in his mind about whether or not he was gonna try again [Music] [Applause] the surgery performed at duke medical center in march of 2003 was deemed a success but one week after that an infection from the operation sent grant into a fever delirium [Music] tamiya rushed him back to the hospital i pull up into emergency room and they have the stretcher and he's shaking and we're running down the hallway and the doctor's like has he is he on medication [Laughter] the ankle had always been serious but now it could be his life ended up having a skin graft from my arm taken to kind of make a patch over the infected area so that was that was quite an ordeal we kind of really kept quiet about it for a long time because it was just it was very scary for both of us the surgery the infection and the prolonged recovery kept grant on crutches for six months it has been an ordeal i think he's held on to his sense of humor but he's also shown a healthy sense of humility you just appreciate being able to walk you know maybe more than you you ever ever had before [Music] when the magic began the 2003-2004 season that november brown hill was not in uniform but he was back on his feet and setting his sights on the prize one final time he quietly is preparing you know for one last push one last effort [Music] i know there are those who may hear this and still think i'm crazy but you know i still feel like i can do it [Music] beyond the glory on fox sportsnet is brought to you by docker's pro style shirts and pants that do it all [Music] spring 2004 another long lost season for the orlando magic [Applause] for grant hill another season viewed from the sidelines as tough as it is it's also i think necessary to be somehow connected as much as i can to the team to the guys so you know can't play this is the next best thing i guess to a new generation of nba players grand hill is an old school memory the spotlight which was once his has moved on to a fresh crop of stars when a lebron comes or a carmelo anthony deep within grant would love that challenge so it does have to be frustrating you know he's sitting there off totally to the sideline all he can do is watch [Music] [Applause] as grant faces an uncertain future he draws strength from his family his father calvin had endured painful knee injuries throughout his own career even when you are succeeding you know you're constantly being knocked down and you have to get up the key is that you continue to try that you continue to aspire [Music] to see how hard he's worked to come back from his ankle it's inspiring to me a lot of athletes would have imploded through that injury turned to drugs or something else and he's been you know he's been been stoic and busy he's kept busy too [Music] we are so grateful to randall and his wife tamia for making their treasures available to the nation recurrent injuries forced hill to envision a life beyond basketball in the midst of everything he always finds a way to bring a positive into a negative the positives have been all of the things that he's been involved in outside of basketball franklin the turtle dragged his shell behind him he's been involved in so many things habitat for humanity child abuse programs there we go michael thought a he wants to share what he has and he wants others to share with him come on man me and you he's not afraid about what would happen if he can't play anymore because he's optimistic about the rest of his life and the other things he's going to do [Music] but grant believes he can come back day after day he grinds it out rebuilding his body for one last shot you don't really know how much you love something until it breaks your heart and if you keep coming back it tells you how much you really love it hadn't really faced any adversity before the ankle injury so he looks at it like this is you know this is my testimony this is my great story it's constantly being teased you know you're so close but yet so far but i know i know my time my day will come grand hill's athletic odyssey has yet to reach its final destination but for those who watched him persevere with grace and fortitude he's already gone the distance when you see a guy who has heart he's trying everything he can to get back up that's what it's about we see so many young athletes to come and fall apart grant's been able to rise above that that may be the greatest accomplishment of all to get through this circus that we live in you know and keep your values it's a journey man it really is and i don't think the journey's over i think there's there's uh more to it i think there's a lot more to it and you know i'm on this ride i'm gonna finish it out

Channel: SQUADawkins

Views: 67,264

Keywords: grant hill nba, grant hill doco

Id: czTcMAAY92c

Length: 42min 10sec (2530 seconds)

Published: Sun Mar 06 2022