Easton Map and History

The County Seat of Talbot County. Established around early religious settlements and a court of law, Historic Downtown Easton is today a centerpiece of fine specialty shops, business and cultural activities, unique restaurants, and architectural fascination. Treelined streets are graced with various period structures and remarkable homes, carefully preserved or restored. Because of its historical significance, historic Easton has earned © John Norton distinction as the “Colonial Capitol of the Eastern Shore” and was honored as number eight in the book “The 100 Best Small Towns in America.” With a population of over 16,500, Easton offers the best of many worlds including access to large metropolitan areas like Baltimore, Annapolis, Washington, and Wilmington. For a walking tour and more history visit https:// tidewatertimes.com/travel-tourism/easton-maryland/.

Maryland plays in the Atlantic Coast Conference, which is segregated. They don’t allow Black players,” Darryl told him.

Corso told Darryl that was the point. They were looking to do away with that barrier, and they thought Darryl was the right person to do it.

In an interview with Don Markus for University of Maryland’s magazine, Corso explained why they picked Darryl.

“Darryl Hill was the perfect candidate to be the first Black player [at Maryland],” Corso said. “First of all, he was intelligent, you could see that because he had gotten into the academy. And he wasn’t afraid of a challenge. That was very important. As great of a football play-

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er as he was, he had the right temperament. He wouldn’t let things bother him too much.”

Corso and Maryland were convinced. Darryl wasn’t at first.

“I told Coach Corso I wasn’t trying to be Jackie Robinson. I just wanted to be a normal student, playing football and having fun,” he said. “He told me, ‘You must be afraid,’ and that did it, I became a Terp.”

As a transfer student, Darryl had to sit out for a year before he could play in games. Before he even stepped on the game field, Maryland’s coaches were hearing about it from the southern teams.

“We heard things like, ‘you’d better not bring him to Death Valley (Clemson) ~ we won’t play. And that changed to ‘He won’t make it out alive,’” Darryl said.

There were hotels in the South that wouldn’t allow Blacks to stay, and when Corso and the team encountered this, the coach said, “If he can’t stay, we aren’t staying.”

Darryl encountered everything from being warned there was an assassin with a high-powered rifle on top of the dorms next to the stadium, waiting for him to come onto the field, to having to be driven to the stadium doors in Army buses to avoid having to walk through the crowds.

Maryland’s coaches and players HE’S GOT IT ~ This is the kind of pass-catching expected of Darryl Hill as the flanker in Maryland’s backfield this fall. A transfer student from the Naval Academy and a Gonzaga High School graduate, Hill already has become known as “the Terrapin’s Bobby Mitchell.” He will be the first Negro to play in the Atlantic Coast Conference. Hill is six feet tall, 165 pounds.

had Darryl’s back. One player in particular: Jerry Fishman. Fishman was a Jewish player from Connecticut. Hill first met him when he was still playing for the Naval Academy and Fishman was playing for Maryland. In the first game, they played against each other and Darryl had a great game. Fishman noticed. In the second game, Hill and Staubach ran a trick play that

Jerry Fishman

Fishman figured out, broke up and hit Hill hard.

As teammates, they became great friends. Fishman became a kind of big brother or bodyguard figure for Hill. Darryl calls him possibly the toughest football player he ever played with, and in the screenplay about Darryl’s time playing football, his relationship with Fishman comes alive.

A couple memories of unexpected kindness at away games stand out to Darryl.

When Maryland played Wake Forest University, the fans were harassing Darryl. One of Wake Forest’s stars and most popular players was Brian Piccolo, who became a Chicago Bears running back and is the central character in the film Brian’s Song.

Piccolo came over to Darryl and apologized for how the fans were acting. He put his arm around Darryl and motioned for the fans to knock it off. The stadium went silent, and Darryl was left alone for the rest of the game.

And then there was a game at Clemson University.

“My mother went to the Saturday games. My father wasn’t able to go ~ he owned a trucking company, and Saturdays were paydays,” Darryl said. “At Clemson, they hung a turtle from the goal post, with its face and paws painted black.”

Black people weren’t allowed

Kermit and Palestine Hill.

Darryl Hill taught to despise and hate Blacks when I was growing up,” Darryl in the stadium. His mother was said. “However, never did a student denied entry and was directed to athlete call me a name or unnecesa sign that said, “whites only,” in- sarily rough me up. I got the usual sinuating that she couldn’t read tough treatment because I was a the sign. She had a PhD and was a star player and scoring threat, but teacher. nothing was racially motivated.

At that point, a gentleman inter- One student athlete was quoted as vened. His name was Dr. Robert saying ‘we didn’t like the circus, Edwards, and he was the chancel- we just wanted to play a football lor at Clemson. He saw what hap- game.’ One player from Clemson pened and invited Darryl’s mother that I met 50 years after that game to sit with him and his wife in their told me that due to my courage suite. That next week, inspired by and resilience by the second half of Palestine Hill, Edwards ordered all the game, he and many teammates “whites only” signs on campus to be were quietly rooting for me. He taken down. also told me that the coach urged

Despite what he ran into with the team to ‘give him hell.’” fans, what Darryl experienced from After graduating from Maryland the players on the other teams was in 1965 with his Bachelor of Scimore positive. ence degree in economics, Darryl

“Young people in the South were tried for a short time to play in the NFL. He was on the taxi squad for the New York Jets, where he had quarterback Joe Namath offer him a bedroom to stay in. Darryl played on special teams against the legendary Dick Butkus on the Chicago Bears, who hit one of Darryl’s teammates, a man much larger than Butkus, back several yards. Football was a chapter in Darryl’s story ~ one that saw him break the color barrier, a life experience that earned him a place in Maryland’s Hall of Fame and has put his name on the University’s football facility. It’s an incredible story that has

producer Mark Ciardi interested in making a movie. Ciardi has produced several sports-based films, including Secretariat, Invincible, Million Dollar Arm and McFarland, USA.

In Darryl’s story, though, football is just the opening chapter. His story gets more interesting with his business and entrepreneurial adventures, which we will be sharing in next month’s Tidewater Times.

When he looks back on what he accomplished at Maryland and with football, and regarding his honors and legacy, Darryl offers a selfless perspective:

“If my story and what I did, if I could change someone’s life, if I can inspire someone to think that they can do something they didn’t think they could, that’s enough.”

Michael Valliant is the Assistant for Adult Education and Newcomers Ministry at Christ Church Easton. He has worked for non-profi t organizations throughout Talbot County, including the Oxford Community Center, Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum and Academy Art Museum.

Jones-Hill House is named after former Maryland basketball player Billy Jones (who broke the color barrier in the ACC) and former Terps wide receiver Darryl Hill (who did the same in football). ~ Photo Credit: Courtesy of Maryland Athletics 66