David Harris Hill Obituary

David Harris Hill, 81, Panama City Beach, Fla., passed away peacefully at home on March 14, 2022. David was born at home on February 1, 1941, in Lanett, Ala. to I.D. and Virginia Hill. Legend has it that David was placed promptly in the kitchen’s oven since no incubator could be found to warm his premature body. David was raised in Lanett and became a star athlete and All-State football player at Lanett High School, where he graduated in 1959.

David matriculated at Auburn University where he was one of Ralph “Shug” Jordan’s Tigers for the next four seasons. During his freshman year at Auburn, David married Toni Medders of nearby Fairfax, Ala.

While at Auburn, joyfully living in married student housing and frequently eating boxed spaghetti dinners, David and Toni welcomed into the world their first two children—Rusty and Sandee.

David’s football skills grew steadily at Auburn, and he was drafted by both the New York Giants of the National Football League and the Dallas Texans of the American Football League in 1963. David had been to New York during his senior trip in high school and had determined The Big Apple was decidedly not for him. Dallas was closer to home and almost Southern, so he chose to sign with the Texans.

David never set foot in Dallas as a Texan because shortly after signing it was announced the team was moving to Kansas City. Kansas City was even less familiar than New York but David and Toni packed up Rusty and Sandee and moved to Kansas City where they