Nowadays, outstanding high school football players are well known by college coaches.
That’s because of the abundance of information out there.
But that wasn’t the case when star running back Jerry Hill came out of Lingle High in 1957. Back then, college coaches were turning over rocks and looking under haystacks for prospects.
“My Uncle Jake (Hill) happened to be at a gas station in Lingle when (University of Wyoming assistant coaches) Mike Corgan and Jim Ross pulled in to get gas,” Jerry Hill recalled in a phone interview from his home on the Powder Horn Golf Club south of Sheridan.
It was the early summer of 1957 and the two new assistants under first-year head coach Bob Devaney were on a statewide recruiting trip. They just happened to be passing through Lingle.
“One of the assistants said to my Uncle Jake, ‘Hey, do you have any football players around here?’ And my Uncle Jake replied, ‘Yeah, by the way we do: my nephew,’” Jerry Hill said.
Jake Hill then gave the pair directions to the family farm, about four miles outside of Lingle.
“When they pulled up, I was gassing up the tractor and getting ready to go back into the field,” Jerry Hill recalled with a laugh.
At the time, the younger Hill was contemplating where he was going to go to college in the fall. He had gotten queries from Chadron State, Colorado A&M and Fort Lewis College.
“I might have gotten a questionnaire from Wyoming, but I don’t recall it,” Jerry Hill admitted. “As far as I remember, the first time I heard from Wyoming was when Coach Corgan and Coach Ross drove up. That’s how I ended up at the University of Wyoming.”
Longtime UW fans are well aware of what Jerry Hill meant to the school. He went on to become the leading rusher his junior and senior years and was a two-time All-America honorable mention selection.
In 1993, Hill was voted Wyoming’s Player of the Century during UW’s Centennial Celebration. He was inducted into the Wyoming Athletics Hall of Fame in 1993 as an individual and again with the 1959 team in 2013.
He finished his career with 1,374 rushing yards on 288 carries. He then was taken in Round 3 of the 1961 NFL draft and played 102 games over 10 years (1961-70) with the Baltimore Colts.
While Hill rushed for 2,668 yards from his fullback position for the Colt, his primary roles were blocking and protecting NFL Hall of Fame quarterback Johnny Unitas.
“I was (his) bodyguard,” Hill told Mike Klingaman in a story in the Baltimore Sun.
In hindsight, pass protection “was probably the only reason I made the club,” Hill told Klingaman.
“My rookie year, (defensive end) Gino Marchetti was beating me up in camp. Well, nobody could block Gino. But he went to (coach) Weeb Ewbank and said, ‘This guy is going to help (Unitas).’”
That wasn’t a bad football career for a farm boy who played 6-man football as a freshman and sophomore in high school as well as Class B 8-man. He also excelled in basketball and track and field.
When Hill joined the Lingle Doggers football team as a freshman in 1953, he was about as far away from a college and NFL prospect as one could get.
“Jerry was around 140 pounds, but he was a good athlete and was pretty quick,” recalled Bob Robertson, who was then in one of his first head coaching jobs.
Robertson eventually would go on to become an assistant football, basketball and track coach as well as head basketball coach at Laramie High.
“Each year, Jerry would put on around 20 pounds until his senior year, where he reached 190,” Robertson said.
When Robertson moved from Encampment to take the Lingle job, he inherited a 1953 team that had only two seniors, one of whom got hurt right away, and one junior.
At that time, there was a 45-point “mercy rule.” Once one team went ahead by 45 points or more, the game ended.
That 1953 Lingle team was victimized by that rule in its first three games — losing to Lyman, Neb., 45-0; to Huntley 54-6; and to Glenrock 46-0.
But from that point on, Lingle won 23 of its next 26. The Doggers were 6-1 in both 1954 and 1955, and a perfect 7-0 in 1956 on their way to winning the Class B 8-man state title.
Oddly enough, Hill was not the Doggers’ leading rusher as a senior. That honor went to the other starting halfback, Max Whipple. The reason: Hill missed one and a half games with an injury.
While Lingle had several big and athletic players, Hill was the best all-around athlete. He was point guard on the basketball team and was a state champion hurdler as well as a state placer in the discus (second) and the long jump (third).
Hill saw his football-playing days come to an end in 1971 following the Colts’ Super Bowl championship. He then moved to Denver, where he ran a floor covering supply business. Although he has since retired, he still owns a condominium in the Mile High City.
He now spends his free time puttering around the house, playing golf and traveling back and forth to see his daughter and grandkids in Denver.
He lost his wife, Suzanne, to cancer in 2012 after being married 52 years.
“That’s the toughest thing I’ve ever had to go through, and I’m still not through it,” Hill said.
He is fortunate to have his trusty dog, Max, a golden retriever, to pal around with when he is not with his children and grandchildren.
“We travel together and every place I go; he has to go with me,” Hill said of Max. “When I’m outside and he happens not to be with me, he knows where I am.
“I have a lot of glass in my house and he keeps track of me. He knows exactly where I am.
“When I change into my work clothes, Max knows I’m going to be hanging around. And if I change into my good clothes, he knows that I am going visiting or to town, and he’s ready to go.”
The Jerry Hill File
Where he now resides: The Powder Horn Golf Club just outside of Bighorn.
Family: He was married to his wife, Suzanne, for 52 years before she died of cancer in 2012. The Hills had two daughters — Jamie and Julie. Jamie is now married to Tom LaCasse and lives in Denver. The LaCasses have two children: 15-year-old identical twin daughters Parker and Tate. Julie is married to Joe Elwood and lives in San Rafael, Calif. The Elwoods have one son, Marley, who is 11.
Job: Retired.
Hobbies: Golf and traveling back and forth to Denver to see his daughter and grandchildren.
UW years: 1957-60 (Played freshman football in 1957 and earned varsity letters (1958-60)).
UW sport: Football, where he was an All-Skyline Conference running back in 1959 and 1960, and was part of the 1958 Cowboys team that defeated Hardin-Simmons 14-6 in the Sun Bowl.
UW highlights: Hill finished his collegiate career with 1,374 rushing yards on 288 carries. He was an Honorable Mention All-American in 1959 and 1960 and was the Cowboys’ leading rusher in both of those seasons. In 1993, Hill was selected Wyoming’s Football Player of the Century in balloting among fans during UW’s Centennial Celebration. He was inducted into the Wyoming Athletics Hall of Fame as an individual in 1993, and was inducted along with the rest of the 1959 Cowboys as a team into the Hall of Fame in 2013. Hill was taken in Round 3 of the 1961 NFL draft by the Baltimore Colts, and spent 10 years in the NFL.
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