ARLINGTON – Jack Hill wondered if his career had peaked 15 years ago as his job managing construction of the Texas Rangers ballpark was winding down.

He told friends then he didn't know how he could top that experience. Billions of dollars worth of projects later, Hill sits a few blocks away at Cowboys Stadium wondering the same thing all over again.

"You've worked so hard for so long," he said about his latest effort. "What are you going to do next?"

Since getting that big break at the Rangers Ballpark, Hill has gone from young, hardworking construction executive to stadium whisperer. By the end of this summer, all four major professional sports teams in North Texas will be playing in buildings Hill shepherded through the construction process.

For now, Hill, 53, will stick around and manage the daily operations of the $1.15 billion stadium, one of the nation's largest. If another construction challenge is still out there, Hill said he doesn't know what it is and hasn't even thought about finding it.

Stephen Jones, Cowboys chief operating officer, said his family was lucky to have Hill guide them on such a monumental project – one fitting the team's outsized reputation. Before he was hired by the Cowboys, Hill had also worked on American Airlines Center for the Dallas Mavericks and Dallas Stars and Miller Park for the Milwaukee Brewers.

"I give the Rangers and the Mavericks and the Stars a lot of credit for getting him trained up for us because he was ready to go when we got him," Jones said. "It was a layup for us."

The specialty Hill has honed in the past couple of decades is the job of owner's representative. The general contractor manages the actual construction, but Hill's job has been to make sure the owners understand the thousands of details that go into the entire process and can make informed decisions. He also manages issues that fall outside the responsibility of the contractor such as land acquisition, coordinating with local governments, finding furnishings and even creating a budgeting system.

If Cowboys owner Jerry Jones wanted the world's largest HDTV video board (which he did), it was Hill's job to make sure he knew the technological challenges and what that would cost. That figure was $40 million.

"My job was not to say 'no,' " Hill said. "My job is to present the information and let them [the Jones family] make the decisions. They have the ultimate say."

Since the city's cost was capped, every dollar the stadium went over budget came from the Cowboys. In the past few years, Jerry Jones said "yes" often enough to help make the initial cost estimate of $650 million increase by $500 million.

Helping billionaires spend hundreds of millions of dollars was never in the back of his mind when Hill started in the construction business in the 1970s. The teen attending Southwest High School in Fort Worth was just looking for extra cash.

"I've never been shy about working hard," he said. "A lot of my friends were working in restaurants, and I'd always work in a construction job because it paid a little more and you got to work outside."

Hill has never abandoned his humble roots, workers at the stadium say. He lives in a middle-class Grand Prairie neighborhood and works out at a YMCA near the new stadium.

Bruce Zapote, who directs traffic at the stadium, said Hill may be a big shot, but he never acts like one. Zapote said he can't count how many times Hill has offered to pick up food for him while on his way to lunch.

"He treats everyone with respect," Zapote said. "It doesn't matter what you got on. He takes a lot of pride in his team and the work they've done."

Hill said he also developed a lifelong passion for the construction process that went beyond the paycheck. He thought at first that meant he should be an architect, so he took some classes in that subject. Hill said he was disappointed and thought those initial courses were too basic and not particularly rewarding.

A friend and architect advised him to switch majors to building construction, Hill said.

"I didn't want to spend my career inside, drawing on a board," Hill said.

Instead, he focused on new course-work and supplemented his classes by framing houses and working as a roofer and painter in the summers.

After receiving his bachelor's degree from Texas A&M University in 1979, Hill started working in Fort Worth as an estimator for a building contractor. His job was to figure out how much a job would cost by calculating material prices as well as how many workers would be needed to finish on time. Computers weren't commonly used, so all the work was done by hand.

Hill said most of his work initially was on warehouses so he was thrilled when he was finally assigned to a mid-rise building in Fort Worth. The six-story office building on University Drive was a modest one, but Hill didn't see it that way then.

"I remember thinking that was the biggest building in the world at the time," he said.

Over the next few years, the buildings got bigger, and Hill eventually moved to developer Lincoln Property Co. during the 1980s real estate boom.

His job there was to be the owner's representative, a position much like the one he's had with the Cowboys. Through his contacts in the industry, Hill eventually ended up on the phone with Texas Rangers president Tom Schieffer a few years later.

Schieffer said that Hill was sincere and had a great reputation in construction circles.

"It wasn't a question how many times Jack had done it before," Schieffer said. "It was a question of whether he had the capability to do it."

Schieffer said that was a call that worked out well for him and the team. When the stadium opened, Hill stayed for two seasons to manage the venue, but his baseball experience landed him work with other teams.

Hill had the same type of responsibilities with the construction of American Airlines Center. It was there that he first met Jerry and Stephen Jones.

He gave the football executives a tour and remembered that they were impressed at the high-quality finish in the arena, such as the terrazzo floors. Also, Hill said they seemed to appreciate that the upper decks and concourses were as nice as the lower ones.

TOM FOX / DMN

Although the first major event at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington is only days away – George Strait will headline a concert Saturday – last-minute preparations are still intense.

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"The fans sitting there won't feel like they were in a back of house area," Hill said. "There's no class distinction. They had as much importance as a guy sitting in the lower bowl."

Cowboys officials were thinking about the team's future home, but they were years away from a decision. Meanwhile, Hill helped with the Brewers' new home and worked on a minor league hockey arena in Wilkes-Barre, Pa.

Then he was hired for a job that's still the biggest he's ever managed: the Dallas Independent School District's $1.37 billion bond project. It was the largest ever for a Texas school district and included new construction and renovations spread among more than 200 buildings.

During that time, Hill had occasional breakfast meetings with John Dixon, an old friend and executive with Manhattan Construction. They worked together on the Rangers Ballpark, and Manhattan would be the general contractor for the Cowboys stadium.

They talked often about the challenges of building a stadium for the Cowboys.

In the conversations, Hill said that the Joneses needed an owner representative to help with the work. That led to a dinner with Stephen Jones and eventually Hill's most high-profile position.

Hill's job ended at the DISD on a Friday in February 2005, and he started with the Cowboys the following Monday. The next four years would be some of the most challenging of his career as the scale of the stadium grew – along with its list of firsts and largests.

Although the stadium's first major event is only days away – a George Strait-headlined concert Saturday – preparations are still intense. Hill said he's staying busy and hasn't experienced the sadness that often comes with the end of a long project.

There's too much work left to dwell on nostalgia for long. Still, Hill said he realizes how lucky he's been. If he had reached his pinnacle with the Rangers Ballpark in 1994, Hill said he would have considered his career a great success.

"To be able to do a ballpark would be great on anyone's resume, but to do three of them in one area is more than anyone could hope for," he said.

Age: 53

Education: Bachelor's degree in building construction from Texas A&M University, 1979

Major projects: Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, American Airlines Center in Dallas, Rangers Ballpark in Arlington, Miller Park in Milwaukee, and Dallas Independent School District's $1.37 billion bond package