Ex-Knicks staffer was to wed college sweetheart
AN ACCOMPLISHED basketball player who shared his love of the game with kids died aboard the sightseeing helicopter that crashed into the East River — just two months shy of his wedding day.
Tristan Hill was a lifelong hoops fan who ran youth skills camps and even worked for the Knicks.
The 29-year-old Hill was to marry Eda Ozmen, a yoga instructor, on Memorial Day in Napa Valley, Calif.
“You have my heart, you nutty nomad!” Ozmen wrote on Facebook, alongside a photo of her and Hill at Burning Man in the Nevada desert.
The two met in high school but started dating in college and worked as executives for Sightsy, a New York company dedicated to online ticket sales for tourists.
A relative of Ozmen’s answered the door of her Chelsea apartment. Ozmen, 27, briefly appeared, her eyes red and swollen, but only shook her head.
“She’s trying to just bear it right now,” said Micheon Cahill, 29, who was to be a bridesmaid at the wedding, which was to include a throng of 350.
“He was one of those people who would bring different groups together. He was kind of the glue to a lot of groups. He was just a very personable person and very loving,” Cahill said.
Hill, who was born in Singapore, played basketball for Missouri Valley College and maintained his love for the game after graduation. He worked as a basketball operations assistant for the Knicks’ D-League affiliate in Westchester County in the 2015-16 season.
“Tristan was an incredible colleague, teammate and friend. He will be remembered by the staff and players as someone who brightened every room he entered, with a contagious smile and an unparalleled enthusiasm for life,” the Westchester Knicks said.
Hill organized a basketball camp in Reno for 120 kids in 2015 and 2016.
“Tristan was full of life. He always had a smile on his face. He was the life of anything that he did,” said Chip Lance, who coached Hill for two years at Missouri Valley. “He was a bit of a free spirit and an entrepreneur . . . . He was headed in a great direction. He was an inspiration to everyone. He was always extremely positive and had a great outlook. “He was a huge people person. He never met a stranger,” the coach added. Hill and Luke Babbitt, the 16th pick in the 2010 NBA draft now on the Miami Heat, played together in high school, according to Lance. A bio on the website for Hill’s basketball camp detailed his love of the game. “Deeply passionate and driven, Tristan would often go to . . . middle school