Hall of Fame Inductee
Class of 2024
Neil R. Hise
While Hill got his start in aggregates somewhat by chance, Hise has been around construction for nearly his entire life.
The second-generation owner and longtime president of Cemco grew up in construction camps alongside highway projects after emigrating to America in 1947. His father worked on the two- and four-lane highways the Hise family lived near.
In 1962, Hise’s father purchased Crusher Service Co., the company that ultimately became Cemco. Hise worked for his father repairing roll crushers. Due to the coarse material in the Southwest, repairs were frequently needed.
Hise’s solution: the vertical shaft impactor (VSI). As Hise puts it, the concept of a VSI already existed at the time, but it didn’t work well due to the quality of the castings. After working with West Coast Alloy on wear cast parts, Hise’s first VSI was completed in 1967.
Cemco’s first Turbo VSI was sold two years later in 1969 and is still in use. Fifty-four years after the revolutionary crusher was first sold, Cemco was purchased by Superior Industries in 2023.
While the company is now under the Superior name, the Cemco name lives on with Superior’s VSIs. This was critical to Hise, as he credits those who worked at Cemco for getting the company to where it is today.
“This industry is special and the people in it are special,” Hise says. “I am honored and humbled to be an inductee into the Pit & Quarry Hall of Fame.”