Their success got to a point that they signed an ad deal with the Liggett & Myers Tobacco Co. to advertise Chesterfield Cigarettes (seen below), a deal that's almost comical to imagine today. Like so many other cigarette ads of that era, this one aimed to soften the rough-edged perception of smokers and at the same time target the valuable female demographic. This clever ad feeds the perception that 1) cool, sporty women smoke Chesterfields; 2) cigarettes aren't bad for you since, after all, this group of healthy, young, successful girls smokes them. The ad ran in many newpapers throughout NY, including the Brooklyn Eagle.
At least the ad execs had the sense to leave out from the ad the youngest sister, Kathleen, who at the time was a mere 16 year-old attending Hempstead High.
The Hill Sisters were coached by their father Lawrence Wallace Hill, who worked as a foreman for the NY Telephone Company and played basketball in his high school days. His family consisted of a total of 9 children, two of whom, John Lawrence and Thomas, were the babies of the family and were probably spoiled silly by their older sisters [Update - Thanks to blogger comments, I learned that the Hill's later had a tenth child, Cynthia, who was actually the baby of the family]. Their mother Lillian, at one time was president of the Ladies Auxiliary of the WH Fire Dept., where the barn dances she organized no doubt served the dual purpose of raising money for the department and while helping to find suitors for her seven daughters.
So, where in WH did this burgeoning brood live? In a two-story dwelling built for them in 1913 as part of the Fairlawn Park tract at 35 (now 80) Walnut St., (photo shown below, taken from the Nassau County property survey. An addition was later built on the house in the '60s). Given the location, it's pretty fair to assume that the Hill Sisters practised and played many of their games at the George Washington Middle School gymnasium, right down the block.
