MCC Alum Dedicates Lifetime to Protecting Others

MCC ALUM DEDICATES LIFE TO PROTECTING OTHERS

Bill Hoyt has spent a lifetime looking out for those around him. He wouldn’t have it any other way.

“I’m a guard dog by nature,” Hoyt said. “I have no problem focusing my time and energy taking care of those in need.”

It’s a philosophy he developed at an early age thanks to his background in agriculture.

Hoyt graduated from McCook High School in 1974 and enrolled at Fort Hays State University. When that didn’t pan out the way he planned, Hoyt transferred to McCook Community College in the fall of ’75.

“I got more out of my time there than I ever did at Fort Hays,” Hoyt said. “But, by the end of with my second semester, I realized I didn’t want to be stuck in a building. That being said, I still didn’t know what I wanted to do, so I took time off to figure it out.” That meant returning to the lifestyle he was familiar with – farming and ranching. Unfortunately, his success in agriculture was short-lived. High interest rates in the ’80s made it hard to stay in business, prompting Hoyt to take a job as a policeman in McCook in 1985.

By 1991, he had been promoted to detective. As it turned out, MCC played a bigger part in his life during his career than when he was a traditional student. “I was able to keep up my EMT certification over the years because I had easy access to MCC’s continuing education classes,” Hoyt said. “I found a

lot of value in going back and picking up classes when I did because, at that point in my life, I was finally prepared to learn.” Hoyt was forced to retire from law “I’m a guard enforcement in 2010 due to medical readog by nature. I have no problem sons, at which point he moved back to the family farm. focusing my Hoyt spent four time and energy years on the Middle Republican Natural taking care of Resources District and is currently the those in need.” District 4 director for the Nebraska Public Power District Board of Directors, which he has been part of for the past four years. “NPPD has given me an opportunity to still ‘protect the herd,’ and do it from a chair,” Bill said. “I’ll keep doing that for as long as I’m able.”