The late Lauren Hill has been honored with her own brick in the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame.
The late Lauren Hill has been honored with her own brick in the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame.
The brick was unveiled earlier this week in memory of Hill, a freshman forward at Mount St. Joseph University in Cincinnati who died of terminal brain cancer in April at age 19 after a high-profile battle with the disease. Hill was an Indiana native who attended Lawrenceburg High School. She achieved her dream of playing college basketball in November, scoring the first points of Mount St. Joseph's season.
Hill's brick was donated by Shannon Freeman-Frogge, an Indiana All-Star player in 1986 who is now a personal trainer in Utah. Freeman-Frogge was inspired by Hill's story and efforts to raise money for pediatric cancer research.
The pair never met, but Freeman-Frogge told The Indianapolis Star that she and her two daughters wrote letters and drew pictures for Hill weekly and would send them to her.
"I never expected to hear from her," Freeman-Frogge said, according to The Indianapolis Star. "I just wanted her to know. I think about her every day."
Lauren Hill- Hero, now displayed forever in our brick courtyard thanks to Shannon Frogge's donation. @layup4lauren pic.twitter.com/p1XNdyWK79
— IN Basketball HOF (@HoopsHall) June 10, 2015
Freeman-Frogge decided on a simple inscription for the brick: Hero.
"She was a hero and that's what she wanted to be remembered as," Freeman-Frogge said. "I knew instantly and it had to be in capital letters."