Since he was 24 years old, Cotton Rosser hasn’t missed a year of the Red Bluff Round-Up.
And that’s saying something, since the rodeo legend is now 89 years old.
Cotton, who is the patriarch of the famous rodeo family, the Rossers, is well known throughout California and the nation. As owner of Flying U Rodeo Co., the Rossers put on rodeos across the Golden State and the country.
And one of those rodeos is the Red Bluff Round-Up.
Cotton was a rodeo cowboy in 1948 the first year he came to the Round-Up. At the time, he was a college student at Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo, Calif., and competing on the rodeo trail. He rode saddle broncs, steer wrestled, and roped calves. Three years later, he moved to Red Bluff after marrying his first wife, a Red Bluff native and a former Miss Red Bluff Round-Up. He continued to compete while he worked on the Charlie Stover Ranch, rodeoing on the weekends and working during the week.
After he broke both legs in a tractor accident with a posthole digger, Rosser’s competition days were over. But he had another plan. In 1956 he bought a stock contracting company (a business that owns bucking horses and bulls for rodeos), the Flying U Rodeo Co., and started producing rodeos. At one time, he and various partners had three stock contracting firms and provided livestock for rodeos on the west coast, from San Diego to Vancouver.
Red Bluff was one of his first rodeos, and in 1957, Rosser brought livestock to the Round-Up. He has never missed bringing horses and bulls to the Round-Up since then.
Rossser, his son Reno, and the Flying U Rodeo Co. are renowned for their flamboyant and creative openings. Rosser believes in satisfying the fans. “If you don’t keep the audience entertained, they’ll go somewhere else.” His openings have included such entertainment as a big boot in the arena, with a scissors lift in it and a horse standing on the scissors lift, which raised seventeen feet in the air. Rosser also put a horse on a turntable in the arena, presenting the American flag. For the Round-Up’s 75th anniversary, he designed a memorable opening: a paper horseshoe, with the Round-Up’s logo painted on it. Rosser’s daughter Cindy, Cindy’s niece Linsay Rosser Sumpter and a third cowgirl rode black horses through the paper, as a confetti gun shot colored paper into the air. The picture is still on the side of the Flying U tack trailer. It was Rosser’s idea, now copied by rodeos across the nation, to fly the American flag in on the back of a sky diver.
One of the most memorable spectacles Rosser has dreamt up is something that takes place at the Round-Up on the final rodeo performance each year. The Wild Ride was begun by Rosser seventeen years ago, and involves about eight to twelve cowboys, dressed in what might be called Halloween costumes, riding bucking horses. The cowboys dress up in everything from Flo from the Progressive Insurance commercials to the Statue of Liberty to characters from the Sons of Anarchy. The cowboys love it, and love to wow the crowds with special effects like baby powder that creates clouds of dust while they ride, or silly string sprayed on each other. The Round-Up awards the winner of the Wild Ride with a saddle and $1,000, and the fans love it. “It’s just the wildest ride,” Rosser said.
Rosser and the Flying U Rodeo Co. has always been progressive in not just fan entertainment but in animal care as well. He created a special trailer, modified to transport injured or sick animals at the rodeo. Other rodeos have rented the animal care units, as they are called, including the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo, providing the best care possible for the animals.
Four of Rosser’s five kids: Lee, Cindy, Brian and Reno (his youngest child is Katharine) competed at the Round-up, and his wife Karin, daughters and son Reno are part of the family business. Rosser has been recognized for his contributions to the sport of rodeo: he’s an inductee in the PRCA’s Hall of Fame, the Cowboy Hall of Fame in Oklahoma City, the Hall of Great Westerners, the California State Fair Hall of Fame, the PBR Legend Hall of Fame, the Western Falls Hall of Fame, a recipient of the Ben Johnson Award, and the Molalla, Ore. Rodeo Hall of Fame.
And he still loves Red Bluff. Even though he moved to Marysville in the late 1950s, Red Bluff holds a special place in his heart. “It’s a cowboy town. It’s western, it’s cowboys and ranching, and it has a lot of wonderful people. The Round-Up is a rodeo’s rodeo.”
The Red Bluff Round-Up takes place April 20-22 at the Tehama District Fairgrounds in Red Bluff. Tickets are on sale and range in price from $14-$30 (plus a handling fee for online sales) and can be purchased online at www.RedBluffRoundup.com, at the Round-Up office (530.527.1000) or at the gate. Performances begin at 7 pm on April 20, 2:30 pm on April 21, and 1:30 pm on April 22. For more information, visit the website at www.RedBluffRoundUp.com.
Two Phillips Co. residents battle cancer, benefit from Phillipsburg rodeo fund
PHILLIPSBURG, KAN. (January 2018) – Charlene Ross and Charlie Stephens share a special bond.
Ross, a Long Island, Kan. resident, and Stephens, a four-year-old girl from Almena, both shared the same disease: leukemia.
Ross, who is retired as a para-educator at Northern Valley School in Almena, was diagnosed with acute myopic leukemia in April 2016. After three rounds of chemotherapy, the disease was in remission and she was given a stem cell transplant in July of 2017 at the University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha.
She spent more than 100 days in Omaha, her husband Keith with her. Although Medicare and secondary insurance paid the bills, nearly $500,000, the couple had the expense of fuel, food and housing.
The Rosses were recipients of funds raised by the Phillipsburg Rodeo Association and given through Hope in the Heartland, a fund for cancer patients in the area. Each year, on the Thursday night of rodeo, the rodeo hosts a Tough Enough to Wear Pink night, where funds are raised; local sponsors, including Prairie Horizon Agri-Energy, McClain Seed Sales, Rodgers and Associates, Kansas Crop Care/Nebraskaland Aviation and Farmers State Bank also contribute to the fundraiser.
The funds were a godsend, Ross said. “We were so blessed to get the money.”
Eleven miles southwest of Long Island, in Almena, lives a little girl, sixty-plus years younger than Ross, who is fighting the same fight.
Charlie Stephens was diagnosed with pre-B acute lymphoblastic leukemia in September of 2015, when she was two years old. Within 29 days, and after two rounds of chemo, she was in remission. Her parents, Jason and Michelle, were told their daughter had a 95 percent chance of beating the disease.
As part of routine checkups, Charlie has spinal taps every three months, to make sure cancer cells didn’t return. In January of this year, the unthinkable happened: the spinal tap showed cancer cells.
So she began another round of chemo, and on July 6, 2017, had a bone marrow transplant. Because a perfect match could not be found, her mother was the donor. The transplant has not grafted yet, but doctors say it takes from ten to 28 days to graft.
Charlie will be in the hospital 30 days following the transplant, and an additional 60 to 100 days after that, she’ll stay in Omaha, for lab work and to monitor her progress. She and her mother will stay at an extended stay hotel close to the hospital.
That leaves Jason and Charlie’s older brother Mason, who is eight, at home in Almena, and cuts the Stephens’ income. The Stephens have been recipients of Hope in the Heartland funds as well. “Now that we are a one-income family, (the Hope funds) help with everyday bills, along with food and gas, since we are in Omaha and the boys are at home,” Michelle said.
For the Rosses, cancer is nothing new. Keith and Charlene’s daughter, Staci Montgomery, had breast cancer, and Keith has had colon and prostate cancer.
The family, which also includes daughters Monica Cole and Melissa McClain, both of Long Island, and son Doug Ross, who lives in Texas, love coming to the rodeo. Keith does not usually wear pink, but “he wears pink (to the rodeo) and we’re proud as we can be to support the Phillipsburg rodeo,” Charlene said.
Charlene Ross and Charlie Stephens are connected beyond the disease they share. When Charlene heard about Charlie’s diagnosis, she visited with Michelle about her journey. Mason is in Charlene’s granddaughter’s class in school. Charlene told Charlie that her grandkids called her “Grandma Charlie,” and the two hit it off. “We’ve adopted (Charlene) as family,” Michelle said. “The connection of the name and the same fight, it makes it that much more special.”
Charlene is appreciative of her second chance at life, knowing that ten years ago, medical technology wasn’t as advanced and she might not have survived leukemia. “We live a very blessed life,” she said. “The Lord has gotten me through, taking my hand and leading me through.” She is not back to full health; her energy level hasn’t fully returned, but she looks forward to doing things again, like traveling with her husband, who is on the national rural electric cooperative board.
Fans at the August 2, 2018 performance of Kansas Biggest Rodeo are asked to wear pink to show awareness and recognition of cancer. For every fan wearing pink to that night of rodeo, the Phillipsburg Rodeo Association donates one dollar to cancer research and local cancer patients, and voluntary donations will be collected that night.
For more information on Kansas Biggest Rodeo and its Tough Enough to Wear Pink campaign, visit the website at KansasBiggestRodeo.com or call 785.543.2448.
St. Paul Rodeo provides opportunities for fundraising
St. Paul, Ore. (June 12, 2017) – The “bucks” at the St. Paul Rodeo are more than just the horses and bulls in the arena.
They’re the dollars that are raised by the rodeo and given back in dozens of ways, through the various organizations that provide food, drink and parking to rodeo-goers.
Three groups: the St. Paul Parish, the St. Paul High School Booster Club, and the St. Paul Jaycees, all provide services to the 50,000 fans who enjoy the St. Paul Rodeo June 30-July 4, and through their work, provide funding for their groups.
The Parish serves barbecue chicken to rodeo fans, cooking 6,500 chickens with their secret recipe, said Laurie Nicklous, a volunteer with the St. Paul Parish Chicken Barbecue stand. The barbecue chicken is a highlight for many rodeo-goers, Nicklous said. “People come from all around, and sometimes just because of the chicken. They really look forward to it.”
The St. Paul Parochial Elementary School benefits from funds raised, and funds also go to activities for the parish. The barbecue chicken sales are the group’s major fundraiser for the year.
The high school booster club is responsible for concession stands in the grandstand and for parking cars, and over the five days of rodeo, more than 150 people will volunteer their time. Each sport: football, boys basketball, girls basketball, cross country, track, softball and baseball, take their turns at helping park cars, and the students can be found alongside their parents and other volunteers in selling cotton candy, hot dogs, pretzels, nachos, pop, candy, and the famous St. Paul rodeo strawberry shortcake in the concessions stands under the grandstand.
It’s the only fundraiser the booster club holds, said Kathy Wilmes, a volunteer with the club, and it’s more convenient to work the five days of rodeo instead of holding lots of car washes and cake walks. Money raised goes towards athletics at the school: uniforms, equipment, upgrades, and just recently, new bleachers in the existing gym, to replace bleachers that were there when the school was built in the 1950’s.
Volunteering with the parish and booster club is good for the kids who do it, says both Nicklous and Wilmes. In the chicken stand, they graduate to bigger jobs as they get older. “First you’re serving pop or buttering bread or mixing coleslaw,” Nicklous said. “And pretty soon you’re the guy who serves the chicken. Our kids learn a great work ethic, and sometimes they’re working alongside their grandma or grandpa.”
Wilmes, whose daughters, ages 30, 28, 26 and 21, are no longer in high school, continues to volunteer with the booster club, and when it’s rodeo time, she’s right there, along with nearly everyone else in St. Paul, working at the rodeo. “There’s nothing worse to me than being home during the rodeo,” she laughed. “I can’t stand it. I have to be up there (at the rodeo grounds.) I’m sure I’m not the only one who feels that way, either.”
The St. Paul Jaycees are responsible for the “bull pen” – the beer garden area of the rodeo. Between 500 and 600 people make their way through the bull pen during each day of the celebration, and with only thirty Jaycees, each member recruits family and friends to help. As with the parish and the booster club, no one is paid; everyone is volunteer, and all of the funds the Jaycees raise go back to the community. They donate to sports teams, several school functions, and recently, donated $2,500 to a family in need of a handicap accessible vehicle.
The real winners of the St. Paul Rodeo are the youth of the town, said Nicklous. With most of the funds raised by the parish, the booster club and the Jaycees going to youth athletics, the school, and families in need, “the biggest benefactor is all of our kids,” she said. Organizations beyond the community of St. Paul also benefit.
The St. Paul Rodeo kicks off June 30, and runs through July 4 with performances each night at 7:30 pm and a 1:30 pm matinee on July 4. Fireworks follow each night of rodeo; the carnival, Wild West Art Show, and the Tack Room Saloon are just a few of the activities for fans. Rodeo tickets are available online and at the gate. For more information or to purchase tickets, visit www.StPaulRodeo.com or call 800.237.5920.
Inter-State Fair remembers 10 year anniversary of flood
Coffeyville, Kan. (January 2018) – Ten and a half years ago, a devastating flood hit the Coffeyville area, and it paused a long-standing tradition.
When the Verdigris River flooded on July 1, 2007, the water poured over the levee and flooded the east side of Coffeyville, and the fairgrounds for the Inter-State Fair and Rodeo.
And what would have been the 100th anniversary of the Inter-State Fair and Rodeo was canceled.
The Verdigris River, which borders the fairgrounds on the east side, flooded the fairgrounds with ten feet of water, and with the fair and rodeo five weeks away, the decision was made to cancel that year’s event.
Adding to the misery of the flooding was that the water reached four feet above the levees surrounding the refinery in town, and about 90,000 gallons of crude oil was added to the floodwaters.
When the fair and rodeo committee met four days after the flood hit, it was difficult to face reality, said John Rinkenbaugh, who was the rodeo chairman then. “A bunch of us were having a hard time admitting we weren’t going to have a fair (and rodeo),” he said. Joe Humble, who was then the chief of police for the city, and now is the rodeo chairman, put it bluntly. “He had been to the fairgrounds,” Rinkenbaugh remembers, “and he said, there is no way. There is no way we can recover from this quickly enough to put on a fair and rodeo.”
So, for the second time in its 100 year history, the fair was canceled. The only other time it had been canceled was in 1943, due to World War II.
The arena and pens withstood the water damage, but the buildings at the fairgrounds did not. All the structures at the fairgrounds had to be cleaned to remove oil and mold damage, and the refinery cleaned them, along with every building that had flood and oil damage in the city. The old Floral Building, which was home to the inside exhibits, was so damaged it could not be renovated, and it was torn down. The Ron Stevenson building, which hosts the poultry and rabbits, was renovated, and the recreation center, which is where the 4-H and open class exhibits are housed, was not quite ready for the 2008 fair, but it was finished enough that it could be used.
The flood hit the east side of Coffeyville the hardest, and the mold, along with the oil, damaged structures beyond repair. The refinery purchased 327 houses, and tore them down, and offered businesses to be professionally cleaned.
For Rinkenbaugh, one of the hardest things was calling the rodeo contract personnel to tell them the rodeo was canceled. He remembers what Bennie Beutler of Beutler and Son Rodeo Co. told him. “Bennie told me, don’t worry about us,” Rinkenbaugh said. “He almost said that before I got done telling him. ‘We’ll be all right, John,’ he said. He wanted to make sure I wasn’t worried about it.”
The flood destroyed several hotels, which were not rebuilt in time for the 2008 event, so Rinkenbaugh had to find RVs and campers for contract personnel to stay in during the event.
The Inter-State Fair hosts a large regional junior livestock show, and even though the show couldn’t be held, it was decided that the market sale should occur. Doug Ott, a local attorney whose children showed sheep, came to the fair board meeting and pleaded that the fair host a sale. “Those kids had worked hard all summer,” Rinkenbaugh said, and even though there wouldn’t be any livestock shows, the sale took place.
Water poured over the levee for 2 ½ days, and people were not allowed back into their homes for 10 days, said Cindy Price, city clerk. Six of the city’s seven hotels were damaged or destroyed, along with five restaurants, four convenience stores, and a grocery store. The city sales tax decreased as people were unable to work due to damaged businesses and homes.
But the flood also brought people together, Rinkenbaugh said. “Everybody had a common cause, a common goal. You set aside petty stuff and see the bigger picture. It’s funny how with a disaster like that, there’s a good side to it.”
And ten years later, the Inter-State Fair and Rodeo is going strong. “The fair and rodeo came out all right, other than missing a year,” Rinkenbaugh said.
This year’s Fair and Rodeo will be held the second week of August, at Walter Johnson Park in Coffeyville, and will include a pro rodeo and a bull riding. For more information, a complete schedule, and to purchase tickets, visit the website at www.FairAndRodeo.com or call the Coffeyville Area Chamber of Commerce at 620.251.2550.
Bridger Anderson is getting a good start on his career rodeo resume.
The Carrington, N.D. cowboy won the steer wrestling at Ote Berry’s Junior Steer Wrestling World Championship, held at the Junior National Finals Rodeo (NFR) in Las Vegas in mid-December.
He’s a North Dakota High School Rodeo champ, and he’s secured two entries in the semifinals for the RFD-TV’s The American.
Anderson, the son of Glenn and Robin Anderson, grew up riding. His dad trained horses and roped, his mom was a breakaway and team roper, and by the time he was six, he was tying goats and roping at youth rodeos.
His career progressed to junior high, then high school rodeo, winning the state steer wrestling title twice and the short go at the National High School Finals Rodeo in 2016. He also won the International Finals Youth Rodeo in Shawnee, Okla. in 2015.
Bridger graduated from Carrington (N.D.) High School in 2017 and is a freshman at Northwestern Oklahoma State University in Alva, under the guidance of rodeo coach Stockton Graves. Graves, a National Finals Rodeo qualifying bulldogger, has improved Bridger’s skills. He’s competed at four college rodeos last fall, placing at two of them, and he plans on being at the six spring rodeos. Alva (population 5,100) may not have a big social scene, but that’s OK, Bridger says. “There’s not a whole lot to do in Alva but steer wrestle so it works out pretty good.” One of Bridger’s classmates is another NFR qualifier, J.D. Struxness, and “it’s good to have J.D. around there.”
Last December was the first time steer wrestling was part of the Junior NFR, and Bridger qualified for it at two events: the Dupree (S.D.) Cinch Chute-Out last May, and the Melvin-Swanson-Halligan Memorial Steer Wrestling in Sutherland, Neb. in June. Fifty-two steer wrestlers, ages 19 and under, qualified for the Junior NFR, competing in two rounds. The top twenty made it to the short round. Anderson tied for first in the first round with a time of 4.3 seconds (along with Gabe Soileau and Clay Iselt), was 4.9 in the second round, and in the short round, had a time of 4.0 seconds. His average time of 13.2 was two-tenths of a second better than Marc Joiner of Loranger, La.
His win at the Junior NFR is an automatic qualification to the semi-finals for the American Rodeo, held Feb. 25 at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas. The semi-finals for the American in the steer wrestling (each event is different) is in Alvarado, Texas on February 20; the twenty fastest times from that event go on to compete at Cowtown Coliseum in Ft. Worth, Texas on Feb. 22-24 (along with other event qualifiers). From Cowtown, about five qualifiers in the steer wrestling will compete at the American, along with the invites: the top ten in the PRCA world standings from 2017.
The American allows steer wrestlers two qualifications, and Bridger earned his second qualification in Rapid City at the qualifier on December 17. Two qualifications double a cowboy’s chance to make it to the American and compete for $1 million. If he should make two qualifying runs, he would be allowed only one berth at the American.
Bridger credits a strong team in getting him where he is today. His mom and dad taught him horsemanship and roping, and another North Dakota bulldogger, Tyler Schau and his wife Jackie, helped get him going. “I’m kind of their adopted son,” he said. Tyler and Jackie train horses, and every opportunity Bridger had, he was at their place at Almont, N.D., even though it was more than a two hour drive from Carrington to the Schaus.
The Schaus have known Bridger since he was twelve years old, and they love him. “He’s a good kid, and fun to be around,” Tyler said. As soon as he had his driver’s license, Bridger would load up and spend a weekend, or during the summer, a week, at the Schaus.
2017 JR NFR Steer Wrestling Champion Bridger Anderson with Ote Berry – Rob Pierce
Bridger steer wrestling at the 2017 Cheyenne Frontier Days – Jackie Jenson Photgraphy
Bridger – Kassie Fredrickson
He has what it takes to be a good bulldogger, Tyler said. Bridger wrestled since sixth grade, winning a state championship in 2015, and “that helps with his athletics. He has athletic ability, he’s strong, and he’s not afraid to get hurt. Those are three requirements for being a good steer wrestler.”
He also knows how to work. “He ain’t afraid to come over when it’s fifteen degrees out and practice. There’s not a lot of people willing to do that.” The Schaus, who have an eleven year old daughter, help out other steer wrestlers. “If they call and want to practice, I do everything I can to make sure we’re available.”
Bridger is riding a horse purchased from the Schaus. Whiskers, a nine-year-old gelding, was raised and trained by Diamond S Performance Horses, the Schau’s business. He’s a bigger built horse, taller than most steer wrestling horses, which fits Bridger’s style. “He’s got a lot of power, and he’s long strided. It looks like he’s running slow, but he’s covering more ground,” Bridger said.
Whiskers “can power out of there,” he said. “Some guys feel out of time with him and they think he’s too tall. He runs hard, and I don’t mind crawling off a few extra inches.”
Whiskers, a former race horse, shouldn’t be warmed up on a race track. “If you let him run and try to loosen him out, you might not get him stopped,” Bridger said. “I’ve had to run him into a corner to get him to slow down. If somebody else is warming him up, I don’t let them open him on the track.”
Whiskers is also independent-minded. “He likes to do his own thing. He likes to irritate you. He’ll step on your foot when he’s cinched up or run into you.” But Bridger can live with his quirks, because he’s good. “I think he knows that (he’s a winner) and he uses it to his advantage.”
When he was three years old, as he watched the NFR on television with his parents, Bridger announced to his mom that he wanted to be a steer wrestler when he grew up. Advancing from high school, to college, the amateurs, and now professional rodeo is a big step. Bridger has had his PRCA card since the fall of 2016. “College rodeo is glorified high school (rodeo.) But pro rodeo is another level,” he said. “You can go to college rodeos, make a few mistakes, and get by. At pro rodeos, they don’t pay any money if you make a mistake. It’s another level.” In Livingston, Montana last July, Bridger made a 4.3 second run, “and they threw rocks at me,” he joked. “You had to be 3.9 there to place.”
His ultimate goal is to make the NFR, and he’s realistic about what it takes. “You have to sacrifice everything to focus on one task at hand, and that’s rodeoing and winning enough to make the NFR.”
Part of pro rodeo is learning how and what rodeos to enter. Bridger rodeos with Tyler and Jackie, who have helped him sharpen his mental game and stay healthy. He’s also relied on world champion Luke Branquinho and his rodeo coach Graves. Being confident is a big part of rodeo. “It’s huge to move from high school to amateur to pro rodeo and not let that intimidate you. It’s intimidating to bulldog against guys who have rodeoed for twenty years and have been to the NFR. But you have to surround yourself with those guys to get better.”
He also has Plan B. He’ll graduate in 2021 with a degree in ag business, and as of now, he plans on getting his college degree. “If I don’t, I won’t go back and get it. I think going to school is something I should do. You never know what will happen in this sport. Hopefully I won’t need a backup plan, but if I do, it’ll be good to have one.”
Bridger has two younger sisters: Cedar, a senior in high school and a high school rodeo athlete, and Dawsyn, an eighth grade student.
South Dakota horse “Fiery Miss West” wins Badlands Circuit Barrel Horse of the Year
Minot, N.D. (October 10, 2017) – A young exceptional horse has won the Women’s Professional Rodeo Association Badlands Circuit Horse of the year.
“Missy”, a six year old palomino owned by Gary Westergren of Lincoln, Neb. and ridden by Jessica Routier of Buffalo, S.D. earned the title after carrying her rider to a qualification and the championship at the 2017 Badlands Circuit Finals Rodeo in Minot.
Missy, whose registered name is Fiery Miss West, is an “early bloomer,” Routier said. “She didn’t have a lot of barrel racing time put on her in her early years,” as Routier and husband Riley Routier added twin daughters and another daughter to their clan. However, they ranched on the palomino. “I’m a firm believer that that’s what makes a horse great: learning to work hard at a young age. If you ranch on them, the barrel racing should seem easy.”
Last year, Routier took her to futurities, where she did well. This year, she took Missy to pro rodeos, and the team placed almost everywhere they competed, winning first in Plentywood, Mont., Onida and Aberdeen, S.D., Granite Falls, Minn., and second at Rapid City’s summer rodeo and in Deadwood, S.D. They entered the circuit finals in Minot last week in first place, with over $20,000 accumulated from the season. During the season, they knocked over a few barrels, but Routier credited that to Missy’s youth. “They were young and green horse moments where we didn’t have our timing.”
Missy does well with nearly every arena situation, Routier said. “She handles all types of ground, and every arena set up. I was little nervous for the first round (at the circuit finals in Minot) because we’ve never done a blind first barrel before. But she handled it fine.” The way the barrel pattern is set up at the circuit finals, horses are not able to see the first barrel till they are through the alley.
Missy also has a generous personality. “She’s very kind,” Routier said. “She loves all our kids. She’s laid back. The kids can ride around on her.” She does have one small flaw. “Her only vice is she doesn’t like to stand still. But that we can deal with.”
Missy was sired by Firewater Frenchman and out of Frenchmans Bodashus.
Routier, who grew up in Wisconsin, has qualified for the Great Lakes Circuit Finals Rodeo four times and the Badlands Circuit Finals Rodeo eight times. She was the 2010 year-end Badlands Circuit champion as well as this year’s champion.
The horse also won the Badlands Circuit’s Rising Star award as well.
Pro Rodeo circuit rodeo determines champions in North, South Dakota
MINOT, N.D. (October 9, 2016) – The best of the best cowboys and cowgirls converged on Minot this weekend to duke it out, determing the Badlands Circuit champions.
The Pro Rodeo Cowboys Association designates the pro rodeos in North Dakota and South Dakota as the Badlands Circuit, and rodeo contestants who had won the most money after the season came to the RAM Badlands Circuit Finals Rodeo, hosted by the Minot Y’s Men’s Rodeo for four performances October 5-8. The top two champs in each event, the year-end and average champions, qualify to compete at the RAM National Circuit Finals Rodeo, held in Kissimmee, Fla. April 5-8, 2018, where $1 million is up for grabs.
It came down to the last rides and runs in most events, with just a few points or seconds making the difference between champ and second place.
It was the last two rides in the bareback riding that determined the year end and average (the most points on four rides combined) champions, and Ty Breuer squeaked past Shane O’Connell by $810 and two points in the average. It was a close race from the start. “Before the last couple of rodeos,” Breuer said, “I was looking at the standings and Shane had quite a bit of a jump on me.” Breuer, of Mandan, N.D., estimates that if a cowboy is within $1,000 of the next cowboy before circuit finals, he has a chance of catching up and overtaking him at circuit finals.
“I got lucky and got within $900 before circuit finals,” he said. With each round paying $4,193, split between first through fourth places, and the average paying $8,386, split between first and fourth, there’s plenty of money up for grabs at the rodeo.
Only two points separated the two bareback riders for the average win. Breuer had 324 points on two head and O’Connell of Wall, S.D. had 322. Breuer appreciated O’Connell’s talent. “Shane rides great,” Breuer said. “It was hard to get the win against him. He’s a good rider and a good guy.” O’Connell appreciated that the victory came down to the last ride. “That’s the way it should be,” he said.
Breuer also won both the year-end and average titles at last year’s circuit finals.
The steer wrestling average title went to Cameron Morman of Glen Ullin, N.D.
The race was between Morman, Chason Floyd and Beau Franzen, but Franzen had a 5.1 second time during Sunday’s rodeo, and Floyd missed his steer, leaving the door open for Morman to walk through. He scored a time of 4.9 seconds to take the average title (18.3 seconds on four head).
“I needed to get out of the barrier and catch four steers,” he said. “That’s what I kept thinking the whole time. That’s always been the key” at circuit finals. He finished first place in the first round (4.2 seconds) and fourth place in the second round (4.4 seconds). Morman, Floyd, of Buffalo, S.D., and Jake Rinehart, Highmore, S.D., rode Rinehart’s horse Rio, who also won the Badlands Circuit Steer Wrestling Horse of the Year. “I was very fortunate Jake brought his horse and let me ride. Rio is an outstanding horse.”
This will be Morman’s second trip to the RAM National Circuit Finals Rodeo; he qualified in 2015. The steer wrestling year-end title went to Floyd.
In the saddle bronc riding, veteran bronc rider JJ Elshere had the year-end award sewn up from the beginning.
The Hereford, S.D. man won big over July fourth rodeos and came into the circuit finals with a comfortable lead of over $8,000 over the number two cowboy, Shorty Garrett.
Elshere placed in every round, winning first in rounds one and two and fourth in rounds three and four to also win the average with a score of 321.5 points on four head.
The Badlands Circuit Finals might be considered “JJ’s house.” “I’ve done well here,” Elshere said. “Every now and then you have a good year, and fortunately, I’ve had a couple.”
The rodeo fits him well, he said. “It’s just a great atmosphere here. It’s always fun when you get to come and hang out with everybody. It’s a pretty relaxed situation. I like that.”
The thirty-seven year old cowboy has made every circuit finals since 2003 except for two, and won the year-end title in 2006, 2007 and 2015. He has more good years in him, he hopes. He and his wife Lindsay have five sons, ages 15, twelve, eight, seven, and five, and he’d like to compete for another fifteen years, so he can ride against the youngest one. Age is just a number, Elshere said. “It feels old only if you’re counting the years. I feel like I’m still kicking.”
The team roping titles went to the duo of Logan Olson, Flandreau, S.D., and Matt Kasner, Cody, Neb. Olson, the header and Kasner, the heeler, won money in every round to win the year-end and the average title (22.4 seconds on four head).
The Badlands Circuit year end barrel racing winner was Jessica Routier, Buffalo, S.D. She led the pack coming into the circuit finals aboard her six-year-old palomino, Missy. Routier never planned on trying to make the circuit finals but Missy did better than expected, handling new situations and arena conditions like a veteran horse. “She’s very smart,” Routier said. “The crowd, the noise, the commotion, nothing bothers her one bit.” Missy, whose registered name is Fiery Miss West, is owned by Gary Westergren and won the Badlands Circuit Barrel Horse of the Year.
Nikki Hansen, Dickinson, N.D. won the average title with a time of 55.09 seconds. Less than a second separated the top four cowgirls’ average times: Hansen’s 55.09, Kristi Steffes’ time of 55.41, Routier’s time of 55.55, and Erin Williams’ 55.96. Barrel racing competition in the Badlands Circuit is tough, Routier said. “The group of horses that are here this year, I think they could win anywhere across the country, every one of them. They’re really tough horses and really tough riders.”
In the bull riding, no cowboy rode all four bulls, and only one rode three. Jeff Bertus, Avon, S.D., won the average title with a score of 207 points on three. He also won the year-end title. In 2014, Bertus won both titles, and in 2012-2013, he won the average.
Tie-down roping titles went to Trey Young, Dupree, S.D. for the year-end and Paul David Tierney, Oral, S.D. for the average.
The Rookie of the Year was awarded to Tucker White, Hershey, Neb., and the all-around went to Paul David Tierney, Oral, S.D.
Awards were also given to the Badlands bareback horse, saddle bronc, and bull of the finals and the year. Chuckulator won Bareback Horse of the Finals, West Coast Kitty won Saddle Bronc of the Finals, and the bull High Roller won Bull of the Finals. All three are owned by Sutton Rodeo, Onida, S.D.
For the year-end awards, the Bareback Horse of the Year went to Hard Hat, Sutton Rodeo. The Saddle Bronc Horse of the Year was won by Spider, Bailey Rodeo, and the Bull of the Year was tied between Candy Crush and Judas, both owned by Sutton Rodeo.
The 2018 Miss Rodeo North Dakota was crowned. Hope Ebel, the former Minot Y’s Men’s Rodeo queen, won the title. The nineteen year old, a resident of Zeeland, N.D., is a student at North Dakota State University, majoring in animal science. She hopes to study to be a veterinarian after she serves as Miss Rodeo North Dakota.
The Minot Y’s Men’s Rodeo is a not-for-profit venture by the YMCA Men of Minot, N.D. Proceeds from each year’s rodeo benefit the Triangle Y Camp at Lake Sakakawea, near Garrison, N.D. Next year’s Badlands Circuit Finals Rodeo will be October 4-7, 2018. Hess and 4- Bears Casino & Lodge are proud sponsors of the Badlands Circuit Finals Rodeo. National sponsors include Wrangler, Justin Boots, Las Vegas, Experience Kissimmee, Ram, and Montana Silversmiths.
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Bull rider Jeff Bertus was the only cowboy to make three qualified rides at the 2017 Badlands Circuit Finals Rodeo in Minot. The Avon, S.D. cowboy won the year-end and average titles and will represent the Badlands Circuit at the RAM National Circuit Finals Rodeo in Florida next year. Photo by Peggy Gander.
JJ Elshere, Hereford, S.D., won the saddle bronc riding year-end and average titles at the 2017 Badlands Circuit Finals Rodeo in Minot. Elshere has qualified for the Badlands Circuit Finals Rodeo at least a dozen times, and has won several titles at it. Photo by Peggy Gander.
Ram Badlands Circuit Finals Rodeo, Minot, ND
4th performance October 8, 2017
Year end and average winners for the Badlands Circuit
All-around Champion: Paul David Tierney, Oral, S.D.
All-around champion for the Finals: Paul David Tierney, Oral, S.D.
Bareback riding
Bareback Riding Year End Champion: Ty Breuer, Mandan, N.D.
Bareback Riding Average Champion: Ty Breuer, Mandan, N.D.
4th go round results:
Shane O’Connell, Rapid City, S.D. 80.5 points on Korkow’s Gun It; 2. Ty Breuer, Mandan, N.D., 78.5; 3. Joe Gunderson, Gettysburg, S.D., 75; 4. Steven DeWolfe-Shadeed, Buffalo Gap, S.D., 71.
Average results:
Ty Breuer, Mandan, ND. 324 points on 4 head; 2. Shane O’Connell, Rapid City, S.D. 322; 3. Joe Gunderson, Gettysburg, S.D. 298.5; 4. Nick Schwedhelm, Sioux Falls, S.D. 286
Steer Wrestling
Steer Wrestling Year End Champion: Chason Floyd, Buffalo, S.D.
Steer Wrestling Average Champion: Cameron Morman, Glen Ullin, N.D.
4th go round results:
(tie) Jake Kraupie, Bridgeport, Neb., and Eli Lord, Sturgis, S.D. 3.7 seconds each; 3. Jake Rinehart, Highmore, S.D., 3.8; 4. Taz Olson, Prairie City, S.D., 4.1.
Elk City, Okla. (August 14, 2017) – Wes Harden has rarely missed a night of the Elk City rodeo for the past seven decades.
Ever since 1943, when he was about seven years old, he’s been coming to Ackley Park for the Rodeo of Champions.
And since then, the Hammon, Okla. man has missed only once, and for a good reason: his wedding.
Wes, who also goes by the nickname “Big Man,” farms west of Hammon and went with his parents Wesley and Marie Harden, to the rodeo as a kid. And he never stopped going.
During his high school days, in the 1950s, as a member of the Hammon Round-Up Club, he did some tie-down roping and steer wrestling. Then later, in the 1970s, he helped with the annual PRCA rodeo held Memorial Day weekend and hosted by the Round-Up Club.
On August 31, 1960, he married a girl from Camargo, Jane, the same day as his parents and his sister’s wedding day. Some years, the Elk City rodeo, which is always held on Labor Day weekend, falls on their anniversary. If it does, it’s their treat to each other; attending the rodeo together.
Since the new arena was built in the 1950s, the Harden family has sat in boxes number 18, 19 and 20, on the west side of the arena, about at the forty-five-yard-line. Elra Beutler, granddad to Bennie Beutler, of Beutler and Son Rodeo, became friends with Wes when the Beutlers leased land adjacent to the Harden place. Back then, in the 1950s and ‘60s, county roads were dirt, not gravel, and when the Beutlers came to load horses, Elra would call Wesley and ask if he had a tractor handy, so they could get in and out. Being neighbors, Wesley would have a tractor to pull the trucks out so the Beutlers could load horses for a rodeo. Elra helped Wesley and Marie get the box seats, and they’ve had them ever since.
Wes and Jane and their kids: Fred and Chantel, Fred’s wife Carolyn, and Chantel’s husband Rodney Fish, join them, as do the four grandkids. And if they can’t, Wes invites friends.
The Elk City rodeo isn’t the only one that Wes and Jane have gone to. They’ve been to Cheyenne (Wyo.) Frontier Days five or six times, the Pendleton (Ore.) Round-Up, and when the National Finals Rodeo was held in Oklahoma City, Wes never missed a year of it. He’s been to the NFR in Las Vegas once, too.
He’s seen plenty of changes in the sport, and loves watching all of it, especially the tie-down roping.
And this year, when the Rodeo of Champions kicks off, the Hardens will be in their seats.
Tickets for the Elk City Rodeo of Champions go on sale August 21 at Doug Gray Dodge (1521 East Third Street in Elk City – 580.225.3005) and at Circle A Western Wear (3000 West Third Street in Elk City – 580.224.7363.) Box seats, chute seats and sky box tickets are available at Doug Gray Dodge only.
Bleacher seats are $11 for adults and $9 for children ages 6-12. Bleacher seat tickets purchased at the gate are $1 more.
Grandstand tickets are $15; at the gate, they are $18. There is no discount for children in the grandstand seats.
The rodeo is September 1-3 at Beutler Bros. Arena at Ackley Park in Elk City. For more information, visit the website at ElkCityRodeo.com or call Doug Gray Dodge at 580.225.3005.
Australian wins bareback riding; saddle bronc champ is also college champ
Abilene, Kans. – August 5, 2017 – The cool weather in Abilene this weekend was a welcome relief for rodeo fans, and the stands at the Wild Bill Hickok Rodeo were full.
The cooler temperatures were also refreshing for the contestants, with champions crowned in seven events.
Australian native Anthony Thomas won the bareback riding.
Thomas, who now lives in Palestine, Texas, scored 79 points on Andrew Rodeo’s Phantom for the win and a check for $1,367.
It was a horse he had been anxious to get on. “It’s a good old horse,” he said. “He’s been a great horse for a long time. I’ve been watching him for the last few years, and I’ve always wanted to draw him. I finally got my chance today.” The fifteen-year-old gruella has been selected to buck at the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo twice, and can be treacherous in the bucking chute. “He’s kind of dangerous in the chute,” Thomas said. “He’s an old horse who knows his job, and he can flip on you and hurt you if you don’t do your job right. But we got out of there clean, and it was good. He did his job and I was able to do mine.”
Anthony, who grew up in Derby, Western Australia, left in 2012 and spent a year in Canada before coming to the United States, and this year of rodeo hasn’t been his best. “It’s had its ups and downs,” he said. He had reconstructive surgery on both hips in January to repair nerve damage, which caused him to have no feeling in his legs while he was riding. He returned to competition at the start of March. “It’s been a long process coming back, but we’re right in the middle of the season now. Things have started coming together really good.” Thomas is currently ranked first in the Prairie Circuit, pro rodeo’s regional designation of rodeos in Kansas, Oklahoma and Nebraska. He is the 2011 Australian Professional Rodeo Association bareback riding champion.
The saddle bronc riding champion for the 2017 rodeo was a 21 year old cowboy, Preston Burr, who made an 86.5 point ride aboard Andrews Rodeo’s Slappin Leather.
Preston Burr, Strafford, Texas, wins the saddle bronc riding at the 2017 Wild Bill Hickok Rodeo in Abilene, Kan. Photo by Fly Thomas.
It was a re-match for the Stratford, Texas cowboy, who got bucked off the horse three years ago in Altus, Okla. “I didn’t get along with her very well,” in Altus, he said. “I was pretty happy to draw her here. She’s really good. She has a big move out of the chute, and sucks back.”
Burr is the 2017 College National Finals Rodeo saddle bronc riding champion as a student at New Mexico Junior College in Hobbs, N.M. He’s spent much of his pro rodeo season in Canada, honing his skills. “I rodeo with Clay Elliott, and he took me up there. I got to go to some big bronc matches, and it’s really helped my bronc riding a lot. Up there, the horses are really good and there are some really good rodeos.”
He qualified for the National High School Finals Rodeo in the bareback riding, but after breaking a wrist and rupturing vertebrae, he switched to riding saddle broncs his senior year of high school.
Last year was his rookie year, but it wasn’t a good one. He tore his PCL at the Cheyenne (Wyo.) Frontier Days, and spent three months letting it heal. “It’s one of those deals, you just have to lay on the couch and let it heal. It’s a bummer to lay around all the time.”
After his win in Abilene, Burr is headed home to Texas, for a little relaxation, roping and golfing. .
Other 2017 champions include steer wrestler Stockton Graves, the 2006 world champion from Alva, Okla. (4.7 seconds), tie-down roper Reese Riemer, Stinnett, Texas (8.0 seconds); team ropers Coleman Proctor, Pryor, Okla. and Billie Jack Saebens, Nowata, Okla. (4.7 seconds), barrel racer Dona Kay Rule, Minco, Okla. (17.62 seconds) and bull rider Roscoe Jarboe, New Plymouth, Ida. (90.5 points).
Next year’s rodeo will be August 1-4, 2018. For complete rodeo results, visit ProRodeo.com. For more information on the rodeo, visit WildBillHickokRodeo.com.
Final Results, Wild Bill Hickok Rodeo – Abilene, Kansas August 2-5, 2017
All-Around champion: Cody Doescher, Oklahoma City, Okla. – steer wrestling and team roping
Utah man wins steer wrestling, Texas man is tops in tie-down roping
Phillipsburg, Kans. (August 5, 2017) – For Tom Lewis, winning has taken on a new meaning.
The Lehi, Utah cowboy won the steer wrestling at Kansas Biggest Rodeo in Phillipsburg, with a time of 3.6 seconds.
It was aboard his eleven-year-old gelding named Maverick. Maverick, owned by Lewis and his parents Stan and Peggy Lewis, was trained by Tom and is in his first full year of pro rodeo. “We went pretty hard (with Maverick) last year, but this year, we’ve taken him everywhere and he just gets stronger and stronger. He’s so willing. He enjoys it.”
His win in Phillipsburg, with a check for $2,969, is another step closer to his goal this year: qualify for his second Wrangler National Finals Rodeo (WNFR). He’s ranked twenty-ninth in pro rodeo’s world standings, about $10,000 out of the top fifteen, who advance to the WNFR. Earning $10,000 isn’t out of reach, Lewis said. With two months left in the rodeo season (it ends on Sept. 30), “there are plenty of rodeos left. We have to drive, and we’re a little tired and we’re pushing it.”
Lewis has another reason to make the WNFR. His mother was diagnosed with cancer a few weeks ago, and doctors have given her a year to live. His parents have been supportive, and still are. “She said she’ll be alive if I go to Vegas (the home of the WNFR in December), and she wants me to go and rodeo.” The diagnosis has brought the family, including Tom’s brother and three sisters, closer. “I try to talk to her every day,” he said. “It’s life, and we appreciate what we have, and we keep going. You can either get down or move on.”
In the tie-down roping, a Texas man was tops.
Blane Cox, Cameron, Texas, turned in a time of 8.2 seconds to win Phillipsburg’s unique three-piece buckle.
It was on a horse that his dad, Carl Cox, trained. Bull, a nine-year old sorrel, “can be a handful sometimes but he does his job,” Cox said.
The 24-year-old is ranked twentieth in pro rodeo’s world standings, and is gunning for his second WNFR qualification. He estimates he’s about $7,000 out of the top fifteen in the world, who go to the WNFR, but seven thousand dollars can be made between now and the end of the rodeo year. “You just have to keep going, keep running, and give yourself the opportunity,” Cox said.
He’s also working to qualify for the Canadian Finals Rodeo, Nov. 8-12 in Edmonton, Alberta. He’s ranked fifth in the Canadian Professional Rodeo Association, and has to compete at fifteen rodeos in Canada to qualify. So far he has ten down, so there are five more Canadian rodeos he’ll be at.
Cox, the son of Carl and Lisa Cox, travels with Randall Carlisle, who tied for second place in Phillipsburg with a time of 8.4 seconds. Carlisle is from Athens, Louisana.
Other 2017 champions include bareback rider Steven Dent, Mullen, Neb. (86.5 points), team ropers Tyler Wade, Terrell, Texas and Clint Summers, Lake City, Fla. (4.2 seconds), saddle bronc rider Chet Johnson, Douglas, Wyo. (85.5 points), barrel racer Christine Laughlin, Pueblo, Colo. (17.05 seconds) and bull rider Wyatt Edwards, Sulphur, Okla. (81 points).
The big checks for Tough Enough to Wear Pink were awarded tonight. Including matches from sponsors, approximately $10,200 was donated to local cancer patients through the Hope for the Heartland fund. Sponsors include the Phillipsburg Rodeo Association, Prairie Horizon Agri-Energy, McClain Seed Sales, Rodgers and Associates, Kansas Crop Care/Nebraskaland Aviation and Farmers State Bank.
The 2018 Phillipsburg Rodeo Queen was crowned on August 3. Jenna Lager, of Superior, Neb., won the title. She is the daughter of Larry and Jody Langer and is a sophomore at Cloud County Community College, where she is studying agriculture education.
The 2018 rodeo will be held August 3-4-5. For more information, visit KansasBiggestRodeo.com. For complete rodeo results, visit ProRodeo.com.
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Final results, Kansas Biggest Rodeo, Phillipsburg, Kansas – August 3-5, 2017
All-around champion: Trevor Brazile, Decatur, Texas; tie-down roping and team roping.
Bareback Riding
1.Steven Dent, Mullen, Neb. 86.5 points on Beutler and Son Rodeo’s Nutrena’s Little Jet; 2. Will Lowe, Canyon, Texas 84; 3. Tanner Phipps, Dalton, Ga. 80; 4. Justin McDaniel, Parkfield, Calif. 79; 5. Jake Brown, Cleveland, Texas 78.5; 6. Taylor Broussard, Estherwood, La. 78; 7. Tyler Berghuis, Stephenville, Texas 71; 8. Caine Riddle, Vernon, Texas 70.
Steer Wrestling
Tom Lewis, Lehi, Utah 3.6 seconds; 2. Clay Mindemann, Salina, Okla. 3.8; 3. Stockton Graves, Alva, Okla. 3.9; 4. (tie) Sean Mulligan, Coleman, Okla. and Rowdy Thames, Buda, Texas 4.0 each; 6. Richard Coats, Hastings, Neb. 4.2; 7. (tie) Riley Duvall, Checotah, Okla. and Cody Devers, Alva, Okla. 4.3 each; 9. Ryan Swayze, Freedom, Okla. and Mitchell Gardner, Dover, Okla. 4.4 each.
Team Roping
Tyler Wade, Terrell, Texas/Clint Summers, Lake City, Fla. 4.2; 2. (tie) Clay Tryan, Billings, Mont./Jade Corkill, Fallon, Nev. and Cale Markham, Vinita, Okla./Austin Rogers, Crescent, Okla. 4.5; 4. (tie) Trevor Brazile, Decatur, Texas/Patrick Smith, Lipan, Texas and Dustin Egusquiza, Mariana, Fla./Kory Koontz, Stephenville, Texas 4.7 each; 6. Paul David Tierney, Oral, S.D./Levi Tyan, Wallace, Neb. 5.0; 7. Adam Rose, Willard, Mo./J.W. Beck, Moville, Iowa 5.1; 8. (tie) Brandon Webb, Carrizo Springs, Texas/Kollin VonAhn, Blanchard, Okla. and Shay Carroll, Prineville, Ore./Nano Garza, Las Cruces, N.M. 5.2 each; 10. Lightning Aguilera, Athens, Texas/Brady Norman, Springer, Okla. 5.3.
Saddle Bronc Riding
Chet Johnson, Douglas, Wyo. 85.5 points on Beutler and Son Rodeo’s Nutrena’s Little Angel; 2. Wyatt Casper, Pampa, Texas 84; 3. Audy Reed, Spearman, Texas 83.5; 4. Tyrel Larsen, Inglis, Manitoba 80.5; 5. Wade Sundell, Coleman, Okla. 80; 6. Leon Fountain, Socorro, N.M. 79; 7. Preston Burr, Stratford, Texas 78; 8. Bradley Harter, Loranger, La. 77.
Helena, Mont. (July 18, 2017) – For the fourth year, the Last Chance Stampede and Fair in Helena, Montana will give a unique award to its all-around champion: a ring.
The custom-designed elk ivory ring valued at $2,699 includes 14 karat yellow gold with elk ivory. It features the outline of a royal bull elk head profile, carved and inlaid in gold. The words “Last Chance Stampede, Helena, MT, All-Around Champion” and the year are engraved on it.
It’s symbolic of Helena and Montana, said Mike Gurnett, chairman of the Last Chance Stampede committee. “The gold and wildlife are tied to this valley, the Elkhorn Mountains, and Helena being founded on a gold camp. It ties in perfectly here.”
An elk ivory ring will be awarded to the winner of the all-around title at the Last Chance Stampede and Fair in Helena, Mont. The rodeo, which takes place July 27-29, has given the unique award every year since 2014.
The outline of an elk is featured on an elk ivory ring which will be given to the all-around champion at the Last Chance Stampede and Fair in Helena, Mont. The ring has features symbolic of Helena’s history.
It is also a way to make the Helena pro rodeo stand out among the 600 or so pro rodeos across the nation, and a way to entice cowboys to enter the rodeo, Gurnett said. “Cowboys win things like buckles and spurs, but nobody’s giving away rings. It’s like a Super Bowl ring. The only way you can get it is to win it.”
Jensen Jewelers in Helena has designed and donated the ring since the award began in 2014.
The first winner of the all-around was Luke Gee in 2014. The Stanford, Mont. cowboy competed in the steer wrestling and bull riding, and the all-around title and ring was extra special to him; his grandfather, John “Doc” Gee won the all-around title in Helena in the early days of the Last Chance Stampede. Gee, who had surgery on June 17 to fix a broken collarbone from riding a bull at the Reno, Nev., rodeo, hopes to be back to competition by July 27-29, when the Last Chance Stampede kicks off.
In 2015, the all-around title and ring went to Russell Cardoza, Terrebonne, Ore. (tie-down and team roping.) In 2016, it went to Hank Hollenbeck, Molt, Montana (tie-down, team roping and steer wrestling).
The all-around champion at a rodeo must win the most money in competition in two or more events; they do not need to win money in all of their events, but must win the most money of all competitors in multiple events.
The Last Chance Stampede and Fair runs July 27-29, and includes a Billy Currington concert on July 26 at 7:30 pm. Earl Wear and Haywire open for Currington. Three nights of rodeo are the evening entertainment July 27-29 at 7:30 pm each night. Tickets are available online at LastChanceStampede.com, at the Lewis and Clark County Fairgrounds, and at the gate.
For more information visit the fairground’s website at LastChanceStampede.com or call 406.457.8516.
Randy Corley, who lived in North Platte for two decades, is an inductee into the 2017 Pro Rodeo Hall of Fame.
Corley never thought he’d make a living as a rodeo announcer, and there was a teacher at Niobrara County High School in Lusk, Wyo., who concurred.
He was a high school kid, taking a speech class because it was an easy credit, and when he was asked to give a speech, it was always rodeo-related, about world champions like Larry Mahan or Jim Shoulders. The teacher did not approve. “She had threatened me a couple of times that I needed to talk about something different,” Corley recalled. “I’d always come back to rodeo.” One time, she couldn’t take it anymore. When he started yet another speech on rodeo, she “came running up and ripped the speech off the podium, and said, ‘you’ve got to think about your future. You’re not going to talk rodeo your whole life.’” Little did she know, Corley would make his living “talking rodeo.”
He was born in 1951 in Miles City, Mont., spending his school years mostly in Lusk and Lance Creek Wyo., and his summers with his granddad, Waldo Parsons, a cowboy who he idolized. “I spent every summer at his ranch, and when I got older, I’d go out in the winters and help feed cattle. He was everything to me.”
In 1977-78, he attended the Ron Bailey School of Broadcast in Seattle, then worked as a dj in Broken Bow before moving to North Platte, where he was on air at KODY AM and KX 104.
In 1979, world champion saddle bronc rider Bill Smith started a nightly rodeo series in North Platte and hired Corley to announce it. He was acquaintances with Michelle and Trent Barrett, the children of the legendary North Platte native Hadley Barrett, also a rodeo announcer. Michelle, who ran barrels, and Trent, who roped at the rodeo, insisted their dad, a rancher north of town, come to the rodeo to hear this young announcer. He did, and Corley was nervous; he knew who Hadley was, and his accomplishments in the music world and the rodeo world.
Hadley was impressed but wanted to hear Corley announce when he wasn’t aware of Hadley being in the audience. So the next week, Hadley made a trip to town for tractor parts, and again visited the rodeo, this time unannounced. He liked what he heard. A few weeks later, he asked Corley if he’d be interested in getting his PRCA card. Corley was, and Hadley assisted him in becoming a PRCA member.
That was in 1980, and four years later, Corley won the PRCA’s Announcer of the Year award, an honor he would win eleven more times throughout his career, the most of any other announcer, in 1990-1996, 1998, 2003, 2011 and 2015.
Throughout Corley’s career, he has announced rodeos across the nation: the big ones, and the little ones alike: North Platte; Puyallup, Wash.; Caldwell, Ida.; the RAM National Circuit Finals; Tucson, Ariz.; San Antonio, Texas; Phillipsburg and Pretty Prairie, Kan., and dozens more. He was selected to announce the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo sixteen times.
He worked alongside his father-in-law at five rodeos: North Platte, San Antonio and Waco, Texas, Caldwell, Idaho, and Puyallup, Wash., till Barrett passed away on March 2 of this year.
Corley vividly remembers what Barrett said after the final performance in San Antonio on Feb. 26, four days before he passed. “He laid his mike down, and said, that is the best rodeo I have announced in my life.”
Corley and Barrett were good friends as much as they were son-in-law and father-in-law, and Corley relates a funny story Barrett told years ago. When he first started, Barrett asked him to live in on the ranch, to help take care of things when Barrett was on the road. By that point, Corley and Michelle were dating; they married in 1984. “I thought it would be nice to have somebody to help out when I wasn’t around,” Barrett said. “I made Randy a deal, and I thought he had good values. What I didn’t realize was, his values were my valuables: my clothes, the food in my refrigerator, my rodeos, and my daughter.”
Barrett was inducted into the Pro Rodeo Hall of Fame in 1999, and now eighteen years later, Corley follows him. The ceremony is the first weekend of August. It was a team effort, he insists, throughout his career. “I need about 500 or 600 people to come up to the podium with me,” he joked. “There are a lot of people to thank, more than I can pinpoint. It’s stock contractors, great committees, really good entertainers and rodeo clowns and bullfighters and sound people that I’ve gotten to work with. It’s all the people that make those rodeos happen, and have given me a place to shine. All of them exemplify what the announcer does.”
Corley knows the North Platte rodeo fans will miss Hadley; this will be the first time since 1964 that Hadley has not been behind the mike at the rodeo. He’s been preparing himself. “It’s something I’ve talked to God about every day,” he said. “I have to go into that rodeo, and make it good.” A special tribute will be done for Hadley; it won’t be sad, Corley said, but “we’ll pay tribute in a special way. We’ll hear Hadley.”
Corley and his wife Michelle moved to Silverdale, Washington in 2001. Corley has two daughters, Kassi and Amanda, and together the couple has a son, Cole, and a daughter, Brittany.
He is honored to be inducted into the Hall of Fame, and thankful for his life. “I realize more and more every day, how we don’t have the control we think we do. You can place it all in God’s hands, and it’s how God planned it.”
The other inductees into the Pro Rodeo Hall of Fame are:
The late Buck Rutherford (all-around champion, 1954) Enoch Walker (saddle bronc riding champion, 1960) Tommy Puryear (steer wrestling champion, 1974) Mike Beers (team roping champion, 1984) Cody Custer (bull riding champion, 1992) Bob Ragsdale (22-time National Finals Rodeo qualifier) Christensen Bros.’ Smith & Velvet, (four-time bareback horse of the year) the committee for the Ogden (Utah) Pioneer Days.
