Edgar Lone Hill - Inducted 2025
EDGAR LONE HILL (Born 1932. Died 1999.)
1952 Rapid City Central graduate who attended Black Hills State before leaving for the military. Born in Pine Ridge and moved to Rapid City at age 6 where he lived until he died. West Point nominee and Korean War veteran. Lettered in football and basketball. He was the punter, place-kicker and a back on the Cobblers undefeated 1950 (state champions) and 1951 football teams that won 15 straight games. However, his best sport was boxing. Many considered him and his brother (Hobart Lone Hill) as two of the best earliest amateur boxers in the Upper Midwest. The Lone Hill brothers made many headlines in Black Hills newspapers for their boxing successes. Edgar is said to have gone on a winning streak that lasted almost two years at one point during a time when amateur boxers had lots of fights. In 1952, the Lone Hill brothers were state champions who went on to win Regional Golden Gloves’ titles on Feb. 14 in Sioux City to earn a trip to the Golden Gloves national finals in Chicago. Hobart won the 126-pound regional division and Edgar “The Cat” was the 147-pound champion. Edgar was a southpaw known for his knockouts and crippling body shots. He first learned by boxing his three brothers until dark on the Pine Ridge Reservation and then in an organized fashion at the Cactus Patch Boxing Club in 1947. Hobart said that Edgar had so many interests and talents, but boxing wasn’t his older brother’s greatest passion even if it was his greatest talent. In 1955, MGM Studios came to the Black Hills to shoot its $2 million plus budget buffalo movie, “The Last Hunt.” They needed Native Americans, Edgar tried out as an extra and was so good that he ended up earning a role (“Spotted Hand” — he is killed in a gun duel with movie star Robert Taylor) in the 1956 movie directed by Oscar-winning Richard Brooks that starred Stewart Granger, Taylor and Debra Paget (who replaced Oscar-winner Anne Bancroft, who was injured three weeks into the shoot). MGM offered Edgar a contract, but he would eventually settle back into his main role as a family man. Member of the Rapid City and SD AAU halls of fame.
