From his high school career at Jesuit to his collegiate career at Rhodes College to his eventual professional career in the USFL, Jim Hever ’82 asserted his dominance in the athletic arena and remains one of the most decorated football players to ever wear the blue and gold. One of Jesuit’s great athletes, Hever was inducted into the Jesuit Sports Hall of Fame at the 15th annual Blue and Gold Dinner on Saturday, May 11.
Growing up in a household with two older brothers, Hever was already exposed to Jesuit by the time he stepped onto campus in the fall of 1978. Determined to prove himself, he lettered in football, golf, and wrestling, but his main focus was on his passion, football. Giving up his wrestling career after his junior season, Hever was able to excel in football, eventually becoming all-district and all-state in his senior season.
While Jesuit was in the TCIL (Texas Catholic Interscholastic League), battling rivals like Bishop Lynch and Strake Jesuit, Hever played under
Coach Pasqua, who ran the “old-school” power trap offense, which entailed a heavy run-game and a relatively light pass game as opposed to today’s game which relies mostly on a team’s ability to air out the ball. However, Hever made his name on the defensive side of the ball as a shut-down defensive back.
Interestingly enough the quarterback of that team was David Adamson ’82 who went on to play at SMU and now coaches wide-receivers and special teams at Jesuit. Adamson described Hever as “a hard-nosed football player, a leader on the field, and a great teammate,” one who always put the team before himself especially in the “rocky” ’81 season when the team finished under .500.
After his senior year, Hever signed to play at Rhodes College, which was called Southwestern at Memphis when he first attended. In fact, Hever was on the school’s first team to wear the “Rhodes” name and was inducted into the Rhodes Sports Hall of Fame in 2005. Once at Rhodes, Hever discovered another area of the game where he could dominate–place kicking.
Once again raking in the accolades, Hever was named a Kodak All-American and a Pizza Hut All-American in 1984. “I would’ve liked to keep playing defense at Rhodes, but I was a better place kicker,” Hever told Jesuit’s Shea Stine ’13 in an interview for the Roundup. In fact, he was such a great place kicker that he was drafted into the USFL (United States Football League) and played on the “Memphis Showboats” until the league was disbanded in 1987. “It was weird to get a paycheck for something I loved,” he said; and although his professional career was short-lived, he still remains one of the few Jesuit alumni ever to play a professional sport.
However, Hever’s development at Jesuit was not limited to the athletic arena. One of his best memories is a community service activity during his senior year in which he and a friend took 24 kids from the Notre Dame School of Dallas on a camping trip for a weekend. “We didn’t expect the letters we got from their parents saying this was the first weekend they had had free for 16 to 17 years… these types of things make this place special,” he explained. “It all revolves around the community service.”
Now that his sports career is over, Hever continues to support Jesuit and its athletic program and has sent his two sons to Jesuit: Joey Hever ’12 who started at the center position his junior and senior years, and Matt Hever ’15 who will be playing defensive end in the fall. “I was really glad to see the boys play football here,” he said, “seeing [them] excel here was unbelievable.” The Jesuit Sports Hall of Fame is lucky to add such a great man into its ranks.
