Rick Lyons is one of the greatest all-around athletes the Mining City has ever produced.

The 2017 Butte Sports Hall of Fame inductee has won state titles in baseball, basketball, golf and handball. He was part of the 1972 Mile High Little League All-Star team that captured the state title and represented Montana in the Western Regional Tournament in San Bernardino, California.

After 53 years, that is still Butte’s only state Little League champion.

Rick was then a member of Butte Central’s 1978 Class A State championship basketball team under head coach John Thatcher. A few months later, he was a part of Butte Central’s Class A State championship golf team. That team, led by coach Mike Thompson, included Joe Perrick, John Davis, Frank Cote and the great Louie Bartoletti, who won the individual crown.

Rick won the Montana Class B handball title and was, by all accounts, heading toward being one of the best players in the state. However, he saw the toll the game took on some of those best players, and decided it was no longer for him.

After college, Rick started playing golf more, and he started to get good. Really good. In 1991 and 1995 he won the Montana Mid-Amateur Championships. Then, in 1999, everyone expected him to win the Montana State Men’s Amateur Championship at the Butte Country Club. 

He did. Eddie Kavran, the 1998 champion from Dillon, and Reid Lende of Livingston tied fors second — six shots behind Lyons.

Rick probably could have won more State Amateur titles, but his family started to grow. His daughter was a baby when he won the 1999 crown, and his two sons followed soon after. So, he stopped playing the game on a regular basis. He also had back problems that prevented him from playing.

Then, his college roommate, Kelly Knievel, told him about a book that changed everything. He said the book, titled “Healing Back Paine: The Mind-Body Connection” by Dr. John Sarno, might have had a placebo effect on him, but it worked. He is now golfing, mostly with his family, pain free.

Don’t, however, expect Rick, now 65, to start winning tournaments again. Unless it’s a scramble, he is not interested in playing.

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