NEW ROCHELLE, N.Y. - Stanley Hill '59 '95H played an instrumental role in helping to bring civil liberties and social awareness to the forefront of American culture following an unfortunate experience while he was a student-athlete at Iona College. Hill passed away at the age of 82 last Friday.
 
In the winter of 1956-57, during Hill's sophomore season as a guard for the Gaels, his team found itself on the front-lines in the battle for racial equality. The team was scheduled to meet the University of Mississippi in the All-American City Tournament in Owensboro, KY.
 
Realizing the Iona team had been racially integrated, Ole Miss coach, Bonnie Graham, informed tournament officials that his team would not compete if Hill was in the lineup. Coach Graham had the support of the university president, athletic director and the Governor of Mississippi. Iona's head coach at the time, Jim McDermott, refused to bench his starting guard and tournament officials awarded a forfeit in favor of the Gaels. That night, Ole Miss basketball players sought out Hill at the Gaels' hotel to apologize for the university's actions. In 2001, the University of Mississippi officially apologized for the bigotry Hill had endured forty-four years prior.
 
His exemplary valor in the face of adversity stands as a beacon of courage and resolve for future generations to come. In 2012, Iona athletics honored Hill with its "Trailblazer Award" and remembered the founding Christian Brothers who fostered racial equality on the Iona campus, Jim McDermott, the coach who asserted the equality of his player, and Hill, who courageously endured discrimination and persevered to build a significant career as a New York labor leader, a champion of equal rights for all workers.
 
Following his time at Iona, Hill continued to be a pioneer as a labor leader who headed New York City's largest public employee union for more than a decade.
 
As a true Ionian, Hill fought the good fight and helped to move the world.
 
Read Stanley Hill's obituary via The New York Times.