It meant something special to be placed on Robert Hill's football team at North Commons Park. His kids were known for their sharp uniforms, sideline discipline and sportsmanship.
Notably unpretentious "Coach Bobby" kept his expectations high and his voice low. His teams played hard from an unwillingness to let him down.
Hill was born and raised in Minneapolis, emerging from early childhood tragedy a lifelong advocate for the development of young people and family reunification. He died on his 77th birthday, Feb. 23.
"He understood and knew how to work with kids, a lot of kids who didn't have a lot of parental support or good home situations," said fellow youth coach Greg Owens. "Bobby developed some very good athletes, but also he saved a ton of kids who otherwise wouldn't have had an opportunity."
Hill was the third youngest of 10 children in a devout Catholic family. Both parents died from illness within a year of each other when Hill was in elementary school.
An older sister raised him until high school, when he boarded at the famous Father Flanagan's Boys Town in Omaha. He was elected a "commissioner" of Boys Town's self-government and lettered in basketball before graduating in 1965, during the thick of the Vietnam War.
Hill was immediately drafted by the U.S. Army and stationed at Fort Bliss, Texas. He received an honorable discharge three years later.
In 1970, Hill married Rosvlyn Ritchie. They were together 52 years, until the day he died.
