(Above) Loren Hill standing in front of the Carolina bus that shuttled the team - and him - around Omaha during the College World Series.
July 1, 2009
by Ogi Overman - Editor
Like most UNC grads, Loren Hill takes the Tar Heels' athletic fortunes quite seriously, believing that the sky is Carolina blue for a reason - because God intended it that way. But unlike many of his baby-blue-clad brethren, Hill's year does not begin with Midnight Madness (the first basketball practice, in mid-December) and end (more often than not, it seems) with a late-March appearance in the Final Four. And unlike the loyalists who must make their flight reservations for a Final Four venue that rotates from year to year, Hill knows exactly where he'll be when the field is narrowed down to the elite of the elite.
Omaha, Nebraska, site of the College World Series.
Yes, it's baseball that trips the trigger of the president of the High Point Economic Development Corp., and for good reason. He and UNC coach Mike Fox were roommates at Carolina - Hill, class of '77, Fox a year later - and both made their first trip to Omaha in 1978, Fox as a player, Hill as a fan.
"I was living in Washing-ton, D.C. as a lobbyist intern, making almost no money," recalled Hill as if it were yesterday. "I was regretting not being in Omaha, because I actually had two roommates, Mike and pitcher Clay Johnson, who were on that team. In those days of course there was no Internet, no 'Sportscenter' so to get the score I picked up the Washington Post the next morning and it says 'UNC wins first game in College World Series.' The next day in the Post it said, 'Mike Fox hits home run.' I went to my boss and said, 'I have got to go to Omaha' and I took time off without pay and off I go to Omaha. I don't tell anybody I'm coming.
"Coach Roberts knew me well and he let me spend the night for free in Mike and Clay's hotel room with them. Mike's parents felt sorry for me and they shepherded me around in their rental car; they bought me meals because I was impoverished. But I got to see both Mike and Clay play in the College World Series back in 1978."
For the record, the Heels finished third in the country that year and second baseman Fox was named to the all-tournament team. After graduation he became a graduate assistant for the team, which led to the head job at N.C. Wesleyan. His 1989 edition won the Division III College World Series, and when Roberts left UNC in '98, Fox was offered the job. He is one of only six men to have played in and then coached their alma mater in the CWS.
This year marked the Heels' fourth straight appearance in the eight-team, double-elimination event, their tenth overall. And Hill has made three of the last four.
"I've been going to games since he was at North Carolina Wesleyan and for the last 11 years at Carolina," said the James-town native. "When they first got to the College World Series in '06 I had to go, since the last time he'd been was as a player. I got to go back in '07, but I had a work conference last year and didn't go. So this year I made sure I got there at first."
He and Fox have obviously remained close over the years, each serving as a groomsman in the other's wedding. But making this year's westward trek even more special was that their third roomie, ex-hurler Johnson, who had not been back to Omaha since his playing days, was there the whole time
"Clay and I sat together in the stands every game," said Hill. "He's feeding me information, the insight that I don't have, since I wasn't a player. It was great to be able to understand his perspective of what we were watching. I really had a blast the whole week."
While the Heels fell short again, that didn't seem to dampen Hill's spirits or diminish his fine memories of the trip.
"The atmosphere in Omaha is electric," he raved. "The people there have got Southern hospitality and then some. You're welcomed everywhere you go. Every restaurant, the YMCA, they all gave us an impromptu College World Series rate. They just bend over backwards."
While the NCAA just inked a deal that will keep the town's signature event there for the next 25 years, next year will mark the finale at venerable Rosen-blatt Stadium.
"Yep, they're going to build a new, downtown, modern stadium with suites and skyboxes and all the amenities," disclosed Hill. "And this wonderful historic place in a working class neighborhood will be bulldozed down and they're going to turn it into a parking lot for the adjacent zoo. There was all kinds of controversy about it."
As an economic developer, though, Hill understands the reasoning behind a new ballpark.
"Sure, downtown Omaha is coming alive," he noted. "It's got some things going and I can see why they would want it there. Within walking distance of the new stadium will be hundreds of restaurants and hotels and all that kind of stuff. So it makes sense in that way.
"There was an article in one of the Omaha newspapers saying that somebody on some committee had said the thing to do is to preserve the infield. Tear down the stands, get rid of the outfield, preserve that so that anybody who's been to a game can take their grandkids and stand on home plate and say, 'Here's where I stood. Here's where the pitcher stood.' I think it's a grand idea."
Either way, though, if the Tar Heels are in Omaha, so will be Loren Hill.
