Beloved Ole Miss alum KD Hill deals in inspiration these days, finding purpose in helping others through his newly formed foundation.
Written by Eugene Stockstill | Photographed by Joe Worthem
Ka’Darian “KD” Hill has found a new path. The former Ole Miss defensive lineman, who bounced back from a horrific truck accident and transformed into a philanthropist and motivational speaker, at times sounds more like a traveling evangelist than a former football player.
He spends his days taking care of his family, raising money for charity and speaking to churches and civic organizations. In short, doing what he can to make the world a better place.
“I think about legacy, I think about leaving a footprint wherever I go,” Hill said. “If it had been about football, I wouldn’t have walked a step (after the wreck).”
A native of Troy, Alabama, Hill graduated from Eufaula High School in Alabama with multiple letters and multiple football offers from schools throughout the country. He received a verbal offer from Florida State when he was in the eighth grade. Yes, you read that right.
Before he graduated though, Hill made a verbal commitment to Ole Miss, something former Ole Miss coach HughFreeze predicted he would do.
Hill called Freeze from Jasper, Alabama, not long after the interview to say he was coming to Oxford. When other offers started pouring in, a saying of his mother’s played in his head.
“‘If you’re going to be a man, you’ve got to be a man of your word,’” he recalled.
Hill left his mark at Ole Miss. He won the Chucky Mullins Courage Award for courageous spirit in 2022, had been drafted by the XFL’s Orlando Guardians and was hoping for a spot with the Buffalo Bills or the New York Jets in the NFL when a truck crash in July of 2023 shattered his right leg.
Hill described the wreck and aftermath during an interview with JZ Media:
“The state trooper arrived on the scene, and the first thing I said was, ‘Hold my hand and let’s pray.’ Not once did I cry. I stayed calm, and I laid my head on the steering wheel. Not once did I think of my future at that time, but in that moment, I knew that my career was over, because as I felt my leg and looked down, I knew what was going on … Five hours trapped in the truck, leg smashed, two blood transfusions on the scene, most people go into shock, most people die on the scene … I watched the surgeon drive in, lean over me and say, ‘Are you ready to get out of this truck.’ I said, ‘Let’s do it.’ That’s all I said. The moment they said amputate the leg, I said, ‘Let’s do it.’”
Seven surgeries at UAB Hospital in Birmingham could not save Hills’ leg. You might assume that someone who had wanted to play pro ball his entire life would have given up when he realized that dream was over. You would be dead wrong.
“There was no low point. I bounced back immediately. I knew that if I was still here, God wasn’t finished with me,” he said. “I didn’t have to go through rehab.”
Raised by his mother and his grandparents, Hill peppers his speaking with so many biblical allusions that you wonder if he ever considered ordination credentials in the African Methodist Episcopal denomination in which he was raised. Indeed, he centered on his faith while he was hospitalized in Birmingham.
“After my surgery, I would be preaching the word of God, while I was going through what I was going through,” he said.
Hill, who has long had a heart for those less fortunate — he spent his college years playing with the children at the Oxford Housing Authority and helping feed the hungry — now has another mission: the KD Hill Foundation.
“My foundation is all about giving back to the community and most of all, giving a blessing instead of receiving a blessing,” Hill said.
As a part of that, Hill, who lives in Mountain Brook, Alabama, came back to Oxford in mid-July for KD’s Fun Day at Avent Park. Food, games, music and face painting were a big part of the event, but Hill said the main inspiration was local people in need. “To let the underprivileged know that they are not alone,” he said.
Small wonder, isn’t it, that Ole Miss saw fit to give the Chucky Mullins award to Hill a year before an epic catastrophe that might have been the end of some folks?
“I didn’t let my accident dictate to me, I dictated to my accident,” Hill said. “The impossible is possible.”
Donations to the KD Hill Foundation can be sent through PayPal to Info@TheKDHill.com. Follow KD Hill on Facebook, on Instagram @thekdhill, and on X @grindkd_55.
NEVER QUIT
A new endowment offers assistance to injured student athletes.
The Trenia Amelia Reynolds “Never Quit” Student Athlete Relief Endowment was started earlier this year by Reynolds’ family. Reynolds, an Ole Miss alum, who became quadriplegic after a car accident in 2015, was long inspired by Chucky Mullins and his legacy. After Reynolds died in 2023, her family started the fund to help student-athletes dealing with tragic circumstances such as career-ending injuries. Student athletes like KD Hill. To make a gift to the endowment, call 662-915-7159 or mail a check to the University of Mississippi Foundation, with the fund’s name noted in the memo line, to 406 University Ave., Oxford MS 38655.
Comments