 "Photo: Juan Blas")
 "Photo: Juan Blas")
 "Photo: Juan Blas")
Heroes are hard to come by these days, especially in the world of sports.
In lieu of NBA players no longer wanting to participate in dunk contests, baseball players on steroids, NFL players smuggling marijuana (allegedly, of course) through airports and college athletes taking money from boosters, the field for heroes is getting more and more shallow.
Somehow, this writer managed to find two heroes on campus, although they would never want you to know it.
It's difficult to define a hero. Is a hero a guy who commutes an hour every day to give his family the life he thinks they deserve? Is a hero the girl who works two jobs to get through college? Is a hero someone who saves someone else's life? Yes to all.
A hero is also someone who does something extraordinary and expects no recognition and often times does not even recognize his/her own heroism.
When track and field coach Curtis Frye told me about senior sprinter Thomas Hilliard and senior pole-vaulter Dan McKenzie, they sounded too good to be true.
"Those guys are examples of what total athletes should be," Frye said. "Thomas had a 4.0 last semester and Dan has had a 4.0 all four years. They were walk-on athletes that elevated themselves to scholarship athletes. All of their qualities are excellent in leadership and athletics."
I had to find out more for myself. I arranged meetings with both Hilliard and McKenzie to find out their backgrounds and what makes guys like these tick.
Hilliard arrived on campus as a walk-on soccer player and track athlete. He didn't run track in high school until his senior year and that was only an effort to stay in shape for soccer season. After his sophomore soccer season Hilliard finally decided to focus on track and credits the athletic faculty with being supportive during his switch.
"We never really had to discuss me doing both (soccer and track)," Hilliard said. "I stuck with what I knew and whatever I had a passion for. The coaches transitioned pretty good they didn't have any problems with it. Coach Frye almost talked me into sticking with soccer, actually, but we laughed about it a year later."
When Hilliard reflects on his decision to come to Carolina to play soccer and run track he credits to two programs as main attractions for USC. However, what pushed him over the edge in coming to Carolina was the business program. Hilliard is a rare athlete in that he takes more pride in his academics than his athletics.
More impressive than what Hilliard prides himself on is how well he does it all. There are more than a few students who find their workload to be too much. However, Hilliard does that workload on top of competing in a top-10 track program.
"I always say if I ever go pro or anything I'm going to write a book," Hilliard said. "I've been able to balance social life, academics and competing on two national level sports teams. It's really time management. I think it you want something bad enough you'll do whatever it takes."
Hilliard has the second fastest 60m-hurdle time in the nation this season. He is not only a likely All-American, but he is the closest thing to a lock as an All-American the collegiate track world has to offer. After all of that, he still keeps his true dreams in view.
"Me, myself? I'm a businessman. I love business. I love being an entrepreneur," Hilliard said. "My ultimate goal is to try to take over Wall Street. If I was in a position to come out of college as a world class businessman, not to mention an African-American, that's where I'd go. I'd take Forbes, Money or Time Magazine over ESPN."
McKenzie has a similar story. He came out of James M. Bennett high school in Salisbury, Md. McKenzie took home a state championship ring in track and field after setting the state record during his senior year and came to Carolina with no aspirations for track.
"Coach Frye didn't contact me," McKenzie said. "I didn't really have a good reason for coming here. I wanted to come to a place where I could walk on to a track team. I didn't plan on it until two weeks into my freshman year. I just got bored after class and decided to come out for the team."
McKenzie is a chemical engineering major. Boredom after class is an uncommon problem for students in this field. However, many other students do find time to be bored after class. To deal with boredom some students nap, some play video games and some drink. McKenzie? He went out for the track team.
He credits Kevin Brown, his pole-vaulting coach during his freshman year for seeing something in him and giving him a chance.
After earning the walk-on spot, McKenzie didn't clear a bar his entire indoor season. However, as McKenzie puts it, somewhere in between the regular season, SEC Championships and all that crap, something clicked for him.
During his sophomore season, he jumped 16 feet, five inches, and took home the bronze medal in the SEC Championships.
This season holds promise of the chance at being an All-American and possibly even a national champion. However, there is more in McKenzie's future than just track and field.
McKenzie will graduate and take a job with an engineering firm in Houston. Although he would rather be a professional pole-vaulter, McKenzie is realistic about his capabilities and excited about his future in engineering.
"I don't know if I'm at the level of professional track yet, but that would be great," McKenzie said. "I'd definitely take Sports Illustrated, but my other job is awesome."
Hilliard and McKenzie do share an opinion: their thoughts on being heroes, or, as they would say, not being heroes.
"I just want people to realize that what I did wasn't some amazing thing," McKenzie said. "You just gotta believe in yourself and keep at it. I guess I'm a pretty good example of the underdog going up and all that. I'm not anything special though. I'm not a hero or anything."
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