About Inductee

Marvin Buster Hill was born on March 20, 1931 in Fayetteville, Tennessee. In 1946 he moved to Madison County. From 1946 through 1950, Buster lettered in baseball, basketball, and football at Huntsville High School. He was team captain for the 1949-1950 football team and captain of the 1950 North All-Star football team. Throughout his high school and college career, Buster was known as the toughest 165 pound player around. During his high school years, the scrappy little tough guy played basketball and even contributed to the schools state play-off team in 1949. As a teenager, Buster developed a love for baseball with big league swings at Huntsville High. He also played American Legion and Babe Ruth baseball. The '40s and '50s were a time of Mill Baseball leagues. Buster joined two separate Mill teams. In 1950 Buster left his hometown bound for Tuscaloosa with a football scholarship. He served as president of the A club for two years in a row. During the 1953 Orange Bowl, he intercepted a pass and ran it back for a touchdown. During the 1954 Cotton Bowl, Buster was sidelined with a broken arm and was helping CBS with spotting players when Tommy Lewis jumped off the bench and tackled Dickey Moegle of Rice University. Buster says, Boy that was something to see. Buster graduated from college and went on to a distinguished career with the United States Air Force. He flew more than 200 combat missions during the Vietnam War. At learning of his induction into the Hall of Fame, he said, Now this is as much a surprise as an honor. Buster added, A lot of my friends are in there and its just a great honor to join them. With a smile on his face and reflective gleam in his eye he said, Back then we all played sports. My friends and I simply enjoyed playing and competing against each other. According to Coach Buck Hughes, Buster's coach at Huntsville High, he was captain of the 49 squad who finished with a record of eight wins and only one loss. He placed on the first team All State squad at the position of quarterback. Buster was also selected to play in the state All Star game that year. The North squad was coached by Buck Hughes and Buster was captain for the North squad in 1949. Buster always gave one-hundred percent, according to his coaches and teammates. Bubber Nisbett, who recruited Buster for the University of Alabama said, Buster was the most underrated player of those years. Buster presently resides in Destin, Florida and teaches school at Ft. Walton. He married Peggy Stafford, also of Huntsville, and has one son, Cliff, who is an anchor man at channel 31, and one daughter, Julie, who lives in Virginia Beach, Virginia.