Sixers Insider

Interview: Sonny Hill League turns 40

The Sonny Hill League – now celebrating 40 years of existence – has been around long enough to have grandchildren of some of its original players now taking part in the league. Over the years, the league has produced countless players that have gone on to the NBA, but more importantly as 76ers Executive Advisor and SHL Founder Sonny Hill would say, "The league has produced players that have grown to become good human beings."

Q. What do you think has been the key to the league’s success?

HILL: To me, it’s about having good people around me who have been consistent in terms of this 40-year journey. You can’t do what we have been able to do as a lone ranger; you need to be able to do this with a lot of additional people and I have been very fortunate to have had so many of these people with me during this journey. We have been fortunate enough to replace those that have left with young blood. The younger people have stepped in the footsteps of those before them and have been able to carry on.

Q. How did the Sonny Hill League begin?

HILL: It really came out of the fact that the Baker league had started in 1960 and many of the original people who became the Sonny Hill league came out of what we call the Baker League Mites and that was a group of the siblings of the people that were in the league. It was there children that I took under toe and formed them into a group that played before the Baker League games. As they got older it became a situation of, "ok now what can I do to keep them with us" and that’s when I thought of the idea of the Sonny Hill league. We formed the league out of that core group and then adding on players who then became part of our original five teams in 1968. Today, we have 68 teams in 2008.

Q. Is it true that you place a lot of the league’s success on the people who have helped you run the league all of these years?

HILL: You can’t do it unless you have good people. I’ll just quote what Wilt Chamberlain said to me one day, he said, "Sonny, if we’re in the school yard and we’re choosing up sides, we always choose good people to be with us and it’s the same thing in life. If you choose good people to be around, you got a better chance to be a good person."

Q. Where do you see this league going in the future?

HILL: If we are going to continue to have this program we need sufficient financial support. We need support from the city itself, we need support from the state of Pennsylvania because we are truly a legendary program not only in the city of Philadelphia and State of Pennsylvania, but throughout the world in that we produce well over 40,000 youngsters who have participated in any number of high profile basketball names. We’re in charge, we’re in charge and we’re always going to be in charge. Young people want to be involved in a program where there’s discipline, there’s structure, there’s a situation where you have to be accountable and respectful and that’s the thing that’s continued to keep our program at the forefront. It’s been consistent since 1968 and it’s the same program today as it was in 1968.

Q. How are you celebrating this 40th Anniversary?

HILL: I try not to get too high or too low. Deal with it on an equal basis and I am just thankful that the good Lord has allowed me to do his work for these many years that I’ve been here.

Q. Have you spoken to any of your formal players from the league about the anniversary?

HILL: I think a lot of that will come over the course of the year. The fact is that we open tonight and over the course of this week and all the weeks that will follow until the latter part of august we will come in contact with many of the former players. And now they are having their children and sometimes even their grandchildren who are now playing in the league or will become a part of the league. So we see those individuals as they come into the game and they walk up to us and say, "Hey, I played in the league, I thank you for the way that is was able to allow me to do what I needed to do." Now they are thankful that they are able to bring their youngsters and put them into something positive.

I see many of the players that are visible on the basketball scene now; the Kobe Bryants, Rasheed Wallace, Malik Allen, Malik Rose, Aaron McKie, Eddie Jones, Rasual Butler, These are individuals that we still have that are active at the pro level…we’ve got about 18 players, Hakeem Warrick, all of these guys we see during the course of a season when I’m with the Sixers and I go into the visiting locker room to talk to them and just let them know that their legacy is still alive because that’s what it is, it’s their legacy.