Gary Boner

Gary L. Boner is a former American football player and coach. He was the longest-tenured head football coach for South Dakota School of Mines & Technology in Rapid City, South Dakota, serving from 1971 to 1989. With a record of 92–73–7, he won more games than any football coach in Tech history.^[1]

Boner started his coaching career as an assistant football and basketball coach at Rapid City High School (now Rapid City Central High School) in 1965. In 1969 he became the first head football coach at the new Rapid City Stevens High School, guiding the Raiders to a 6–3 record. He joined the staff at Tech as an assistant football coach in 1970 and became head coach in 1971.

Boner's teams were 72–31–3 in the South Dakota Intercollegiate Conference (SDIC) and won seven SDIC titles (1974, 1977, 1978, 1980, 1981, 1982, and 1984), the most in the school's history. His 1980 team was 8–1, while his 1978, 1981, 1982 and 1984 teams each won seven games. The Tech Hardrockers won 13 games in a row over the 1980-81 seasons and reached the No. 3 rating in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics football poll in 1981. Boner led Tech to 13 consecutive winning seasons from 1973 to 1985.

He was the NAIA District 12 Coach of the Year in 1980, and the South Dakota Sportswriters Association’s College Coach of the Year in 1981.^[2] He retired from coaching in 1990.

As a player, Boner spent two seasons at SDSM&T before transferring to South Dakota State University. At SDSU he was the leading rusher (497 yards) on the 1962 team that tied for the North Central Conference title. Counting receiving and kick/punt returns, he had more than 1,000 all-purpose yards that season. He was all-conference at both Tech and SDSU. After graduation, he had a tryout with the Minnesota Vikings.

He was among the first inductees of the South Dakota School of Mines & Technology Sports Hall of Fame in 2004,^[3] and was inducted into the South Dakota Sports Hall of Fame in 2011.^[4]

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