Author: Siri Stevens

Glee Nett was born in the Southern Black Hills in Edgemont, SD, her parents and grandparents homesteaded in South Dakota. She enjoyed her 4H activities, loving horsemanship, which was taught by her relatives. She competed in 4H rodeo and went from there to amateur rodeos. There were seven children in her family and they’ve all had horses throughout their lives. She competed in many available activities. “None of my competing was on a high level – I just did it for fun,” she said. She dreamed of obtaining her degree in Range Management, however with the start of her family and ranching obligations, she realized her responsibilities would require her to be at home. “I chose to have my children while I was young, so I could be active with their lives, plus be able to be enjoy my wonderful grand children.”
She went to work for a pathologist and a well known necrologist. “He was the greatest boss that ever existed – I learned how to succeed in life and that was to be respectful and be mindfully kind to everyone.” Glee had four children and the Good Lord has called two of them home. Both losses were unexpected and immediate. Their passing have taught her to be thankful and to live every day to its fullest capacity. “God gives us life and thus He has the right to call us home on His terms and on His timeline. You can either let it get the best of you or you can make the best of it.” Kindness is the most generous gift an individual can give, as we do not know what another may be experiencing in their life.”

She also worked in law enforcement. “I was asked by an amazing sheriff to come work for him” and as she was the only female, she transported female prisoners to the state hospital and did intake interviews for rape, abuse and incest. It was difficult to leave this type of work at the office with young children at home. She switched from that to being a legal secretary and from there she became a multi peril-crop hail adjuster and traveled nine states doing that. Her career took her to Texas for six years with the children in tow. “Texas was a unique and exciting family and work experience.”
After that career she managed two major airlines – America West and United, United Express. Starting out as a full time employee, she advanced into management quickly. “I was a field station manager in Lubbock, TX and opened new stations in Vail, CO and many other cities.”
She went to work as a Fed X courier and that’s where she had her second major accident and decided to retire. “I had been dispatched to the water treatment plant and I went around a 90 degree corner, and caught the bladed berm left on the road when the passenger’s back wheel pulled the van and as she tried to correct the direction of the van, the passenger’s front wheel caught and the vehicle rolled end over end 2 ½ times, while only traveling 22 mph! Her injuries were not life threatening, however they were substantial. The doctors did not project a life of full activity, however she relied on her faith in the Lord to walk, ride and have a full productive life again so she took time off to heal. She wanted to remain amongst her rodeo family,,,,but how? She made the decision to do so by giving back to others and sharing her western heritage with idea of granting wishes and connecting the western world with the rest of the world. This year marks the 15th anniversary of Children’s Western Wish Foundation
“It actually started with me helping to grant a wish for another organization. I knew from that moment that I wanted to start this foundation.” She applied for her non profit and was rejected three times. “I didn’t have an age limit or a specific challenge identified. When I got rejected for third time, I put on the letter,” Talk to God” and we got our 501c{3}. We didn’t have to change a thing.”
She was off and granting wishes around the United States and Canada. The wish recipient’s are local community members and their immediate family. Some rodeos request more than one wish at their event and there has been a committees where a total of 6 wishes were granted at their venue. Glee coordinates every aspect of each wish and is present at all of the wishes.
She is blessed to work with her Board of Directors whom are all rodeo personnel and as they are all in attendance at the NFR, they hold their Annual Meeting in Vegas. Glee has many responsibilities in life, ts, but the foundation is her priority. “I spend as much time as it takes – probably around 15 hours per wish.” There isn’t an application process, it’s all recommendation. “If the rodeo doesn’t have a recipient, they ask us to find one.” All the wishes are handled by Glee. “The confidentiality remains where it should. I take all of it through phone calls and emails – we give each recipient . We find out what their hobbies are so we can get the buckle to represent that. They get a buckle, hand autographed Bible by Clyde and Elsie Frost. Every quilt is made by a local quilters from Laramie, Wyoming. Every knot that is tied on that quilt is tied with a special prayer for that individual. They are customized with their name on the inside as well as one block in the center dedicated to their hobby or something special and unique to that individual. Each recipient also receives an autographed signed hat, and the female wish recipient receives a tiara and a personalized sash, many times with the title “honorary princess of the rodeo.” Each of them get to do a lot of the meet and greet with the competitors and any country western artist that may be there. A compliment we hear often, especially from the families that have never experienced a rodeo or western event, is they are so appreciative as “not very often is a special needs or challenged person been given VIP treatment and treated with such a great honor.”
She works with approximately 80% repeat rodeos and 20% new rodeos. “I have been granting wishes at the NFR for fifteen years. We grant the girls presentation wish during the WPRA luncheon – they are escorted on stage by one of our barrel racing qualifiers and presented with their gifts. This is the kick-off for the wonderful banquet the WPRA does for its qualifiers, their families, sponsors and many rodeo committees are present as they are awarded many honors. The boys recipient is honored at various venues during the NFR. Last year, it was presented during the Junior NFR (Junior World Finals.)
For Glee matching the families with the rodeos brings the western way of life to the outside world. “I’m very proud to be part of rodeo – our rodeo family and our contestants aren’t afraid to pray or show their faith and it’s great for others to see.”
“I’m not doing this for my glory – it’s not about me. I don’t care for the accolades and credit, it’s about the families.” She has had that attitude for most of her life. “When I was in fifth grade Sunday school – there was a verse in my Bible, that I always remember, whereas if you do good deeds and expect accolades, the gates of heaven will be closed. That verse is followed by: If you give alms and do not expect accolades, the gates of heaven shall be open to you.”
“I choose to never use someone’s hardship to make my foundation better.” She feels that all the recipients are special people. “To me, God chooses the parents and the people to take care of these people. I am grateful to the parents and children for allowing me to do this. I also believe that special needs people are “Special Gifts from God.”
This is her full time ministry. She assists friends as a caregiver whenever necessary, but mostly she coordinates and grants wishes. She has an abundant amount of windshield miles. The two tragedies of losing her daughter and son have helped shape the giving, kind person that she is today. “I wanted to just stay home after losing my son, and little by little, my rodeo family coxed me back into the arena to grant wishes. It’s the greatest personal satisfaction – when you get to work for the Man above and give from your heart – what more is there.”
The website for the Children’s Western Wish Foundation is currently being reconstructed so keep checking. www.cwwf.org. In the meantime, follow them on Facebook.

“I’ve always felt confident that there was an audience in America for rural progarming that was being ignored by urban broadcasters,” said Patrick Gottsch, the man behind RFD-TV and the new Cowboy Channel, both owned by Rural Media Group. Born and raised on a farm outside of Elkhorn, Nebraska, Patrick knows firsthand the role rural America plays in the lives of all Americans. His father, Pat, was a farmer. He grew corn and raised cattle and had a feedlot as well as two other farms. “The cowboy values are important and main stream media doesn’t cover it. The best memory a kid has is of the county fair and now RFD-TV and the Cowboy Channel bring viewers the county fair 365 days a year.”
Patrick went to college at Sam Houston State University for two and a half years. “I wanted to go back and farm with my dad; which I did for three years; the three worst drought years in Nebraska. My dad encouraged me to find a job in town.” He moved to Chicago in 1977 and worked as a commodity broker for the next two years. “I wanted to come back home to Nebraska – I didn’t want to live in downtown Chicago, so I was a commodity broker in Omaha. The Carter Grain embargo in 1980 wiped out a lot of people and I went broke.
“My daughter was born Dec 13 1984 and I came down the hill from the hospital and there was a guy trying to put a dish together. I pulled in and was interested in buying a satellite dish – he asked me if I had any tools, and I ended up helping him. It took us six hours and we were turning the dish and all of a sudden HBO came on and I was hooked.” He got a job that day installing dishes for him and started E.T. Installations, a company that sold and installed C-band home satellites. “I always followed up after installing one, and everyone loved them.” As Patrick traveled through rural America, he heard customers wondering why there was a lack of rural programming as well as old westerns like Gunsmoke, which seemed to be taken over by shows about urban cops or suburban housewives. There wasn’t anything directed at rural folks.
He launched RFD-TV (Rural Free Delivery Television) in 1988 and the company had the right idea but the timing was off. In March 1991, Patrick moved to Fort Worth, Texas and served as the Director of Sales for Superior Livestock Auction from 1992 to 1996. Superior Livestock Auction was the first to introduce satellite video marketing, which was carried on RFD-TV, to the livestock industry and has since grown to become the largest livestock auction enterprise in the United States. He was putting programming on RFD-TV, but he was still trying to fill programming. “We got our break in December of 2000, when DISH network agreed to launch it. It was a one man and two daughter network, we’d put all the programming on a hard drive a week at a time.”
Today, RFD-TV is available in more than 52 million homes nationwide. Rural Media Group, Inc. has since expanded to include RFD-TV The Magazine (2003), RFD HD (2008), RURAL TV (2009), RURAL RADIO (2013) on SiriusXM channel 147, and most recently the Cowboy Channel, launched in July of 2017.
“I am always amazed that when Patrick has a vision, he has the ability and tenacity to see it through to fruition,” said Pam Minick, who has known Patrick since before he launched RFD-TV. “When he came to work here (in Ft. Worth) for Superior, you could find his daughters sleeping in his office.” Pam has recognized his passion for rural America for years. She has been part of American Rancher, one of the first shows that aired on RFD-TV as well as Gentle Giants. “A lot of things he does, he does with the intention of making rural America look good. I applaud him for that.”
The latest venture, the Cowboy Channel, has been a dream of Patrick’s since 2013 when Randy Bernard came along with the AMERICAN. “I’ve always thought there was a void with the other sports channels, why not a rodeo channel? If there was one thing missing in our sport in regard to linear TV, it was a TV devoted to rodeo – and everything that has to do with western sports.”
The partnership between the Cowboy Channel and the PRCA was announced the first of September “We tried five years ago to get PRCA and didn’t get it –quite frankly I was upset at the time, but it’s been a blessing in disguise,” admits Patrick. “We’ve really worked hard the last four years to build the Cowboy Channel up and tried to prove ourselves. The goal was always to have the Cowboy Channel the premier rodeo channel.
“We’ve got content now, and media is changing at a rapid pace. We will be distributing content through any means possible. We want the younger audience – we haven’t made any announcements yet on that but be assured we are looking to stream any way possible to create more fans.” Although he’s not home much, Patrick lives in his hometown of Elkhorn where his brother continues to raise corn and soybeans. Patrick has three daughters—Raquel, Gatsby and Rose. Raquel currently serves as the CEO of the Cowboy Channel, based in Ft. Worth. Raquel and Gatsby currently serve on the Company’s Board of Directors. Patrick jumps out of bed in the morning and spends his time promoting the Cowboy Channel and the western industry. “Helping spread Western culture and the rural values back into the cities – that’s my fun and it’s a real challenge. There’s a wall being built between urban and rural and we have to work at it.
“Our goal is to serve the needs and interest of rural America,” he concludes. “We want to reconnect city and country – it’s a fight and a struggle – but we have found that we have as much interest in the urban area.” The Cowboy Channel has seen an increase in homes from 12 million to 40 million in the last two years. “We are doing everything we can with our own company to expand the fan base.” One thing the company is doing is hosting the first rodeo in New York since 1984. Madison Square Gardens began in 1922, Tex Austin produced it. Madison Square Gardens continued as an annual rodeo until 1959. In 1925, there was no rodeo as a new facility was being built. “We are inviting a lot of the folks that competed there to make it a celebration,” he said. “All the major distributors for cable are in New York – we are going right where they are and somehow we will get them to come to the event.” The other opportunity he sees in New York is the expanded opportunities for advertising. “90% of advertising comes out of New York and we are hoping to get a lot of them to come and attend, and maybe get main stream advertising.” For now, Patrick is crisscrossing the country promoting the Cowboy Channel and Rodeo New York. “We are just going to keep doing what we’re doing. I’m proud of what RFD-TV has done over the past 31 years.”

Brenda Michael adored her dad, Benny Binion. She and her dad had a relationship like no other. Although he was a successful business man that made his fortune in the world of gambling, his passion was to be a cowboy. Eventually, after moving his family from Dallas to Las Vegas and getting them situated comfortably he amassed a ranch in Montana in 1943. Brenda was only two.
Brenda was born in Dallas, Texas, the middle child of five. Barbara was six years older, Jack was four years older, then Brenda, Ted was 16 months younger, and Becky was three years younger. “We moved to Las Vegas, when I was five. It was a very small town, only 15,000, when we got there. But gambling was becoming a major force and it grew rapidly. Daddy ran crap games and a policy game in Dallas, but after World War II was over, the ‘powers that be’ tried to shut down gambling. So we moved,” explained Brenda.
“My dad was always particular about his girls. He didn’t want us around the casino,” Brenda remembers. “We’d go eat and that was it.” Brenda remembers her mother staying at home with the children and driving them to Saint Joseph Catholic School growing up. She graduated from Catholic High School with 42 in her graduating class. “Daddy bought our home because it had a place for horses. I don’t think he even looked in the house. It was seven acres and we always had horses,” she laughed.
The ranch finally grew to 210 sections, including one pasture that was 98 sections. “I looked forward to going back to Montana in the summer. I always liked the ranch. I’d cry when I had to come back to Las Vegas. I was the only one that cried,” she admitted.
Benny wanted everything done on the ranch the way it used to be done. “He refused to use four-wheel-drive pickups because it tore up the land. We did everything with horse and wagon. Daddy bought fifty WWI wagons that had never been uncrated. They would fill them with cake, take them out in the pastures, feed, and come back,” remembers Brenda. She has a very vivid memory of everything that was done on the ranch.

When Benny Binion was sent to the penitentiary over income tax, when Brenda was 12, she was very sad because she didn’t get to go to the ranch. She just knew no one would take care of the horses, and she couldn’t see them. He didn’t get released until 1957, on a technicality. Turned out Brenda was right. The hired hands that were left to tend to things on the ranch were told not to sell the horses, but they did sell the cattle. When the hired hands heard Benny was out they disappeared. There was only one filly left. “We had no idea where they went, and those that were left had gotten down in the Missouri breaks, so Ted and I started riding the Missouri River breaks trying to find them. The horses knew the trails but we didn’t. It took years and since none of the studs had been cut we ended up gathering nearly 1,200 horses. Two that we found were named ‘Happy’ and ‘Sappy’. We took them to a rodeo and boy could they buck,” said Brenda with a big smile. “We took nineteen horses, including Happy and Sappy, to Harry Knight at Great Falls and he bought them and they ended up in a rodeo in Belgium. Benny recognized Brenda’s interest in the horses and although she was only seventeen he asked her to register all their horses with the American Quarter Horse Association. “The inspector came from Amarillo to inspect them, they were all cataloged. Every summer they would upgrade until they got papers.
Brenda fell in love with Bert France, a cowboy from Las Vegas, who rode bareback and saddle broncs. She was just eighteen. He qualified for the first National Finals Rodeo in 1959 in the bareback event. Three months later he was killed, on July 4th, in an automobile accident. At the time he was leading for the All-Around in the Rodeo Cowboys Association. Brenda had traveled with him that summer, but was at the ranch at the time of his accident. She tried going back to school but she couldn’t concentrate on her studies. She went to work at Bank of America, but spent summers at the ranch in Montana that she loved.
A bronc rider from South Dakota was coming to the ranch and starting horses for Benny. His name was Andy Michael and in 1963 he and Brenda were married. Their daughter, Mindy, was born the following year. They lived on the ranch until Mindy needed to start school. They moved to Amarillo in September, 1969. Brenda and Andy were married 27 years, and divorced in 1990.

Brenda had always wanted to get in to the cutting horse competition, but was always too busy. The year after Benny died she bought a mare, ‘Lena Leo War Lady’ and the first cutting competition to which she took her, in Reno; the horse won the open. Brenda went home with more than $25,000! Brenda admitted, “she was a lop-eared mare, that was pretty plain looking, but she could cut.” She spent the next four years in the cutting circle and did quite well.
When Brenda’s mother passed away, in 1994, Brenda was named the executrix of the estate. It was a full time job and she had to give up her cutting competition. “Everything had to be appraised and taxed, and finally we had to sell the ranch.” All of the stress had contributed to Brenda’s poor health. She broke her femur due to an infection and spent 20 days in the hospital battling osteomyelitis. It look Brenda three years to recover from this debilitating health issue.
Brenda continues to live in Amarillo. She bought Lighthouse Ranch which is next to Palo Duro Canyon and runs cattle on it. She has watched her two grandchildren, from Mindy and Clint Johnson, past Saddle Bronc World Champion 1980, 1987, ’88,’89, grow to adults. Ben, winner of the Texas High School Cutting Horse title in 2009, now owns restaurants, and he and wife, Kaitlin, have two children, Porter and Emory, and are expecting twins in February. Janie is a WPRA barrel racer, works for Ride TV with the PBR Velocity Tour and is presently a sideline reporter.
Brenda continues to be heavily involved in the bucking horse business through the Benny Binion World Famous Bucking Horse Sale which is held during the National Finals Rodeo in Las Vegas, and watches son-in-law Clint work with Dr. Gregg Veneklasen with Timber Creek Veterinary Clinic in creating clones and taking embryos of proven bucking stock. She supports many projects held in Amarillo involved with rodeo and the western way of life. Brenda received the Ken Stemler Pioneer Award in 2015 at the ProRodeo Hall of Fame in Colorado Springs, Colorado, for her commitment to professional rodeo through the Binion Bucking Horse Sale that benefits the ProRodeo Hall of Fame and is used for youth educational scholarships.
Brenda proudly continues to do the things her dad taught her that were important. “He was part of the vanishing breed of westerner that saw that the western way was not lost. He thought a handshake was better than a bond. His word was better than any written agreement. He taught me a lot of great things. I met a lot of nice, interesting people. I’ve always been proud to continue my dad’s work,” said the red-headed, quiet spoken woman, who has always been there to support her community, the rodeo world and the people in it with their western way of life.

The huge statue sitting in the walkway of the South Point Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas of Benny Binion on his horse, Trece, has traveled far to find a home here in this very busy thoroughfare within the confines of the headquarters of the Professional Rodeo Cowboy Association and the World Series Finale when the National Finals Rodeo comes to town. It is a larger than life bronze 15 feet tall and 16 feet long, weighing 2,800 pounds created by well-known sculptor, Deborah Copenhaver.
Benny Binion was a successful businessman, who found his fortune in gambling in Dallas, Texas before moving to Las Vegas. The horse was owned by his daughter, Brenda, but Benny, who always wanted to live the western way of life, wanted her to sell him to her to use on his ranch in Montana. “No dice,” she said. Trece was one of 18 foals from the mare, Brenda Joe. “I think my dad thought if he made a bronze of him, I’d let him have the horse,” explained Brenda Binion Michael. The Texas Historical Society paid for Copenhaver to sculpt the bronze. It was placed in front of the famous Billy Bob’s, The Largest Honky Tonk in the World, in the Stockyards at Fort Worth, Texas and was unveiled on Benny’s 80th birthday. When Billy Bob’s was sold, Ronnie Campbell hauled the statue to Las Vegas and it was placed in front of the parking garage of The Horseshoe, Benny’s casino, on 2nd Street in downtown Las Vegas.
Michael Gaughan, owner of South Point, wanted it once Binion’s were no longer owners of The Horseshoe. “It was out in a back street collecting bird shit,” said Michael. “Mr. Binion was very close to me – he never said no to me. I tried to get the statue a couple of times, and finally got it for $1. Getting it into South Point was a challenge. First it had to be cleaned – which took two people three days working on it. “We were told not to tilt it or use steel wool,” explained Michael, “so we used warm water, soap, and Irish-cut oatmeal to get it cleaned up. They cut a hole in the building, and a second hole to get it into the casino. It took an entire day – it was like moving a Trojan horse.”
Benny Binion had a love of the west, and a high regard for cowboys. He was very instrumental in getting the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association National Finals Rodeo to move to Las Vegas. Since South Point has become the destination of the PRCA Convention, the Benny Binion World Famous Bucking Horse Sale, the World Series Finale, and so much more during the National Finals Rodeo plus so many other western events and competitions held there during the year the bronze of Benny Binion and Trece is destined to be a focal point at South Point forever.