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Cranberries are about the farthest thing you can think of from rodeo – and yet – one of the most interesting, versatile and capable cowboys for the last sixty years has had both cranberries and rodeo as primary interests in his life. Mel Potter is a cranberry farmer – a proven professional roper – a stock contractor – and breeds, raises and trains some of the top horses in the rodeo arena.
Here is Mel’s story: Granddad Melvin Potter began raising cranberries in Wisconsin in 1880. The family marsh where cranberries come from is still in operation today. His son, Roy, followed in his footsteps, as did Roy’s son, Mel Potter. The cranberry business goes dormant during the winter. As Mel says, “Wisconsin is like Siberia in the winter.” The cranberries are frozen in the marsh during the winter, but when spring comes the cranberries come back to life. Mel’s family also raised mink, and that could have been the catalyst for why Mel got an Animal Science degree from the University of Arizona.
Mel was born in 1935 to Roy and Josephine Potter. When he was 9 his family began spending the winters in Arizona. Mel went to school in a two-room school with twenty other students in grades 6th through 7th. Back in Wisconsin all of Mel’s contemporaries were into the regular sports – baseball, basketball and football. But at Mel’s school in Arizona the kids at school rode horses and roped or rodeo’d as often as they could. It was not surprising that Mel took up roping and team tying (which was big in Arizona at that time). He even rode a few bulls. He knew he wanted to be a cowboy. Mel competed in 13 Junior Rodeos and during high school he qualified for the 1951 High School National Finals, held in Sulphur, Louisiana.
At rodeos in Arizona, Mel watched the ropers from that area that always won – John Rhoades, Lynn and Chuck Sheppard. Mel was all ready competing at area Rodeo Cowboys Association (RCA) rodeos. He said at that time RCA would let non-members compete, but if you started winning any money you had to join. Mel was only 16 when he started winning, so he joined in 1951.
Mel and Wendy were married in 1954. They went off to the University of Arizona where Mel was on the rodeo team. He won the All-Around at the University of Arizona rodeo when he was a senior. They have two daughters, Jo Lynn Alexander, born in 1958 and Sherry born in 1975.
After graduation Mel and a friend, Russ Gregg, got the bright idea to travel back up to Wisconsin and compete in some of the rodeos there. They thought all the ‘toughs’ (top winning cowboys)) would be at rodeos in other locales, not Wisconsin. They just knew they could win lots of money. It was quite a shock when they got to their first Wisconsin rodeo at Madison and all the ‘toughs’ were there, too! Mel and Russ joined the labor list at the rodeo and that helped them get paid enough to be able to compete. The biggest surprise is those ‘toughs’ looked after Mel and Russ, and they also got lots of free advice from them, which they appreciated and needed.
As time went on Mel’s roping kept getting better. He qualified in the calf roping event for the first National Finals in 1959. He won the 5th go-round and won $434 at the Finals. After the Finals he went home in Wisconsin. He realized he had a worn-out stationwagon, a horse trailer that needed new tires, a crippled horse, and enough money from his winnings to enter maybe seven or eight rodeos. His dad, who Mel described as a hard-headed businessman, said, “What do you think of rodeo now?” That’s when Mel decided to go in the cranberry business. However, he continued to compete in rodeos. In fact, he learned to fly so he could get to more rodeos and still be able to work. He also moved his legal residence to Arizona.
A few years later Mel, Jack Brainard and John Snow decided that the big money in rodeo was in the stock contracting business. Brainard had learned a great deal about stock contracting by being associated with stock contractor Leo Cremer, from Montana. Both Mel and Jack had competed and John was a rodeo announcer. The three men started a new company in 1964 named Rodeo, Incorporated (Rodeo, Inc.). They heard Oral Zumwalt, a well-known stock contractor from Missoula MT, was selling out and they purchased 10 good broncs from his string. Most of Rodeo Inc’s rodeos were in the mid-west as well as State Fairs in Indiana, Illinois, Kentucky, Iowa and Minnesota.
Mel said, “One day I got a call from Feek Tooke, who said he had some horses we could use. I had never heard of Tooke and I called my friend, Bill Linderman, President of RCA, and ask him about Tooke. Bill said, ‘If you can get his best horses you’ll have the best bucking stock in the business. But I think he’d rather sell you his wife than his horses.’” The three partners flew up to Ekalaka, Montana and Tooke showed them his horses. He knew all their breeding and history. Tooke said, “These are my best old horses, and he pulled out 20 for them to buy.” Tooke said he would take $500 a horse. As the three owners of Rodeo, Inc. stood there figuring out how they would borrow the money, Tooke said: “Boys, just pay me what you can now and pay the rest when you make it.” And with a handshake the deal was made.
“We bucked ‘em at our first rodeo after that and they darn near bucked every cowboy off, no matter who they were. They were rank broncs. The first year we had them we sent six to the National Finals,” explained Mel. In 1966, Rodeo, Inc. had the NFR Top Saddle Bronc, Tea Trader. Their bronc Sheep Mountain got that honor in 1967. Major Reno was Top Saddle Bronc for 1968 and for 1969 Major Reno tied with Big Bend’s Trade Wind for Top NFR Saddle Bronc. They were all Feek Tooke bred broncs. “All the breeding programs in professional rodeo, at that time, except Kesler, were out of Feek’s horses. He sent us horses two more times, which were top rate. We were lucky to have had such a relationship with him. I was a pall bearer at his funeral,” said Mel.
“On one of the flights back from Feek’s we didn’t know exactly where we were but we saw a rodeo being held. We landed and it was Mobridge, North Dakota. We saw a bronc that was so good, named Chief Crazy Horse, we bought him for $127.50. He was one of the best we ever owned, too. We were stock contractors for ten years before we had out dispersal sale, during the National Finals. I never worked so hard at anything as I did then. But I learned so much during those years. The last three years we made money and had some great rodeos,” Mel laughed. “I feel like I’ve been on vacation ever since.”
When asked, Mel said Dean Oliver and Jess Goodspeed were two of his biggest competitors. “Jess Goodspeed taught me how to beat the top guys,” admitted Mel. “He bought some of the best calf roping horses.” Other competitors he mentioned were Toots Mansfield, Roy Cooper, Don McLaughlin, and Cody Ohl. For steer roping he named Guy Allen and Shawn Burchett.
Mel admits when he first began contesting he didn’t realize how important the horse was in roping. He learned quickly having a good horse was a necessity. Mel’s first horse, at age 16, was Pal, an unregistered gelding out of Oklahoma Star and a Bert mare (both sire and dam are in the AQHA Hall of Fame). In time Mel observed that 50 to 60% of the cowboys in timed events were riding horses that came from Driftwood, an AQHA Hall of Fame horse. His friend, Dale Smith, allowed him to compete on his great horse, Poker Chip, from the Driftwood strain. Mel realized then how much a great horse can improve one’s ability to win.
The Potter Ranch in Marana, Arizona, is well known in the horse industry as being a top Driftwood breeding ground. Mel and wife, Wendy, are partners. They married in 1954 and have two daughters. Jo Lynn Alexander, who was an All-Around Cowgirl in High School, and Sherry Petska, World Champion Barrel Racer four times. Wendy also barrel raced and qualified for the 1970, ’71 and ’72 National Finals.
Mel first bred his roping horse, Red Ghara (a Bert mare) to Speedywood, a son of Driftwood, which produced Speedy’s Redwood, (they nicknamed “Charlie”). The colt’s ability at a young age was just what Mel was looking for. He has been quoted as saying Driftwood genes produce early maturity coupled with longevity and speed. There have been numerous well-known and successful Driftwood bred horses, from Potter breeding, in the past 50 plus decades. Mel says Dinero is probably the best horse he ever bought. Dinero has had 18 horses go to the PRCA National Finals over the years in barrel racing, team roping and steer wrestling. Hailey Kinsel’s great horse, DM Sissy Hayday, better known as ‘Sister, is Dinero bred. Daughter Sherry and husband, Cory Petska have won over $400,000 on Dinero.
Mel admits there came a time when daughter, Sherry, was winning Barrel Racing World Championships he became known as “Sherry’s dad”, in the rodeo, but those things only make him smile. He said her horse, MP Meter My Hay, better known as ‘Stingray’ was probably more famous, at that time, than any of the other great Driftwood horses.
Regardless of the reason why rodeo people know the name Mel Potter, you can bet it’s because of something Mel has done, and done well. He’s been recognized for the good things he has done in the sport of rodeo, the breeding horse world, stock contracting and obviously the cranberry world, too. Potter & Son is one of the largest supplier to the Ocean Spray Cranberry Consortium. “Cranberries allowed me to do these rodeo and breeding activities that I, and my family love so much. I was still roping until two years ago,” said 87 year old Mel.

he 2022 Ben Johnson Memorial Award honoree fits the requirements to a T! Charles Walter Sylvester Jr., better known in rodeo as “Chuck” is the recipient this year which will happen during the Rodeo Historical Society’s Rodeo Weekend at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City on November 12th. Chuck becomes the 24th cowboy to receive this award. The honoree has been given annually since 1998 when Clem McSpadden was chosen to receive the prestigious award.
The requirement of the Ben Johnson Memorial Award, given annually to a living person who has been involved in the rodeo industry for a number of years and has contributed to the growth and betterment of professional rodeo. Involvement with youth and/or community activities also is a pre-requisite for the honor. The recipient must be someone who, like Ben Johnson, Jr., creates a positive image for rodeo and the Western lifestyle.
Chuck was the General Manager of the National Western Stock Show & Rodeo, from 1978 to 2003. This important January Denver event has so many different activities going on it is mind-boggling to imagine his responsibilities. During his leadership the ‘National Western’ changed from a nine day event to sixteen days and the attendance increased considerably. Chuck brought the Draft Horse Show to ‘National Western’ in 1981, the event’s 75th anniversary. In 1985 he brought Jerry Diaz, well-known Charro, with his amazing roping artistry and many more talents which spawned a new addition — the Mexican Extravaganza & Rodeo which became one of the night shows of the ‘National Western’. Chuck was also responsible for expanding the facilities with the addition of the building of the Event Center. It took Chuck, and Board member Pat Grant, speaking with every business group in Denver to raise the interest for a bond to be passed that was necessary for the building to happen.
In 1995 the new building, called Equestrian Center, was opened. The horse show events moved in, as well as the Dancing Horses Night Show. The Mexican Extravaganza & Rodeo took the place of equestrian events in the Coliseum, along with Professional Bull Riding. When Chuck retired in 2003 he was quoted to say: “My job description for forty years was finding someone else to do the job! They are the ones to put on the show.”
During Chuck’s tenure as General Manager of the ‘National Western’ he served on the Professional Rodeo Cowboy Association (PRCA) Board of Directors two different times. The first, in 1985, was when the National Finals moved to Las Vegas. He admits it was enjoyable but tedious. The Vegas location brought bigger crowds, but the need for more seating. They added seats, between the arena fence and the original first row, and called them Gold Buckle Seats. The additional revenue from seat sales helped pay expenses. Chuck decided to do the same thing at ‘National Western’, by adding more seating and call them God Buckle Seats. They sold out, and ‘National Western’ made an extra $100 thousand the first year. His second time to be on the PRCA Board, was between the mid-1990s and his retirement at NW. Although the circumstances were different he considered it “a real enjoyment but challenging serving on the PRCA grievance committee. Harry Vold was Chairman along with Dean Oliver and Bill Smith.” One of Chuck’s highlights on the Board was promoting and getting final approval to introduce and start “Extreme Bull Riding.”
It is obvious that Chuck Sylvester thinks ‘outside the box’. When asked to be the chairman of the National Western’s 100th Anniversary in 2006, for the parade he chose to have over 200 loose ewes herded by Border Collies down 17th Street, through the heart of downtown Denver.
A special event Chuck never misses happens once a year – the Roundup Riders of the Rockies, of which he has been a member for 35 years. They take a week-long horseback adventure in the back-country of Colorado during late July; many memorable moments have happened during this time for him. He was selected “Colt of the Year” his rookie year, 1987, and “Roundup Rider of the Year” in 1999. He became a Life Member in 2012. 2022 is the 74th year for Roundup Riders of the Rockies.
Chuck’s great-grandfather, Charles E. Miller, homesteaded the family farm in 1866. It is located on the South Platte River, in LaSalle, CO. Chuck and wife, Roni Bell, are the fourth generation of the family to live there. He was born in 1937, the youngest of four. He always felt fortunate that his parents were hard working farm people. In jest, Chuck said he felt like Abraham Lincoln because the house he lived in had no electricity, indoor running water, plumbing, telephone, TV and toilets. However, there was always food on the table and lots of love from his parents and family.
Chuck began rodeoing in high school at Greeley and continued when he went to Colorado A&M in 1955. As a Rodeo Club member, in college, he helped produce the ‘Little National Western Stock Show Skyline Stampede Rodeo’ at Colorado A & M (now named Colorado State University). While in college he won the bull riding in Logan, UT, and placed in the saddle bronc event at Pocatello, Idaho. Chuck graduated with a degree in Animal Science in 1961 and a masters in Ag Economics in 1985.
Employment for Chuck always involved agriculture, rodeo or the western way of life. He worked for A.S.C. and Soil Conservation Offices; for Farm Chemical as a salesman; and as Assistant Boulder County Agent. His interest in helping youth began by working with County 4-H programs. His judging team won the ‘National Western’ Livestock judging contest in 1965. He also was involved with the Boulder County Fair and the Longmont Jaycee Rodeo. This set his career course for life with fairs, rodeos, livestock and equine events.
The Colorado State Fair hired Chuck as Assistant Manager in 1969. During his tenure he helped plan the Fair’s 100th Anniversary in 1972. As part of the anniversary he re-introduced the Draft Horse Show and inaugurated the Colorado Centennial Farm Award, which is given to family farms that have been working farms for over 100 years in the State of Colorado. This Award requires the families of farms qualifying for this Award to complete a written form proving their eligibility.
Seeing the need for a non-existent organization to handle certain ag-related, rodeo-related or stock-related events Chuck was never hesitant to form a new organization so those active in the program could be treated or judged fairly. He did so by helping form the Association of Rodeo Committees and the Colorado Association of Fairs and Shows. He held the office of President with both groups to get them up and running properly.
When Chuck retired from the National Western Stock Show & Rodeo he never missed a beat. He soon became the Executive Producer of “There’s Got To Be A Pony,” written by Roni Bell under the pseudonym Arem Roder. It was a performance requiring a huge cast blending Pueblo Symphony, Dr. Jacob Chi conductor, symphonic music with equestrian performers presented at the Evening with Dancing Horses. Some of the cast members who were also associated with rodeo included Jerry Diaz, Vicki Adams, Hadley Barrett, Austin Anderson and Greg Whitaker.
A cattle-raiser on his Wyoming ranches for over fifty years Chuck finally sold all his cattle in 2009 and presently leases his ranches. He continues to buy land in Wyoming because, “Wyoming is more ‘agriculturally friendly’ than Colorado.”
A past President and director of the Godfrey Ditch Company Chuck has also been on the Weld County Fair Board, a member and former director of the Greeley T Bone Club, past board member of Colorado Boys Ranch, the Continental Divide Trail Alliance, just to name a few of his additional activities.
Protecting private property rights hit a nerve with Chuck and in 2007, he and wife, Roni, co-founded the so-called Good Neighbor Law, and subsequently helped with three more Good Neighbor programs. In 2009 Chuck co-founded Land and Water USA which gathers facts, truth and solutions that will protect one’s Land and Water rights. He and wife, Roni, have worked with scientists, educators, politicians, attorneys and research analysts from around the world to teach people what constitutes private property, and how to defend that property on federal land.
In September, 2013 a flood devastated their 145 year old farm and 110 year old farm house. After seven months of restoration, they were finally able to move back in to their home and their Colorado Centennial Farm. You can find Roni on her old Ford tractor, she named ‘Bar B’, and Chuck on his front-end loader, as they work together to move dirt and trees to make their farm the best it can be.
As the 2022 honoree of the Ben Johnson Memorial Award Chuck Sylvester joins the following earlier recipients of this prestigious honor: Clem McSpadden, Buster Ivory, Dale Smith, Chuck Sheppard, Don Harrington, A. J. “Jack” Cooke, Jim Shoulders, Mel Potter, Cotton Rosser, Larry Mahan, Billy Minick, Neal Gay, Dean Oliver, Walt Garrison, Bill Smith, Tater Decker, Joe Beaver, Mike Cervi, Jack Roddy, Kelly Riley, Clyde Frost, Doug Clark, and Carl Nafzger.

A cloud of dark, billowing dust is one of Willard “Bill” Phillips’ earliest memories. Towering several thousand feet, the cloud enveloped Bill and his three siblings while they were playing in the yard on the family ranch 7 miles north of Brownell, Kansas. That day went down in the history books as Black Sunday.
“When that dust cloud came over, it was dark as night,” Bill said. “The dirt came in everywhere. When it was all over, we had to scoop dirt out of the house with a shovel.”
The raging dust storms of the mid 1930s are only a small part of Bill’s unique story. Most of his life is built on a foundation of horses and horsepower.
The Phillips family raised cattle, crops and horses in western Kansas. Bill witnessed firsthand the transition of horsepower from flesh and blood to the internal combustion engine.
“We had about 20 head of horses and a team of mules,” he said. “At harvest they brought horses up from the big pasture and it got exciting sometimes. We had runaways and stuff like that. We used to do everything with horses: cut wheat, haul grain to town, everything.”
Graduating from Trego County High School in WaKeeney in 1945, Bill turned 18 just in time to get drafted by the U.S. Army. He was trained at Fort Bliss as an anti-aircraft gunner.
“I was part of the occupation troops in Japan; of course, we didn’t have any planes to shoot at by then. We walked guard through Tokyo and Yokahoma,” he recounted. “I remember walking along a ridge and looking down after the atomic bomb hit Hiroshima. The people who evaporated were the lucky ones.”

Roughie
A year later – 1947 – Bill was back home to Kansas. He enrolled at Kansas State College just days before the fall semester started and pursued a bachelor’s degree in animal husbandry.
Even though Bill left the ranch when his parents divorced, he continued working on other operations. At what is now Kansas State University, Bill stumbled upon a newly formed club – The Chaparajos.
“That club was for anyone interested in horses, it didn’t have to be for rodeo,” Bill said of the organization that would eventually become the National Intercollegiate Rodeo Association. “We did have a rodeo that first year though.”
The club built an arena on the ball field with posts cut down along the river connected by woven wire. A single roughstock chute stood in the arena with a small backdrop of wooden bleachers.
“That first rodeo I think we were $6.40 in the clear,” Bill said.
As a kid, Bill had some bucket calves trained to ride. And he never passed up an opportunity to try and ride a cow when she gave him the opportunity. But his first official rodeo was inside the arena he helped build in Manhattan, Kansas.
“I didn’t have a rope horse, so I guess that’s how I ended up in roughstock,” Bill said. “It doesn’t make much sense when it comes down to it. It’s a great feeling though when you get one ridden; when you get the job done.”
The first time Bill was on a horse was in the saddle with his dad on the ranch. He eventually rode their stud – Ned. Of course, that was always bareback. Perhaps that’s why Bill was more skilled out of the saddle in the rodeo arena.
“I tried saddle broncs about five times, and I got some of them ridden, but I couldn’t make it look pretty,” Bill explained. “That’s the ultimate rodeo event – it takes a lot of skill. To me, that’s a tough event.”

On Tan Bark
Even though college rodeo was still in its infancy, qualifying for the College National Finals was coveted. Bill managed to do it twice, first in 1949 and again in 1951. Both times he rode in the Cow Palace in San Francisco.
“At the time, the Cow Palace was the last stop for the professionals before the finals,” Bill said. “That was big time rodeo to ride there. It was a totally different world from the arena in Kansas.”
It was on the tan bark floor of the Cow Palace that Bill became fast friends with Slim Pickens who was a bull fighter at the time. Stuck in the vortex of his bull’s spin move, Bill finally came off.
“This bull was right in my face and Slim Pickens just reached across and slapped that bull in the face,” Bill said with a chuckle. “I’ve considered him a friend ever since that day. He was one of the best bull fighters I’ve ever seen.”
The tan bark of the Cow Palace was a far cry from the lumpy hog pen Bill was used to back in Kansas. A stock contractor by the name of Slim Pickering had an old chute he let the rodeo team use to practice.
“The arena was an old hog pen that was rooted up and dried out, there were big old clods out there, so it wasn’t a nice place to land,” Bill said. “It’s completely different from what they have now with Weber Arena.”
After college, Bill found himself in Ensign, Kansas, giving veterans hands-on training so they could learn how to farm. Four years later Bill earned his master’s degree from Fort Hays Kansas State College, which is now Fort Hays State University.

Way Out West
It was time for Bill to experience another part of the country. His degree in range management set him up well for a long career with the Bureau of Land Management.
“I rode a lot in my work. One time we had to ride out 7 miles to find the horses and then run them back those 7 miles to the trap we set,” Bill said about his job as an area manager in Burns, Oregon.
A good horse was an essential element for Bill to do his job well. One of his horses would hop up into the rack on the back of his pickup. Growing up in post-depression era Kansas made Bill efficient and resourceful, which led him to this unique hauling scenario.
One very specific day of running horses into a trap sticks out as Bill’s very best day of his life. With a herd of 100 wild horses ahead of him, Bill knew the trap wasn’t big enough for them all.
“I was on a horse called Roanie, and I tried to get down into the middle of them to split the herd into two,” Bill explained with a smile spreading wide across his face at the memory. “I was in the middle of those running horses for about a mile. It was one of the highlights of my life as far as adrenaline goes. That was my best day running horses.”
When Bill first started with the BLM, fences were few and far between. He could ride for 60 miles before ever seeing one. It was very different country from what Kansas was and still is.
Bill spent 20 years in the Burns District before transferring to Susanville, California, in 1980. He finally retired from the BLM in 1995 and eventually made his way back home to Kansas, but not before leaving his mark on both the land and animals.

Mustang Man
Always a student of good horsepower, Bill began noticing some horses with primitive colors and stripes. A herd management area was set aside for horses with dun and grulla coats accompanied by dorsal and leg stripes, which were all considered primitive markings.
“There were very few left on the range when we started gathering them, maybe about 1 in every 400 horses was a dun or grulla,” Bill said. “People were really interested in them, and they brought a ton of money. Some sold for $10,000.”
Bill and his coworkers – Ron Harding and Chris Vosler – didn’t know that they were rounding up some of the foundations of what would later become the Kiger mustang. They’re recognized by the International Alliance of Kiger Breeders as helping establish the Kiger mustang as it’s own breed.
As a range management specialist, Bill also worked with the experimental stewardship program which had a special focus on improving grazing conditions. Their committee represented all stakeholders who had vested interest in public lands.
“Prior to 1934, the land was so overgrazed that they thought ranching using public lands was going out of business,” he said. “Raising forage on the open range, that’s what ranching is at its core.”
The Taylor Grazing Act of 1934 was supposed to help stabilize grass production for ranches, but it took a while for the act to be enforced. Bill was part of rejuvenating the grazing land.
“All the energy for life on earth comes from the sun,” Bill said of the fundamentals of ranching. “The sun hits the growing plant which takes in carbon dioxide from the air and water from the ground. That’s the way the plant grows. Ranching is capturing that energy from the sun to serve people. To me, that’s one of the biggest miracles of the world, the miracle of grass plants capturing solar energy to feed people.”
Now at 95 years young, Bill’s time in the saddle is a distant, but fond memory. And even though his time in rodeo was more than 60 years ago, he’s still an avid follower of the sport.
“I have tv now and I like to watch rodeo,” Bill said. “I like to watch those roping and dogging horses – they sit there on tippy toes before they come out of the chute. I enjoy watching them because they know what the game is.”
For Bill, life has been focused on horses in some way or another. Just because he needs a walker to get around, doesn’t mean that’s changed, it’s just moved to a screen.
“I’ve led an interesting life. I probably would’ve become a good bull rider if I had worked hard enough at it,” Bill said. “I didn’t win any gold buckles, but I was a competitor. I’m glad I participated in [rodeo], I think it’s a great sport.”

When his grandfather gave him a dollar bill to buy tickets at ten cents each for the pony rides at Hershey Park in Pennsylvania, Pete Leibold was in heaven.

From that first introduction to horses, Pete’s life-long passion for rodeo began.
Born in 1949, he was raised by his grandfather, Wiley Warner, in the suburbs south of Lebanon, Pa. In sixth grade, when he and his grandpa moved to the country, they got a horse. Pete soaked up time with his horse, riding as much as he could. That same year, he asked his grandfather if he could ride to see his Aunt Betty, who lived thirty miles away in New Holland. “It was winter, it was cold, and it took me eight hours to go that far,” Pete chuckled.
When he was fifteen, he began riding steers and young bulls at the Wellsville (Pa.) Frontier Days. Two years later, he was competing at the Cowtown Rodeo in Woodstown Pilesgrove Township in New Jersey. He continued to rodeo after graduating high school in 1967, and two years later, went to a bull riding school in Henryetta, Okla., put on by world champ Jim Shoulders. That same year, he bought his Rodeo Cowboys Association membership (predecessor to the Pro Rodeo Cowboys Association) and filled his permit that summer.
As a youngster, he showed horses in 4-H, and that’s where he met the woman who would be his wife, Bonnie. She also showed horses and barrel raced at Cowtown. They married in 1970.
By this point, he had joined the Delmarva Rodeo Association, with rodeos across Delaware, Maryland and Virginia. (Later, the Delmarva Association was replaced by the American Rodeo Association.)
Pete rode bulls until he was about 28 years old and was too big, he thought. So he began steer wrestling, learning from Mike Rhineer, Sr, at his arena in Willow Street, Pa.
By this point, he had started picking up. Dave Martin, a stock contractor, hired him, and he worked for Dave for many years. He picked up for more than three and a half decades for a host of stock contractors and producers across the Northeast: Martin, Ernie Hostetter, Bob Alexander, for Pennsylvania High School Association, and more.
Rodeo wasn’t his fulltime job. Pete started as a mason tender, then became a stone mason. He also worked as a blacksmith for twelve years.
One day Bonnie asked him when he was going to work for himself. That was the impetus he needed to start his own business as an excavator, and for the next nineteen years, he was self-employed. With his John Deere backhoe, 951 Caterpillar track loader, dump truck and trailer, he made a good living.
Pete remembers some of his best and favorite horses.
One of his first horses was a big registered thoroughbred-quarter horse cross that was 15.2 hands and weighed close to 1,300 lbs. “He was a stout son of a gun,” Pete said. “I often said to my wife, if I’d have had two horses like him, I’d have been mounted in the top ten, as far as picking up went.” He was a barrel horse, too; Bonnie won a fair share on him.
Pete team roped on the horse, named Norton. But Norton had his share of quirks. “After you’d roped six steers, you might as well tie him up and get on another horse,” Pete chuckled. “When you backed him in the box for the seventh time, you could feel it. He’d stand on his hind feet and walk out of the box, straight up in the air. He was like, I’m done.”
When Pete picked up on Norton, he had another unusual characteristic. As soon as the horse heard the gate latch open, he would stand up and walk on his back legs, “just like a Lipizzaner.” But as soon as the buzzer went, Norton was back on all fours, ready to work.
Another notable horse Pete used was one he never owned. Mooch, a bay, was his steady pickup horse for years and was owned by a barrel racer whose daughter had ridden the horse before passing away. She would never sell him, even though Pete asked her to name her price. Mooch could be hazed and heeled on, plus he was used for the barrels, goat tying and pole bending. “He was phenomenal,” Pete said. “He was a great horse. He didn’t get rattled over anything.”
Pete was more than competitor and pickup man. He has judged and been an arena director and co-producer with the late rodeo clown Bobby Paul. Working with youth has been important to him, too. The Leibold arena is often used for practice nights of roping and steer wrestling and has hosted clinics. He’s been active with the Pennsylvania High School Rodeo Association, the Keystone Rodeo Association, and the Central Pa. Youth Rodeo Association, where he served on the board of directors and as the chute dogging director for fifteen years.
The accomplishment at the top of his list is being chosen nineteen consecutive years as pickup man for the APRA finals. Being voted for that role by the APRA roughstock contestants showed how much they appreciated his talents.
With a fulltime job, Pete never traveled far from home to compete. In 1985, he finished in the top three in the ARA (now the American Pro Rodeo Association) in the steer wrestling. At the time, the North American Rodeo Commission held a finals, inviting the top three in each event from the 40-some regional associations across the continent, to compete in El Paso for a week. Pete wasn’t going to go; it was a long ways to haul from Pennsylvania to Texas, and he had the APRA Finals to pick up a few days after he would be done in El Paso.
But Tommy Harvey, president of the ARA at the time, arranged for a horse for Pete to ride in El Paso, so he went. On his first steer, he made a four-second run; his second run didn’t go as well. But he enjoyed it. “It was quite an experience.”
He was also asked to pick up the North American Rodeo Commission Finals, but it required five pickup horses and he didn’t have that many. After he reluctantly turned down the offer, his good friend Mike Rhineer told him he’d have secured the pickup horses for him amongst his rodeo friends. But it was too late.
Pete bulldogged till he was 54 and his knees couldn’t take it anymore. That same year, he was diagnosed with prostate cancer, had it removed, and sold his business. That was in 2002, and he’s continued to work for another excavating company. “There’s nothing hard about it,” he quipped. “A man tells me to dig a hole here, I do it. He tells me to cover up a hole there, I do it. Nothing hard about it.”
When Dave Martin began riding bulls as a young man, Pete was riding. “There was no better bull rider than Pete Leibold,” he said. “He was good.”
When Dave began his own stock contracting company, Pete often helped out. “He’d come to the ranch and help try out new stock. I’m sure I got him in trouble more than once for keeping him later than he was supposed to stay,” he said. Pete was as good a steer wrestler as he was a bull rider, Dave noted. “Just like in the bull riding, he was hard to beat.”
Mike Rhineer Jr. knew Pete because his dad, Mike Sr., rodeoed with him.
“He’s the most honest man you’ll ever meet,” Mike Jr. said. “The man will not lie to you.”
Mike, a tie-down roper, team roper and trick roper, pointed out that Pete gave back to the sport of rodeo. “He judged a lot of youth rodeos,” he said. “He was always there to help kids who wanted to learn. It didn’t matter if it was roping, riding, steer wrestling or riding bulls, Pete was there to help.”
He and Bonnie have three children: sons Todd and Cody and daughter Caiti-Ty Leibold. All three excelled in rodeo at the youth, high school, regional and national level.
Pete was never a world champ, but he loved rodeo and it treated him well.
“I would have loved to chase a steer wrestling buckle for a year, just do nothing but steer wrestle. But when you pick up, you’re guaranteed a paycheck. It’s one of those things. I was never a (year-end) champion, but I got some buckles rodeoing.”
He’d do it all over again, if he could.
“I spent a lot of time horseback, and we made a lot of friends going down the road. We met a bunch of super people. We have friends all over the country.”