By Terry Boehmker
NKyTribune sports reporter
Martin “Mote” Hils, a successful high school coach who went on to start the men’s basketball program at Northern Kentucky University, passed away Friday at his home. He was 81.
Hils was head coach at Covington Catholic High School from 1963 to 1971 and compiled a 195-52 record in eight seasons. His teams won five consecutive 9th Region championships and made it to final game of the 1967 state tournament.
Martin “Mote” Hils
After the 1970-71 season, Hils left CovCath to become the first men’s basketball coach at Northern Kentucky State College, which later became Northern Kentucky University. He had a 119-118 record in nine seasons as a college head coach and took the Norse to their first post-season playoff appearance in 1978.
“It took him just seven years to take NKU to the NCAA Division II Tournament and a top 10 national ranking,” said Rick Meyers, the sports information director at NKU while Hils was head coach. “In addition to being a great coach, he was a mentor to me and loved by his players.”
Hils stepped down as head coach at NKU after the 1979-80 season. He continued to work on campus as an academic advisor and testing coordinator until his retirement in 2003.
In a newspaper article written after his retirement, Hils was asked about the challenges he faced as the first head coach of the NKU men’s basketball program.
“I was basically restricted to recruiting locally because we had no dormitories,” he said. “And we didn’t have a gym at that time, either.”
His first team finished with a 12-15 record, but he had three consecutive winning seasons from 1975 to 1978. One of the biggest wins in the history of the program came in 1978 when NKU defeated Xavier University, 59-58, at Schmidt Fieldhouse in Cincinnati. At that time, NKU was competing on the NCAA Division II level and Xavier was a Division I team.
NKU eventually made the transition to Division I in 2012, 41 years after Hils started the Norse men’s basketball program.
The legendary coach was inducted into the NKU Hall of Fame and Northern Kentucky Athletic Directors Hall of Fame. He also received a Court of Honor Award from the Kentucky Association of Basketball Coaches in 2007.
Funeral services will be held Wednesday with visitation from 9:30 to 11:30 a.m. at St. Peter and Chains Cathedral in Cincinnati. Mass of Christian Burial will begin at 11:30 a.m. with burial at Spring Grove Cemetery in Cincinnati. Middendorf Funeral Home in Ft. Wright is handling arrangements.
The family has requested donations in lieu of flowers to: Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF), 8050 Hosbrook Road #314, Cincinnati, Ohio 45236.
