Story about Christine.

Nurse With Passion For Kickball Killed Near Bar In Hit-And-Run

Posted Feb 28, 2007 by The Tampa Tribune

By VALERIE KALFRIN and MARI ROBYN JONES
The Tampa Tribune

TAMPA - Twice a week, Christine Hodill met with friends at MacDinton’s Irish Pub & Restaurant after the kickball games she helped organize.

Those who knew her reeled Wednesday upon hearing a car had struck and killed her about 2:30 that morning near the bar and her apartment. Police are searching for the driver.

“Everybody is still in shock,” said Barry O’Connor, general manager of MacDinton’s. “She was very outgoing, very personable. There’s nothing bad I can say about her.”

Police said a four-door Nissan Altima or Maxima hit Hodill, 28, as she crossed West Cleveland Street at South Moody Avenue. The car has metallic paint, possibly dark green or black. It has a large spoiler on the rear and dark, tinted windows. The car is missing the left side-view mirror and will have damage to the left front headlight and windshield.

Investigators ask anyone with information about the car to call (813) 231-6130.

Hodill, of 104 S. Armenia Ave., worked as a nurse, O’Connor said. Her off-duty passion was kickball. A local agent for the World Adult Kickball Association, she organized games every Tuesday and Thursday and hung out at MacDinton’s, a co-sponsor, afterward.
Through word of mouth, she had signed up as many as 400 players, O’Connor said. “It was all for the fun of it, you know?”

She also organized charity fundraisers. Last weekend, she put together a “pub crawl,” in which people paid $10 to bar hop in south Tampa. The event raised about $2,000, O’Connor said.
He hopes to hold an event at MacDinton’s to honor Hodill. “Hopefully, we can get the person who did this,” O’Connor said.