HIRAM, Ohio - The parents of the late Lauren Hill will present Hiram College with a Musial Sportsmanship Award award next week, 14 months after Hill made a memorable and emotional layup against Hiram.
Brent and Lisa Hill will present the award Saturday before Hiram's 2 p.m. home women's basketball against Ohio Wesleyan.
The Hills approached Hiram about making the presentation at Hiram. They accepted the award Hiram's on behalf at the Musial Awards last November in St. Louis. Lauren Hill received the Extraordinary Character Award posthumously the same night.
"Mrs. Hill is such a wonderful person and it's really nice how much she recognized our team,'' Hiram coach Emily Hays said. "I feel like she has a connection with us.
"This brings back a lot of emotions - having played in that first game and what it was a like. It was such an honor to be there. For us to be recognized for being there, still, and to be honored by the Musial Awards is something we never imagined.''
In November 2014, Hiram gave up its season-opening home game and moved it to Cincinnati so Lauren Hill could play at home in what was being billed as one final "Layup for Lauren.''
Hill, a Mount St. Joseph freshman at the time, was suffering from Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Glioma (DIPG), a rare form of pediatric brain cancer, and had a terminal diagnosis. She was given months to live and feared she would not achieve her goal of playing in a college basketball game. The game was moved up two weeks to accommodate Hill and was the first game of the 2014-15 college season.
The teams met for dinner the night before with Hill present. That began a bond between the Hill family, Hiram and Mount St. Joseph that continues to grow, Hays said.
Hill started the game and made a pre-arranged layup in front of 10,000 fans in an emotional beginning. She also scored the game's final points on another layup.
That began a bond that continues to grown between the Hills, Mount St. Joseph and Hiram. Three weeks later, Mount St. Joseph surprised Hiram by showing up at one of its home games that season and presented the team with an autographed Hill jersey. MSJ had just played at Baldwin Wallace in another game in which Hill scored.
As Hill's story grew to receive international attention, she became the face of and a successful fundraiser for a previously little-known form of cancer. Her foundation, The Cure Starts Now, has raised more than $1.5 million for cancer research.
Hill died April 10, 2015. She was 19.
Hiram played Mount St. Joseph in the inaugural Lauren Hill Tipoff Classic in Cincinnati in November. The two teams had dinner again the night before with Hill's parents.
Hays said the MSJ-Hiram season-opening series likely will continue.
"One of the things we want is for her legacy to continue,'' Hays said. We were able to bring our freshmen in on it this year and it's something they'll be able to tell their families about.''
Hiram (10-7) began this season with a win against Mount St. Joseph. Hiram is enjoying its best season in 27 years and is two victories shy of the most wins in the team's history.