Darryl Hill: The Russia Years

Part 3

by Michael Valliant

What do you do after becoming the first African American to play Division I college football south of the Mason-Dixon Line and then an entrepreneur and champion of minority-owned businesses in and around Washington, DC? Go to Russia, of course. Or that’s what you do if you’re Darryl Hill.

In the first two parts of Darryl’s story, we learned how he broke the color barrier in college football while at University of Maryland. The foot- ball facility there is now named for him. He then went to work in Washington, DC, where he assisted and financed more than 2,500 minorityowned businesses during the 1970s, opened the first Black-owned fine dining establishment and helped save then-councilman Marion Barry’s life.

Darryl reached a point in running W.H. Bone and Company restaurant where the business was more fun than profitable. As a result, his