Marcia Hill got the official phone call Sept. 12 from Art Johnston, himself a member of the Chicago Gay & Lesbian Hall of Fame, that she would be inducted in November as a member of the class of 2011. Fittingly, Sam Molinaro, the first president of what is now the Chicago Metropolitan Sports Association (CMSA), was the first to email Hill with congratulations.
"I was elated," Hill said of Johnston's call. "Each day [since that call], it sinks in more and more, when more people come up and congratulate me, thanking me for a job well done, for making gay sports a safe place to play, making every person feel welcome no matter their skill level.
"I've had the passion, drive and endurance to make the world a little better place. Several people have thanked me for being a mentor, teaching them what to do and for making them a better person as well. But most of all, I can hear it now in my mother's voice when we talk that she is now very proud of who I am and that her daughter has made a difference in so many lives."
Truly, Hill is deserving of her rightful place among LGBT icons.
Hill and 10 others, plus four organizations, will be inducted Wed., Nov. 9, at the Chicago History Museum, 1601 N. Clark. The Chicago Gay & Lesbian Hall of Fame is the country's only known government-supported hall of fame that honors members of the LGBT community.
"It makes us proud that, even 20 years after our first ceremony, there are still important figures from the past and a constantly growing list of current Chicagoans whose accomplishments and community contributions merit being honored by the Hall of Fame," Israel Wright, associate director of the Hall of Fame Committee and secretary of the Friends of the Chicago Gay and Lesbian Hall of Fame, said in a statement.
"Though municipal budget problems have restricted government financial support for the Hall of Fame this year, we are grateful that individual Chicagoans have stepped forward to assist us, through Friends of the Chicago Gay and Lesbian Hall of Fame, in maintaining a needed and historically significant institution," Gary Chichester, a co-chairperson of the committee and of the Friends organization, said in a statement.
The Chicago Gay and Lesbian Hall of Fame was established in 1991 under the auspices of the LGBT Advisory Council, with support from the Chicago Commission on Human Relations and then-Mayor Richard M. Daley.
"Growing up, I didn't know what gay was; it wasn't a term used every day in high school or in my family," said Hill, who grew up on dairy farms in Kane County. "My first introduction to the world of being gay was my freshman year [at Bradley University in Peoria]. I remember my roommate getting a phone call every morning at 6:30 a.m., saying, 'I love you' and hanging up.
"About six weeks into the semester, I got called into the Residential Advisor Room and my roommate was there. Bottom line, she announced she was gay, and the best solution was that I needed to change rooms and I could only say, 'Irreconcilable differences' as the reason for changing rooms. I could not say that she was gay, nor was I allowed to discuss anything."
Hill, who graduated from Kaneland High School, left Bradley after three semesters. She transferred to Northern Illinois University, where she earned her undergraduate degree.
Hill moved to suburban Chicago in the fall of 1981, and into Chicago in 1984. She now lives in the Albany Park neighborhood.
"The world is different today than in the early 1980s," Hill said. "We had to be careful of where we were and what we did or said; you could not talk openly at your job that you played on a gay team. Many women were teachers in the Catholic school system and some lost their jobs when it became known they were gay. Back in the 1980s, we had multiple women's bars to go hang out at, and we could walk from one to another and back.
"When I played on the Swan Club volleyball team at Brands Park, the other teams in the league found out we were a gay team and we took many rounds of verbal abuse, but Dolly, the owner of the Swan Club, guided us by telling us to ignore the verbal taunts and just play volleyball; [she said to] let our play determine the outcome. She sponsored teams in Chicago Park District volleyball, basketball and softball leagues prior to the formation of women's teams in GAA." [The Gay Athletic Association (GAA) eventually became the CMSA.]
Hill, 53, an accounting manager/HR for Pioneer Environment Services in Chicago, is a vital link to Chicago's illustrious gay sports legacy—past, present and future. She's been a player, coach, league administrator, on-field official and more. She's been a part of almost all sports in Chicago, including volleyball, basketball, softball and flag football.
"Most [CMSA] members today only recognize me as an official or, in the case of flag football, as the commissioner; they have no idea this is my second term on the main board and I have now served the longest of anybody as an elected official with CMSA," said Hill, who has even surpassed the 13-year reign of Molinaro. She has, at one time or another, been CMSA's president, vice-president, secretary and, now, treasurer.
"Most people don't know I was a very good athlete whose teams usually finished first or second in softball, and my Swan Club volleyball team won several MSA league [championships], and other leagues as well. I also helped coach various softball teams and usually did the lineup."
Hill has not yet officially retired as a player. She wants to someday play in the Master's Division of the annual Gay Softball World Series, and also to compete in the Senior Olympics.
Hill's countless contributions led Rob Terranova to nominate her for the Hall of Fame, with help from Shawn Albritton, Tracy Baim, Kevin Boyer and Mike McHale.
"The Hall of Fame means I have made a significant long-term contribution to the GLBT sporting community and I have made the world a better place for the next generation," Hill said. "The world has changed in 28 years and I can only dream what the world will be [like] in another 28 years. Maybe we can finally use the word Gay Olympics, and not Gay Games. I have always worked hard and was taught that, to get respect, you have to give respect and treat others as you wish to be treated."
Hill's road to the Hall of Fame is as follows. She:
—Played on her first gay softball team in 1980, in the Aurora Women's Fast-Pitch Softball League.
—Played on the Swan Club volleyball team during the winter of 1982-1983 in the Chicago Park District women's volleyball league at Brands Park.
—Played in the first-ever GAA women's softball league in the summer of 1983, and then in the GAA volleyball league, and the first-ever GAA women's basketball league.
—Played volleyball until 1992 and softball through most of the 1990s.
—Was the director of the women's volleyball league from 1984-1992.
—In the mid-1990s, she officiated both the women's volleyball and basketball leagues for the WSA at the Broadway Armory, and she also ran the leagues for a couple of years.
—Played in the WSA softball league from 1999-2001.
—Named the 1988 MSA Women's Softball MVP, both regular-season and playoffs.
—Made several all-star teams in both softball and volleyball.
—Played on numerous volleyball championship teams.
—Played two years of college volleyball and one year of basketball at Bradley. The school didn't have a softball team, so she learned to throw the javelin and discus for the track team.
—Played three years of softball at NIU.
"CMSA is a second family to most people, and to a few, we are their family after being kicked out of their parent's house," Hill said. "We take care of one another and we are there for the good and bad. It is not unusual for find a bunch of CMSA members who celebrate holidays together because they are unable to go home for the holidays. We celebrate the good times and console each other in the bad times; we have a way of pulling together in difficult times."
Also, of course, celebrating the joyous memories. They include the summer of 1988, when Hill won the MVP Award in women's softball for both the regular-season and the playoffs. She pitched the Big Red's open division 12-inch softball team to the league title.
Hill spoke highly of walking into Soldier Field that warm July day in 2006 for the Opening Ceremony of the Gay Games. Hill's Sandlot Saints softball team joined her.
She also was the first female official to work the Gay Bowl flag football tournament—in 2005. "Being accepted by all of the players, coaches and other officials and end up as one of the head referees for the tournament, and then being asked to come back the next year in Dallas," was a career highlight, she said.
Hill is now a softball umpire, and she also officiates dodgeball, men's and women's flag football, and she runs the women's basketball league. Plus, for the past two years, she has helped the Women Playing Sports Association (WPSA) league at Horner Park by officiating women's volleyball and basketball.
She last played softball on Sunday mornings with her Sandlot Saints in 2010, after playing 14-inch softball with the Saints in Evanston from 1990-2007.
"Marcia truly is one of the few people responsible for making CMSA what it is today, one of the largest LGBT sports organizations in the country," said CMSA president Shawn Albritton. "A word that would describe Marcia is, dedicated. CMSA means the world to her.
Countless people have had their lives positively impacted by playing in one of CMSA's many sports leagues, and Marcia was a big part of starting some of these leagues and growing them, both women's and men's leagues."
Jack Neilsen, the commission of CMSA's open division softball league, said Hill is a "great asset to the gay sporting community."
"The time, dedication, and passion that Marcia has for gay sports, and sports in general, is second to none. Watching her mentor younger athletes is truly inspiring. I can't thank her enough for the hard work she and all the others put forth to pave the way for what we have today."
After all, thanks to Hill and other pioneers, many CMSA sports are nearing capacity. Though CMSA wants to expand some sports, such as softball, there just isn't the space.
"CMSA is interested in adding additional sports, but we must take the baby steps of finding a fields/courts to use, having the rules and finding someone to be the commissioner, and then advertise to our members," Hill said. "We need to keep the right balance of what we do for everybody in our local leagues as opposed to favoring those teams who travel nationally to play flag football, volleyball and softball."
Hill was elected CMSA president in 2006, thanks to her experience. She replaced Peter Meyer.
"That first year was one of the most difficult because CMSA experienced enormous growth due to the 2006 Gay Games," Hill said.
So what is Hill's biggest contribution to the Chicago gay sports scene?
The formation of the women's flag football league, she said.
"I had coached my friends for three years when they played in the Chicago Park District leagues at Independence and Pottawatomie Parks, but they felt the park district ran a women's league as an afterthought and approached me about MSA creating a women's league," Hill said. "I got approval from Sam and the rest of the board, secured the grass at the Margate Fields, wrote the rules as a combination of those two leagues, and, with little advertising, I had four teams the first year. By the third year, I had 13 teams [registered] in two divisions."
After 10 years, the men started a flag football league, following most of the guidelines established by Hill for the women's leagues.
She ran the league for five years, gave it up for a couple of years and then, in 1999, she returned to the women's league as an on-field official. She's been officiating the women's flag football league ever since, and been the commissioner since 2004.
"When I was elected to the GAA board in 1984, I had great mentors in Sam Molinaro, Art Johnston, Dick Uyvari and Peg Grey, along with Jimmy McKinzey, who established the high guidelines that were set. I had the opportunity to learn from the best," Hill said. "Looking back, that was a powerhouse board of directors that significantly changed the course of gay sports in the city of Chicago, nationally and internationally."
