If you pick a hallowed figure in Lynn English’s athletic past, football player Sam Hill will be representing him – at least for the next year.That’s because Hill, an imposing linebacker/fullback on this past fall’s 8-3 team, won four major awards at Sunday’s banquet – each of them named for some of Lynn’s great luminaries who got their start either coaching or playing for the Bulldogs.And since one of them was just established this year (the Patrick J. McManus Leadership Award), you can officially call that unprecedented. But even if it’s only three awards, no one can deny that’s a pretty impressive legacy for a high school senior to carry around.”I’m honored,” said Hill, after the dinner/awards ceremony. “I only hope that I can live up to the standards these men have set.”If it seems Hill has some pretty big shoes, collectively, to fill, coach Peter Holey is sure he’s up to the task.”He’s the smartest player I’ve ever coached,” Holey said. “Having him on the field was like having another coach out there.”Small wonder, then, that one of the four awards – the scholar/athlete plaque – was named for the late English principal Thomas Connelly. Hill was a captain who not only had to play, but had to learn enough about the defensive schemes to know where every player was supposed to be, and who he was supposed to cover, on every play. And then, on top of that, he had to do his schoolwork well enough to maintain his honor roll status.And, as Holey told the parents who attended Sunday’s dinner, ” if your son’s coming home and saying he doesn’t have any homework, he’s lying.”You start building your college resume in your freshman and sophomore years,” Holey said, prior to introducing Hill as the Connelly Award winner.Hill doesn’t see the amount of time he devotes to football and his studies as a sacrifice.”The best part of football,” he said, “is just hanging around with the guys, in the locker room, before and after practices, and before and after games. We were a close team, so that was great.”Of course,” he said, with a small smile, “the hitting’s not so bad either.”As for the amount of studying he has to do, “it’s not that much of a sacrifice, really. I may have to stay in on a Thursday night, let’s say, instead of going out and hanging around. But, like I said, my social life was football, and the guys on the team. That’s what I loved to do, so I didn’t feel as if I had to give up that much.”English instituted the McManus Award this year to observe the death of one of its most distinguished alumni – the former mayor of Lynn – who died last July. McManus was a quarterback on the 1971 team, and later played for Bowdoin.”I know he was a great athlete at this school,” Hill said, “and I know that he did a great job running the city for eight years, and that people really respected him. Like I said before, this is really an honor for me.”Hill was also given the Walter J. Boverini Most Valuable Player Award, and the annual $2,000 Paul Cavanagh scholarship.Hill – who is also an outfielder/pitcher/catcher on the Bulldog baseball team – definitely wants to play football in college, and – at the moment – has narrowed his choices to four: Merrimack, St. Anselm, Framingham State and Endicott.Hill’s family has a long involvement in the English football program. His father, the late Stephen Hill, and his mother, Sue, were always active in the English Boosters Club for many years. Sam Hill’s older brother, Stephen, is the current team’s offensive coordinator.Sadly, Hill’s father didn’t live to see his son receive his honors at the banquet. He died last year.”I love my father very much, and seeing him go was very hard,” Hill said, when asked how he coped with the stress and grief. “But he was my biggest fan. He always encouraged me in everything I did – my brother, too.”I had to stay strong,” he said. “And everything I do, I just want him to be proud of me.”