Jess Hill

Jesse Terrill Hill (January 20, 1907 – August 31, 1993) was an American athlete, coach, and college athletics administrator who was best known for his tenure as a coach and athletic director at the University of Southern California (USC). His career spanned six decades. He played as an outfielder in Major League Baseball from 1935 to 1937, coached two national championship teams in track and field, and went on to become the first person to both play for and coach Rose Bowl champions.

Early life and collegiate athletic career

Hill was born in Yates, Missouri and moved with his family to Corona, California as a boy, attending Corona High School and Riverside Junior College—now known as Riverside City College. After transferring to USC, he earned letters in football, track, and baseball. He played as a fullback for the 1928 USC football team, which won a national championship, and was a senior on the 1929 team that won the 1930 Rose Bowl, leading the Pacific Coast Conference with an average of 8.2 yards per carry. As a junior, he won the national title in the broad jump at the IC4A meet on June 1, 1929 at Franklin Field in Philadelphia, with a jump of 25 feet 7/8 inch, breaking the intercollegiate record by 2½ inches. He also won a baseball conference batting championship with a .389 average as a senior in 1930. He was a member of Sigma Nu Fraternity.