Howard Hill has spent more than 30 years as President of the PAL Soccer League, a youth recreational league for Niceville and the surrounding areas that started in 1976. His commitment to providing affordable youth soccer opportunities for local families earned him August’s Ryan Cabaniss Niceville Good Neighbor Award.
PAL celebrated its 50th anniversary in March and PAL Secretary Steve Milz, who nominated Hill, said he’s been instrumental in keeping PAL running “for what seems like forever.”
Hill said the Niceville Good Neighbor Award recognizes not only the time he has devoted to the PAL Soccer League, but also the excellence and dedication of everyone involved.
“I say sometimes that, you know, I just get to be the president, just get to stand up there and take the vows, you know?” he said. “And we got a lot of good people that make it happen, and we’re very fortunate. So it’s what I call this confluence of all these positive factors that come together here. I don’t know if you could duplicate it anywhere else.”
Hill’s background
Hill has a military background that placed him all over the map. He graduated from the Air Force Academy in 1965 and came to Eglin Air Force Base where he trained to pilot F-4 fighter-bombers.
Hill first deployed in May of 1967 to Thailand and flew F-4Ds in dozens of missions over Southeast Asia. He took leave to marry his girlfriend in August of 1967 — but the two did not get their happily ever after that year.
During his 70th mission over North Vietnam, a North Korean fighter jet blew the tail off Hill’s jet and sent him crashing to the ground.
“The letter my wife got and my parents got said we were at 9000 feet, the tail was blown off the airplane, the airplane was tumbling end over end,” Hill said. “They saw two shoots, two good shoots, and could not establish any radio contact.”
But Hill is a fighter, and reunited with his wife after 5 years spent as a Prisoner of War. She had waited for him through years of uncertainty, having no contact to confirm he was even alive. He said their marriage is a big part of why he’s been in Niceville so long.
“She even went to the college when it was Oakland Junior College, and it was in Valparaiso, and that was the early days. We had some connections to this area, and it wasn’t particularly Niceville. It was just the area. But when we got down here, we just happened to find a house in Niceville. It’s the best thing that ever happened to us.”
Passion for PAL
Hill began coaching for PAL in 1992 after his family moved to Niceville the year prior. He said he knew PAL was looking for a new president, but he didn’t take interest in the position until a referee’s bad call against the team he coached lit a fire underneath him.
“My son and three other players on my team, they were U14. They were 12 and 13 year old boys,” Hill said. “My son and three others were referees, so they knew it was a bad call. … So I said, ‘You still lookin’ for somebody?’ Because I figured, ‘Boy, I’m gonna straighten this out.’”
It didn’t take Hill long to realize he’d stepped into a program that was unlike anything else Niceville offers.
“It’s the parents, the players, the city, the businesses that support us, our board members,” Hill said. “We’ve got a fantastic board. It’s just this confluence of all these positive factors that come together here, and I’m just glad to be a part of it.”
PAL’s VIP program for special needs players has been especially impactful, as Hill said opportunities for disabled athletes around Niceville are sparse.
“For those kids, it’s the same time, same place every Saturday, for consistency,” he said. “And the other thing that’s neat about it is we don’t charge them. It’s provided for no costs. And so, besides our overall program, we’re very proud of it and all the people that participate. But it turns out that having those two programs makes it even more fantastic.”
Hill wants to emphasize his gratitude for the PAL team and volunteers, and said support from the community helped carry the league to success.
“We also have people to sponsor teams, and we want those rates to be as inexpensive as possible because that allows more small businesses to participate as sponsors,” he said. “The sponsorship money then enables us to keep our registration fees low, and so to me, it’s just all of these wonderful things just come together. I guess that’s one of the nice things about being in Niceville, right?”
He also gave a shoutout to his wife, who stood behind him from the Vietnam War until now.
“She’s very tolerant of allowing me to, you know, to spend time on [PAL],” Hill said. “… She’s just super fantastic, and she’s witty. She’s smart, very beautiful still.”
If you’re interested in volunteering for PAL Soccer League or making a contribution to the program, visit PAL’s website for contact information.
