Sixteen-year-old sprinter Candace Hill has become the "youngest track athlete in the United States to turn professional," signing an "unusual arrangement with Asics," according to a front-page piece by Lindsay Crouse of the N.Y. TIMES. Since she is now unable to attract any college scholarship offers, Asics will cover "full tuition for Hill ... at any college that admits her." The "uncommonly long" 10-year deal with the shoe and apparel company "effectively serves as an athletic scholarship, even though Hill, who plans to attend college while competing, will not be eligible to race collegiately." Neither Asics nor Hill would discuss financial terms of the deal, but Asics America Group President & CEO Gene McCarthy said, "For us, she’s a Halley’s comet of sport, a teenager who’s tremendously gifted in both mind and body. With that talent and drive, we’re betting that she can be the fastest woman in the world someday.” Crouse notes Hill is the "youngest track athlete to qualify for the United States trials in both the 100 and 200 meters, and has logged the eighth-fastest time by an American woman in the 100 this year." Asics and her development team have said that they are "committed to letting Hill develop at her own pace -- ensured by a contract that lasts through her peak athletic years, until she is 26." Part of the deal calls for Asics to arrange for Hill's father, a technician for United Airlines, and her mother, a mental health clinician, "to accompany her to all of her meets, along with her younger sister, Rachel" (N.Y. TIMES, 12/18).
