For decades, Duke has been a family-oriented program and over the years, some parents have become minor Cameron celebrities: Bob Hurley, Doug Collins, Bonnie Laettner, the Scheyers and the Plumlees, all played big roles at Duke and were loved by Blue Devil fans.
But we’re not sure anyone was identified with the program in quite the way the Hills were.
In some ways, Grant Hill was born lucky. His father, Calvin, was an outstanding football player who graduated from Yale. And his mother, Janet?
Janet, who died Saturday, was something else.
She was, first and foremost, a brilliant and uncompromising woman whose toughness, at times, extended to Grant, even though he didn’t always appreciate it when he was young.