A New Home for Terps Football

University of Maryland football has a new home—or, more specifically, a new House.

A Sept. 3 ribbon-cutting ceremony celebrated the official opening of Jones-Hill House, a state-of-the-art facility in Cole Field House named in honor of Billy Jones ’69, who became the first Black basketball player at Maryland and in the ACC in 1965, and Darryl Hill ’65, who broke the same color barrier in football in 1963.

“The determination, courage and strength of these two individuals helped pave the way for thousands of Black student-athletes today, but they also helped break the chains of segregation and discrimination for every one of us,” UMD President Darryll J. Pines said during his April inauguration speech, when he announced the new facility’s name. “Jones-Hill House will not only cement the legacy of these two trailblazers, but will serve as an inspiration to our entire university community.”

Among its features are a 24,000-square-foot strength and conditioning area with 22 custom weight racks; a locker room with recliners and wireless phone chargers for each player; a sports medicine space with hydrotherapy pools; a 10,000-square-foot dining area; a lounge with a pool table, theater and even a barbershop; indoor and outdoor practice fields; and wall after wall of inspiring Terp quotes, facts and photos from Maryland football history.

Supported through a leadership gift from Under Armour founder and Executive Chairman Kevin Plank ’96—who passed on the chance to have his own name on the building and instead honored the two Terp pioneers—Jones-Hill House completes the athletic portion of Cole Field House. The project integrates academics, research and innovation, with work on a new site for a campus-wide entrepreneurship center beginning this summer, and planning under way for space to house an interdisciplinary center studying brain and behavior.

“This is a first-class, first-rate facility, and I couldn’t be more proud of the individuals who worked so hard to put this together,” says Athletic Director Damon Evans.

That includes the building’s namesakes themselves. During his time as a Terp, Jones played with a forward-looking “why not?” mentality. Refusing to dwell on the unfair calls, hard hits and racial slurs he too often faced, he averaged double-digit points per game in two of his three seasons at Maryland and served as a team captain his senior year.

“A young Black kid from the east side of Towson could never imagine having his name on a building at the University of Maryland,” he says. “I felt beyond gratitude.”

Though Hill grew up idolizing Jackie Robinson, he told then-assistant coach Lee Corso in 1962 that he wasn’t interested in being a groundbreaker. When Corso asked if he was scared, “that was the button that he pushed that got my attention,” Hill says.

He went on to set the football program’s single-game record at the time, with 10 receptions against Clemson, establish an ACC season record with seven touchdown catches and notch 47 receptions in a season.

“(Jones-Hill House) tells a story about what Maryland did in terms of breaking down the barrier of racial segregation in sports,” Hill says. “It should serve as a beacon for our students.”

Take a tour through the new facility below, and read about the dedication ceremony at today.umd.edu.