Adorned with baseball memorabilia, old World War II hats and books stacked to the ceiling, office of history professor Frank Hill is a blast from the past.

For more than 26 years, Hill has walked from his home behind Martin Stadium, Monday through Friday, to the WSU campus to perform for his students what he likes to call a “one act history show.”

“It’s sort of like doing a stand up monologue with a student audience,” Hill said.

Those students who have taken a course from Hill know this to be true.

“He’s the kind of professor you’ll never forget,” Jane Espeseth, WSU alumna said. “During class you don’t check the time because you are so engrossed.”

On campus, Hill is most popularly known as the beloved history teacher who loves baseball and mysteriously wears shorts all year round – rain or shine.

Telling history through a narrative is how Hill said he keeps his students coming to class, instead of going to class.

“I want my class to be more of an experience for my students,” Hill said. “After all, history is nothing more than a bedtime story.”

For Carmen Jenkins, a senior criminal justice major, it was Hill’s stories and engagement that changed her perspective about history.

“I didn’t even like history before I took his class,” Jenkins said. “He teaches it in a way that makes you understand why history is important.”

If class is missed, then so is a piece of the narrative, Hill said.

It is through these narratives that Hill said he reshapes the students’ way of thinking.

History is nothing more than a bunch of boring facts and dates, Hill said, but being able to understand how it relates to the lives of his students is what he hopes to portray.

“The hallmark of an educated individual is someone that can take small bits of information and tie it together in larger, more meaningful ways,” he said.

Having completed three of Hill’s courses, Jadie Barton, a senior education major, knows the importance of having a professor who truly cares for the success of his students.

“He makes an impact on your education,” Barton said.

Aside from his serious dedication to education, Hill makes sure he evokes a laugh or two from his students.

“He has a sharp sense of humor that characterizes his sense of teaching,” Theresa Jordan, clinical assistant professor, said. “Frank really cares about the student experience.”

Though for baseball lovers, the student experience fell short this semester. For the first time in almost 15 years, Hill is not teaching history of baseball, a class that sits close to his heart.

The course, soon to return next semester, teaches larger historical American themes through the history of America’s past time, Hill said.

“It’s the mental aspect I like,” Hill said. “In baseball the wheels are always turning.”

Baseball has been such a large part of his life that he named his daughter Camden after Camden Yards, the home field of the Baltimore Orioles, he said.

Now with an 11- year-old daughter and a little dog named Dinky, Hill looks back on his own college years and said he wants his students to discover their interests and find something that makes them truly happy.

“Find something that’s going to give you enjoyment in life, not just a paycheck,” Hill said. “I love what I do and do what I love.”