During college days, Hite a Virginia Tech football player

William R. Hite Jr., the next superintendent of Philadelphia schools, was a four-year varsity football player at Virginia Tech University from 1979 to 1982 and attended college on an athletic scholarship.

In his senior year, after the school's all-time leading rusher, Cyrus Lawrence, went out with an injury, Hite was the team's top running back with 622 yards on 145 carries and three touchdowns. The team went 7-4 that year.

Coincidentally, Billy Hite, as he was known back then, joined a team that already had a Billy Hite - who, in fact, was the running backs' coach.

Billy Hite the player was African American. Billy Hite the coach - who is 61 and still coaching at Virginia Tech - was white.

"We used to call each other 'Cuz' all the time," said Hite the coach, even though they are not related. He said there was often confusion on campus, with one getting the other's calls and mail.

Coach Hite recounted one occasion when the names caused confusion.

"He [Hite the ballplayer] was going away for the weekend and asked his roommate to put money into the bank so he wouldn't bounce a check. Billy came into my office on Monday morning and said, 'Coach, you owe me $100.'

"His roommate didn't have his account number, so he went down to the bank and said, 'Put that in Billy Hite's account.' And they put it in mine.

"I paid him the $100," the coach said, "and it wasn't an NCAA violation.

"I could tell you there isn't a finer human being in America than Billy Hite," said his former coach. "No question about it."

As a football player, Coach Hite said, Billy Hite "outworked everybody. He was in the weight room all the time. He did everything he possibly could to better himself. Not only on the field, but in the classroom. What an intelligent guy and what a pleasure to be around. He was really a lot of fun to coach."

Hite was the starting wingback his junior year and tailback his senior year. The Virginia Tech media guide from 1982, his senior season, lists him as 6-foot-11/2 and 200 pounds.

He caught nine passes his junior year for an average of 17 yards per catch. The media guide before his senior season said: "[He] has a lot of acceleration and blocks well. Coaches count on him for a big season."

Hite is originally from Richmond, and played football at Varina High School. He finished playing college football in 1982 and graduated with a bachelor of science degree in 1984.

According to a Washington Post story in 2010, Hite, after graduation, got a job in Richmond as a marketer for an airline. One of his high school coaches asked him if he'd be interested in helping on the field. "He got sucked in, coaching football and softball part time," the Post reported.

"I was the mentor, coach and father figure for many students," Hite said. "I really enjoyed that."

The next year, according to the newspaper story, he quit his marketing job and moved into education, becoming a teacher, then working his way up the administrative chain. He worked in Richmond for many years, then Georgia, and moved to Prince George's County in Maryland, where he rose to his current job of superintendent.