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[ Pro rodeo cowboy-turned-cartoonist entertains with “Earl” cartoons about the western way of life ]

Wally Badgett was a ranch kid-turned rodeo cowboy, then deputy sheriff -turned cartoonist.
And through it all, he’s had a sense of humor.
The Miles City, Montana man was born in 1952 on a ranch 75 miles south of Miles City, the son of Kirk and Lora Badgett.
Wally was intrigued by the sport of rodeo because of his older brother, who competed, and after high school, attended Sheridan (Wyo.) College, where he rode bulls and was the 1971 National Intercollegiate Rodeo Association champion bull rider.
He competed in high school rodeo in every event but steer wrestling. After high school graduation in 1970, Badgett went to Sheridan, where he rodeoed collegiately two years, before he moved back to Montana.
From 1972 to 1975, he was on the pro rodeo trail, competing in the saddle bronc riding, calf roping, and bull riding, and qualifying in the bull riding for the 1974 National Finals Rodeo, finishing eighth in the world standings.
By 1975, he stayed closer to home, rodeoing in Montana and the surrounding states, and four years later, he was done. A self-professed homebody, he was married to Pam (they married in 1973) with two little children at home. And it was time to quit. “I had never left the arena in an ambulance,” he said, “and I thought, I’m way overdue.” With a family to support, “you start to think of other things.”
And he was pain-averse, he joked. “I’ve always hated pain, and I’m kind of a no-pain guy. Obviously, riding roughstock can be fairly painful at times.” His worst injuries were a broken ankle and pulled groins.
Wally and his brother leased part of the family ranch for awhile (his mother had had a serious stroke when he was four years old, and his dad was forced to sell the ranch to pay for her care.) Then, one day, while in Ashland, Montana, he ran into the deputy sergeant. The sergeant mentioned that they were looking to hire a police officer, so Wally applied and got the job.
For three years, he was a deputy sheriff in Rosebud County,(Forsyth), then the next nine years he spent as deputy sheriff in Custer County (Miles City).
It was an injured back that drew him into his next profession: drawing.
While laid up due to the back injury, he drew cartoons to entertain himself. He’d drawn as a child, but never anything serious.
And thus Earl the rancher was born.
As Badgett’s cartoons featuring Earl and his wife in various ranching situations grew in popularity, he got busier with the artwork.
“People were starting to call the sheriff’s office looking for the cartoonist instead of the cop,” he quipped.
He had to make a choice: continue in law enforcement, or build on the cartoon skills.
“I chose (cartooning) because there’s less chance of getting shot,” he joked. “I was always worried about getting shot (as a sheriff). I might have been the shakiest gun in the west. I was always worried someone would steal my gun and beat me up with it.”
Badgett’s cartoons with Earl and his situations tickle the fancy of ranchers, farmers, and those in the western lifestyle. They can be found in about 150 publications, from Texas to Canada, in rural and livestock newspapers.
When he started, his cartoon content was “inside cowboy humor, and if you weren’t a cowboy, you might not get it,” he said. “I realized, if I’m going to make this work, I have to draw so the butcher, the baker and the candlestick maker can understand it, and it’s still funny.”
Badgett is always looking for content that he can work Earl into. “I keep my ears open. In our western world, you can be talking to someone, and they say something not intended to be funny, but it’s hilarious. I write those things down.”
Earl is depicted as a hard luck rancher whose cows tend to be thin, and whose wife often outwits him. He drives a 1950s truck and does some of his ranch work with a team. It’s a throwback to Badgett’s youthful years on the family ranch. He fed cattle with a team and has always been fascinated with that.
Badgett never gave a name to the wife, but occasionally, tongue-in-cheek, he’ll call her “She Who Must Be Obeyed.”
Every Earl cartoon Badgett draws has a dog in it (“I don’t think I’ve ever known a rancher that didn’t have a dog,”) and a magpie.
The magpie came by accident. Badgett included the bird occasionally, but one day, someone told him he looked for but couldn’t find the magpie in the latest Earl cartoon he’d read.
So Badgett, whose pen name is M.C. Tin Star, went back and included the bird in his previous cartoons and now draws one in every one. “It’s my trademark,” he said.
Much of his drawing is done in the winter, when the weather is cold. “The days are short, and sometimes I might do two or three or four in a day. I usually operate in a state of disorganization and confusion,” he joked.
Badgett served as the rodeo coach at Miles City (Mont.) Community College for about twenty years, first as assistant coach, then as head coach. He retired from that role in 2021.
Justin Miller was one of Wally’s rodeo athletes from 2008-2010.
The Lockwood, Mont. cowboy rode barebacks in college rodeo and appreciated his coach’s willingness to help.
“If you were going to work hard (in college rodeo), he was going to work hard with you. He would do whatever it took, for whatever you wanted,” Miller said. “He wouldn’t give up on you or leave you wanting. He’d help you out as much as you wanted.”
In his pro rodeo career, Wally held the record for the high marked ride bull ride in Houston for several years, at 85 points. “That doesn’t sound like much now,” he said, noting that markings have gotten higher.
He also said that bullfighters are more proficient now. “Back in my day, there might be one bullfighter, and he may or may not be any good. He might outrun you to the fence, but at least there might be someone to help you up if you got there, too.”
He and Pam have a son, Brett, who is married to Joni and lives in Miles City, with a daughter, and a daughter, Whitney, who is marked to Fakhrul Hasan; they have a son and a daughter and live in California. Both children are artistic; one of Brett’s sculptures, a half-life size of a steer roper, stands at the Pro Rodeo Hall of Fame in the back garden.
He cowboys for a local ranch, when they need him, but mostly stays home and enjoys Montana and rural life.
He refuses to use any digital device, social media, and doesn’t text. “I’ve seen a lot of changes, and I’ve been against almost all of them,” he joked. “But they happen anyway.”
Badgett is a 2023 Montana Cowboy Hall of Fame inductee and the third recipient of the Saddle of Honor, joining the 2018 Saddle of Honor recipient Charles M. Russell and 2019 recipient Jay Contway.

[ “We had fun when we rodeoed, and it was good to us.” ]

or fifteen years straight, bull rider Dave Garstad never finished a Canadian rodeo season in less than fifth place in the Canadian standings.
The Stettler, Alberta cowboy dominated the rodeo scene for more than two decades, beginning in 1959 till he retired in 1980.
The eighth of nine children born in 1943 to Norwegian immigrants Magna (Juleson) and Olav Garstad, he and his brothers rode one of the family’s milk cows. “She bucked really well without a flank,” Dave said. “She’d turn back and spin right at the gate.” Weighing 1400 lbs., riding her gave the boys the rodeo bug.
Back then, near Veteran, Alberta, where he was raised, the local farmers and ranchers would have cow riding during the multi-day brandings. Men and boys could pay an entry fee of $3 or $4 and ride. At the age of fifteen, Dave won the contest and $400, which was a lot of money in those days.
And that success determined his fate in life: rodeo.
He was a three-event cowboy, riding barebacks and bulls and steer wrestling, but bull riding was his forte.
Because of his $400 winnings, he could buy a Canadian Pro Rodeo Association membership and compete professionally. But his mother wouldn’t sign for him, as a minor. So George Myren signed the release form and he became a full-fledged member.
He rodeoed professionally as he finished high school. He had “senior matriculation” – high enough grades to attend university – but he chose to rodeo. Dave still remembers what the school principal told him. “He said, for somebody that had the academic promise that I had, I was wasting my time in the rodeo business.”
But it wasn’t a waste.
He rodeoed across the country, and ventured to the States in the winter of 1963, hitting the big shows: Odessa, Denver, Ft. Worth, Amarillo, and on down the line.
His first time rodeoing in the U.S. was an interesting story. He’d gotten to the rodeo in Big Sandy, Montana, but didn’t have his RCA (predecessor to the PRCA) card. He phoned the RCA office, in Denver at the time, requesting a card on short notice. He got results: Bill Linderman, president of the association, called the rodeo secretary in Big Sandy, giving her Dave’s new card number.
When he was broke, he worked in the oil patch in northern Alberta and British Columbia to make some money. But there weren’t too many lean years. At first, he was winning $12,000-$15,000 a year, getting on 120 bulls and 60 horses. A person could live on those wages.
But as he got more experience, he was making $20,000 to $25,000 a year, when a regular income might be $10-$12,000.
In 1967, he was the Canadian champion bull rider, having won more money than any other bull rider in the country. That year, he won eleven rodeos and placed second at 37. “I won a lot of money, considering the times.” He was sixty cents short of qualifying for the National Finals Rodeo, due to missing two rodeos while he courted Linda, who would be his future wife. “That’s the girl I wanted,” he said, “and I ended up with her.”
From 1963-1978, he never finished lower than fifth place in the year-end standings in the Canada Pro Rodeo Association.
Bull riders covered more bulls then, he said. “We didn’t have the misfortune of being thrown off eighty percent of the cattle we got on. You might ride sixty or seventy in a row before being bucked off.”
Two of his brothers rodeoed with him: Gid and Dave’s twin, Mark. Sometimes they traveled together. Their dad, Olav, passed away when Dave and Mark were nine years old.
One year, Dave, rodeoing in the Midwest and the South, got on the bulls of 33 different stock contractors, and only got bucked off two of them.
He was a three-time Southern Circuit CPRA champion, and in 1980, qualified for his first Canadian Finals Rodeo. (The Canadian Finals Rodeo didn’t come into existence until 1974).
At the Finals that year, during a ride, the bull’s head came up as Dave’s head came down. The bull’s horn broke his left cheek bone and the horn tip crushed his eye, causing him to lose sight in that eye. After that, he retired. He and Linda had two young sons. “We had little kids, (ages three and five) at home, so I had to make some money. You can’t be bumping your head when you’re not physically fit,” he said.
After rodeo, he was a rig hand in the oil field, then in the 1980s, he went into the service business, monitoring drilling mud for ten years. Intelligent and a quick study, he understood every facet of the drilling business, knew the lexicon and the earth’s formations. He soon became a drilling foreman.
Typical of bull riders, Dave had his share of injuries. He broke his back once, and as a kid, broke his jaw, requiring him to live on canned milk for a time as his jaw was wired shut.
His worst injury was at Baird, Texas. After the buzzer, when Dave went to reach for his wrap, the bull bucked into a post, dumping Dave on the ground. The bull stepped on his back, breaking a shoulder blade and ten ribs on the same side. The ambulance driver, who had been drinking, forgot that Baird had a new hospital and drove his patient twenty miles farther than necessary to Abilene, Texas.
When Dave was released from the hospital, his brother, Gid, drove him to a motel. While there, he sneezed, causing a rib to puncture his lung, so he was back to the hospital. The “big-time” doctor at the hospital refused to see sports-related injuries because he felt they were self-inflicted. But the head surgeon was willing to treat him.
He was in ICU for a week, and when he flew home, the stewardess checked on him every five minutes, making sure he was OK.
Linda remembers a funny story from this hospital incident. She called him every morning, before work, to see how he was. One morning on the phone he gasped for air and couldn’t talk. She was upset, thinking he was getting worse. They talked that evening, and he explained: he had been laughing at Archie Bunker on TV. “He laughed so hard he couldn’t breathe,” she said.
Linda worked as a lab and X-ray technician; the couple had two sons, Ned, and Nate. The family traveled together when they could. The boys “always thought the bull riding should be first,” Linda said, “so they could go to the playground.”
The best part of rodeo, both Dave and Linda agree, is the people. Dave often traveled with Myrtus Dightman, Mel Hyland, and Tom Silverthorn, among others. “I could count on them,” he said.
“Rodeo is its own big family,” Linda said. And travel teaches lessons as well. “You learn so many life skills and coping skills out on the road.”
The couple lived in Big Valley, Alberta for 48 years, before moving to Stettler last year.
In addition to their sons and their spouses, they have three grandsons and a great-granddaughter.
Dave said desire is an important part of rodeo. “With any sport, if the desire isn’t there, you can’t do much at all, and in rodeo, that’s really evident.” He was inducted into the Canadian Pro Rodeo Hall of Fame in 2014.
He thinks about that first check he won, $400 for riding a cow at the ranchers’ branding. His rodeo career started, more or less, by accident. “If I’d have gotten stomped on that day, instead of winning, it would have been much different.
“We had fun when we rodeoed, and it was good to us.”

Jerry Beagley has enjoyed a Western way of living from the time he was born. He was born in Medicine Lodge, Kansas, October 2, 1954 to Otto and Evelyn Beagley. He was an only child. His dad was foreman for the Chain Ranch, located in Kansas and Oklahoma. The Chain Ranch ran 2,500 mama cows. His dad always had good horses. In addition to his dad being foreman of the Kansas part of this major ranch he was also in demand as a pickup man at various area rodeos.
When Jerry was 4 years old his dad would put him on calves and run alongside holding him by his belt, so he wouldn’t fall off. Jerry was seven when his parents took him to the 1961 National Finals Rodeo in Dallas. As he watched the cowboys compete he asked his mother, “Do you think I will ever be good enough to compete at the National Finals?” She said, “Of course, son, you will be good enough.” Jerry said his mother never lied to him, so he always knew he could do it. The first big bull he rode was at a rodeo in Turley, Oklahoma at age 12.
As a youngster he competed in Little Britches Rodeos in goat tying, flag races and more. His sophomore year in high school at an FFA rodeo in Freedom, Oklahoma, they were using feisty wild Hereford cows. The stock contractor told Jerry’s dad Jerry couldn’t ride one of his cows. Jerry’s dad bet him Jerry could. Jerry knew his dad didn’t make a lot of money, and was concerned that if he didn’t ride the cow his dad would lose the bet, and his money. Jerry did ride the wild cow, even though he lost both of his boots during the ride. He made the whistle! He also was the Kansas High School Calf Roping Champion. In 1972 he was the Little Britches Bull Riding Champion and All-Around Champ.
“I had extremely positive parents” said Jerry. “ They told me I could do whatever I set out to do. They made me believe in myself. ” He was valedictorian of his Medicine Lodge Senior class.
He attended Fort Hayes (KS) State University and majored in Math. He was on the rodeo team and won the 1974 NIRA Bareback Riding Championship. He transferred to Southeast Oklahoma State University and at the College National Finals, in 1977, held at Bozeman, Montana, he won the Bull Riding Championship and the All-Around.
Sylvia Mahoney, author of “College Rodeo, From Show to Sport” wrote: “Jerry Beagley’s eighty-two-point ride on Black Satin in the final round led to the bull riding buckle and helped his team win the Men’s Team Championship.” That was the year he decided to start concentrating solely on bull riding.
Jerry got his Rodeo Cowboys Association (RCA) permit in 1974 and his card the following year. Previously he had been making a living competing in amateur rodeos. Before he turned pro he had gone to approximately 120 amateur rodeos each year.
Jerry’s mother was right when she told him, at age seven, he would be good enough to go to the National Finals. He went to his first National Finals in 1978. He was the Reserve Champion in 1979, just after World Champion Donny Gay, in spite of the fact he was injured after the 2nd round at the Finals. He also qualified for the 1980 and 1982 National Finals.
Injuries are part of rodeo, some events are more injury-prone than others, and bull riding is one that definitely causes injuries.. Jerry was injured in 1979 when he broke his jaw and had to have stitches in his face due to his injury. The following year, 1980, he qualified again and this time the bull broke his ribs in the second round. He tried for two more rounds to compete but it wasn’t working. Jerry jokingly said, “Yes, I rode bulls — I rode bulls before they began tipping their horns.” This did not deter Jerry from continuing to ride bulls, but when he quit in 1986 he explained it this way, “I quit because I didn’t want to get bitter about something I liked so much. I loved riding bulls.”
Jerry held Bull Riding Schools in various Midwestern locales. It was going so well he taught bull riding as far west as Hawaii and Florida to the east. But that wasn’t enough for Jerry so he took his Bull Riding Schools to Canada, Australia and Brazil. Jerry said, “Lots of students that sign up will never become bull riders. I tried to teach them how to have the right mental attitude, how to win, how to get from rodeo to rodeo, and much more. I wanted them to leave my school having learned something more than just how to ride a bull for their $200.”
The era in which Jerry contested was when those serious contenders found ways to get to several rodeos during the same weekend by flying. He got his pilot’s license and flew in small planes to get to as many rodeos as he could. In 1978 he competed in 175 rodeos and 169 rodeos in 1979. He and Brian Claypool, another rodeo competing pilot, flew together a great deal. Claypool was in a plane that went down somewhere in mountains near the California-Oregon border, May 22rd, 1979. Brian and three other cowboys were killed. The wreckage was not found for months until a hunter found the remains in a remote area. Jerry explained, “If I hadn’t opted to stay home and put together an anniversary celebration for my parents, I would have been on that plane.”
Other cowboys Jerry traveled with were Jerome Robinson, Lane Frost, Ted Nuce, Lyle Sankey, Bobby DelVecchio and Steve Lance . Jerry traveled alone more than he did with other competitors. The work ethic his parents instilled in him early in life kept him on the road getting to as many rodeos as he could possibly get to. In fact, Butch Bratsky said: “They called Jerry ‘Milemarker’ because he got to more rodeos than most cowboys could or would get to.”
Jerry worked extremely hard to get the Justin Sports Medicine Program up and going because he believed it was important in the world of rodeo. He worked with Dr. J. Pat Evans, the doctor that was responsible for keeping Dallas Cowboys football players healthy for their games. Dr Evans started having medical people available at each rodeo to keep cowboys with minor injuries able to compete, and advising them medically if necessary.
The Christmas after Jerry turned 18 his dad gave him a hundred dollar bill. Jerry drove to Tulsa and bought as much nylon parachute cord as the money would buy. “I took it back to college and started braiding and creating reins in the dorm. They make great reins and presently I have quite a group of people braiding for me in their homes. It’s called cottage labor and individuals work making items at home, send it to the company and are compensated for their efforts.”
Jerry owns his own businesses, Jerry Beagley Braiding Company Inc. and Ott Ranch Saddles. He sells horse equipment wholesale, which includes over 400 items, for all kinds of horses – barrel racing horses, calf roping and more. He sells to over 200 stores in the United States. He also sells all over the world, including Canada, Australia, Switzerland and Brazil . Jerry met, at his bull riding school, the man who ended up providing through Jerry’s company the bull riding equipment for bull riders in Brazil. I don’t think it was more than a handshake, but it has been very successful for both of us.” said Jerry. He also met Adriano Moraes, from Brazil, who became the first Professional Bull Riding World Champion three times, 1994, 2001 & 2006. They have had a twenty-plus year friendship. In the early 2000s Jerry received the Small International Import-Export Company of the Year, in Oklahoma.
Martha Josey competed in barrel racing the same time Jerry was competing in bull riding and they became friends. Martha said, “Years ago at the Mesquite rodeo my hand slipped on the reins, when I was competing. When I finished I told Jerry and he created the ‘Martha Josey Knot Reins’ which have been selling for over 40 years. Jerry has such a good work ethic he could out-rodeo every one else. I can’t say anything that isn’t good about Jerry.”
Jerry married Beva Farnham, from Canada, and they had two children. Their daughter Martha who competed in rodeo in various events through college, presently she is a full-time mother to two children. Son, Brian, never was interested in the rodeo world, he found his passion in motorcycles and such. He lives in Canada and has two children.
The National Intercollegiate Rodeo Association Alumni Association was formed in 1982. Jerry became involved to be able to help students go further in their desired professions. He is a Board member and when U. S. Tobacco dropped their support for college students he became a strong supporter of the fund raising part of the organization making every effort to get more sponsors to provide scholarship monies. Sylvia Mahoney said about Jerry: “He is one of the silent people that is always working to discover new ways for the Alumni Association to raise funds to support the rodeo teams. He donated a saddle to be raffled off to raise funds for the project.”
Jerry is a self-made man who has accomplished many things in his lifetime. He has given back by his efforts to rodeo in numerous ways. He has helped many young people just starting their rodeo careers. He is revered by those who competed with him and worked with him. He is his own man – an individual, honest, determined and perseveres, while displaying humility. He admits he owes it all to his parents, friends and Jesus.