Shot put has taken Delco’s Darrell Hill worldwide — and into an analyst’s seat at the Olympics. It all started by chance.

Darrell Hill’s track career started with a chance interaction during his junior year at Penn Wood High School.

Hill, a decorated shot putter who competed at the Rio Olympics in 2016, is working with NBC as an analyst for the morning field events at the Paris Games. He brings his own Olympic experience and a coach’s eye to the broadcast. But none of it would be possible if his high school track coach didn’t spot him in the hallway that day.

Hill had been a football player at Penn Wood, played AAU basketball for two years, and was on the wrestling team. But he had never done track. The coach noticed his size and athletic frame and told him the team could use some help in shot put that weekend. Hill agreed to try it.

“I didn’t throw far, but I had a good time on the bus, I had a good time at the competition,” he said. “That was on a Thursday. And he was like, ‘We got another one Saturday.’”

And so began a journey that has taken Hill from Penn Wood, to Penn State, to a professional track career, and now to the latest chapter with NBC.

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Hill, 30, is 17th all-time in the world with a personal best of 22.44 meters in the shot put. But when he started, his school didn’t even have a specialized throws coach. So Hill taught himself proper technique by watching videos on YouTube. When his senior year rolled around, all his offseason training for football started to pay dividends in the circle.

“We went to our first competition, and I PR’d by 6 feet,” Hill said. “And that’s when things really changed.”

Hill went from being brand-new to the sport to a second-place finish at PIAA championships in 2011. He competed collegiately for Houston as a freshman before transferring to Penn State.

His Olympic dream didn’t become clear until 2012, when he saw his fellow Nittany Lions competing at the U.S. trials.

“Becoming an Olympian was not a goal of mine until it became one,” Hill said. “I wasn’t one of those kids that grew up with Olympic rings on the wall.”

Once it did become his goal, it didn’t take long for Hill to reach it. He threw 21.63 meters to finish third at his first Olympic trials in 2016, and qualified for Team USA.

Hill ultimately finished 23rd in Rio, and the experience changed his life.

“When I left the village, I just was different,” he said. “It just changed how I viewed myself, how I viewed my place in this sport, and everything I did moving forward past that point just was on a different level.

“I didn’t throw as far as I would have liked to, and probably as far as I was probably prepared to, but it really just enlightened my brain in so many different ways that I’m just thankful for. Being an Olympian is a thing that I will be forever and open doors for me that might not have been open if I didn’t get that opportunity.”

Hill set his current personal best a year later and won the shot put title at the 2018 USATF Outdoor Championships. But things haven’t always been smooth sailing. In January 2023, while working toward the outdoor championships that July, Hill suffered a torn pectoral muscle during a workout, which required him to undergo his first-ever surgery.

It was a difficult emotional journey toward recovery, but Hill made a triumphant return and started throwing over 21 meters (or 70 feet) once again. But two weeks before the championships, Hill severely sprained his ankle during his last competition. He had to be carted off the track in front of his family.

He still got on the plane to Oregon two weeks later, getting treatment on his ankle up until an hour before the championships. He still surpassed 21 meters to make the final.

Hill didn’t make the world championship team that year, but it’s his proudest moment.

“I feel like that is the essence of who I am and how I would like to be viewed,” Hill said. “The resilience that I showed in that moment was really something that I hold near and dear to my heart.”

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Hill just wrapped up his first season as assistant coach with the Delaware women’s track and field team, where he helped every thrower on the team set a personal best.

It’s another experience that helps him as an analyst for the current Games. This isn’t Hill’s first rodeo — he hosted the Journey to Gold show at the Olympic track and field trials this year, which featured special guests including Snoop Dogg and Terry Crews. That show was where Hill caught NBC’s attention for his current opportunity.

While the evening crew is on site in Paris, Hill and the rest of the morning broadcast is based in Connecticut. In the weeks leading up to the events, Hill was busy with his preparations. He went back and studied old competitions and reached out to athletes to find out the best way to tell their stories. It helps that he can relate to some of their experiences.

“We want to make sure that if people have something they feel like they want the world to know, that I get that out,” Hill said.

One of the stories he’s most excited to tell is that of Nazareth native Joe Kovacs, who is competing in his third Olympics after winning silver in the shot put in 2016 and 2020. Kovacs, who also is a Penn State alumnus, is Hill’s old training partner. He is a multiple-time world champion but has never won Olympic gold. On Friday, Kovacs advanced to the shot put finals with a throw of 21.24 meters.

Hill and Kovacs have helped put Pennsylvania on the map as one of the top states in the country for throwers. And they’ll continue to do that at these Games, though in two different capacities.

“When people come from places that are familiar to you, it does open the door of possibilities of what you think you can accomplish,” Hill said. “I feel like we do a really good job of bringing people along, so we’re looking for the next one.”