North Adelaide Basketball Club names Hillcrest court after legendary player Jo Hill
JO HILL has given her blood, sweat and tears for North Adelaide for the best part of 25 years — now the basketball club’s main court is named after her.
JO HILL has given her blood, sweat and tears for North Adelaide Basketball Club for the best part of 25 years.
To recognise Hill’s contribution and unwavering loyalty, the Rockets named Hillcrest Stadium’s main court after her last month.
North revealed the honour – and Hill’s signature printed on the court – during a surprise pre-game ceremony before it played Norwood.
“I was speechless,” Hill, 41, says.
“Normally I take notice of the little things and there was this big, white Rockets sign on the court but I didn’t take any notice of it.
“It is weird to think it’s the Jo Hill Court and it’s named after me.”
Hill has been playing at Hillcrest since joining North as a gangly 16 year old from Kingston in 1989.
The Klemzig resident’s sporting background was as a state-level high jumper, but a friend invited her to Rockets training because she was tall.
“I’d never touched a basketball before but it’s taken me all over the world and that’s where it started from, at Hillcrest.”
Offers to switch state league clubs have come over the years, but Hill has always remained loyal to the Rockets, leaving them only to play interstate or overseas.
She won a league MVP in 1994, 13 best and fairests and chalked up more than 400 games at North.
Her basketball journey has also included five WNBL championships with Adelaide Lightning, more than 350 WNBL games, stints in Spain and France, and a silver medal with the Opals at the 2000 Sydney Olympics.
“Everything I’ve achieved North has been a part of it so (staying loyal) is a way of thanking them.”
These days Hill is the state league’s oldest player and sometimes finds herself standing the daughters of old opponents.
She is weighing up playing on for the Rockets next year despite retiring from the WNBL in February.
Rockets vice-president David Durant says honouring Hill is a “no brainer”.
“Despite playing for the Lightning, the Opals and wherever else, through all of that she has kept coming back to North and contributing greatly to the basketball club,” Durant says.