BASKETBALL - Hill keeps family name in lights

A SELECT few in New Zealand will match Ben Hill's pedigree.
His grandfather, Stanley "Tiny" Hill, was an All Black, father Stan jnr was a legendary Tall Black and mother Mandy Purnell was a Tall Fern.
So when it came to mapping a career path in sport the 30-year-old 0800 Easy LPG Hawks forward was spoilt for choices.
Of course, with his father on the road most of the time, his mother became his childhood coach by default.
"Dad also ran the pub his whole life so she coached me.
"She was hard and from the old school style and that's the way it should be," Hill tells SportToday before tomorrow night's last National Basketball League (NBL) match against Taranaki at the Pettigrew-Green Arena in Taradale, Napier.
The 190-plus game veteran, who signed with the Hawks only in April, shortly before American import John "JT" Thomas was sent packing, believes his mother was in the mould of coach Murray McMahon, the former Waikato Pistons coach who died last year.
"I had to do the hard yards with her," he explains, adding such a philosophy is sadly lacking at junior level these days.
"Everything nowadays is taken for granted. They see Kobe Bryant and LeBron James but what they don't see is how those players put in 12-hour days just training."
His mother has always followed his career and may come down from Morrinsville next season to watch him play for the Hawks, unless of course: "When we beat Wellington Saints on Tuesday and we travel up to play Harbour Heat." (Who the sixth-placed Hawks play will be decided after tomorrow night's last round of matches, depending on the top-four results).
After half a season with Manawatu Jets and about a dozen with defending champions Waikato, Hill left the Pistons in search of change and going back to Palmerston North seemed to be a good idea at the time.
It was where he grew up and it felt like returning home.
But moving to the Bay recently and making the starting five have been instrumental in making this place a desirable location.
"I love it here. Awesome place. Great teammates and coach (Shawn Dennis)."
He admits the Hawks have been underperforming and sees tomorrow night's dead rubber as an ideal stage for the final fine-tune before next week's play-offs.
"It's the gelling side of things. Taranaki have been hit hard by injuries but it won't be an easy game so we have to improve before the playoffs.
"With Coops (Australian import David Cooper) here like me for just a few weeks we need to find some continuity so we have to get the job done."
So why didn't Hill follow in the footsteps of his grandfather, Tiny, 82, who still farms in Canterbury?
"I got told I was too big to play rugby. I would have had to play in the front row and he (his grandfather) didn't want me to do that, I suppose because of neck-injury concerns," he said of New Plymouth-born Tiny, a retired soldier who played 11 internationals between 1955-59 as a versatile forward.
Hill's brother, Oliver, 26, has played national age-group and NBL basketball but at the moment is working in a coalmine in Kalgoorlie, in western Australia.
But it wasn't easy walking in the footsteps of his basketballer father.
"It was burned in my head my whole life. I felt free since making the Tall Blacks a few years ago, just as my old man did," he says of the burden that has been lifted since.
Not having seen his father play at his prime, Hill recalls watching him as a 10-year-old in Palmerston North playing for the Jets at the age of 35.
"It (basketball) has always been in my blood. I'll be playing it as long as my legs or back don't go in the next few years."
With two degrees in the making - computer science (one paper to go) and sports science and leisure (two shy) - Hill is well-equipped for the inevitable, although he isn't sure exactly what.
"I tell kids I coach that they must get their education first or while they are playing because you never know when that crippling injury will hit you."
It gives him "a hell of a buzz" to represent his country on the basketball court, especially when the Tall Blacks whip Australia.
A 72-53 victory in Napier against the Boomers, who boasted 2.13m Andrew Bogut in 2006, will forever be etched in his mind.
"It's very similar to winning the NBL. I've been in teams who have beaten the Aussies three times.
"Not too many Kiwis can say that," says Hill, who has also plied his trade overseas, including 2 1/2 years in Iceland.
"People think it's a good lifestyle in Europe but there's nothing like coming back home."
Tall Blacks Pero Cameron, Kirk Penney and Craig Bradshaw have inspired him, while Cameron also helped him improve his game.
From the Hawks' perspective, Hill is looking to buy a home to settle down and the Bay is definitely on the list of places to plant his roots.