Category: Rodeo LIFE Cover Feature

story by Gail Woerner

Liz was born to Chesley Russell and Irene Faulkner Russell on June 10, 1926 in Clay County, Texas just south of Henrietta. She had one sister, Margie, two years older. They lived in a two story home on a farm/ranch located on Old Joy Shannon Road which had belonged to her paternal great-grandparents. Her daddy was born in that house, too.
Their young lives were idyllic for young country girls. Liz and Margie had dolls galore, buggies for dolls, paper dolls, and a trike to ride. They had a swing and playhouses under the trees.  They also got together with other children in the community at Sunday School as well as socials that were held in the area.
When Liz was old enough to go to school she went to the Bluegrove School for the first nine grades. There were 15, or so, in her class and several grades were in one room with one teacher. They had programs for parents with students performing. The principal, Mr. Gilbert and his son both played the fiddle. Mr. Gilbert taught Liz to play the bass fiddle. It took some doing, not because Liz had trouble learning, but because Liz wasn’t tall enough to stand and play the bass fiddle. First they removed the peg from the bottom of the fiddle to make it shorter, but Liz was still to short. Solution: They stood her on a box and she played just fine!
Liz was always an honor student and was valedictorian at her grade school graduation. She only attended school for eleven years and the last two years she was at Henrietta High School where she took typing, bookkeeping and regular courses.

Her dad was always interested in rodeos, both in Henrietta and in Fort Worth. The family always went with him to rodeos and Liz found it a special treat. She was always interested in the events and the rodeo people. When Liz was 17, at the rodeo in Henrietta, one of the timers did not show up. The announcer saw Liz as she was finding her seat in the grandstand and asked her if she would time. She did not hesitate. Obviously she did a good job because it wasn’t very long before she was asked to time other area rodeos.
She was hired by Mr. Gilbert, her former principal, who had become the Superintendent of Schools in Clay County. Her position was Assistant County Superintendent of Schools for Clay County. Her office was located in the court house in Henrietta. She held that position for eight years. Later Liz attended Draughan’s Business College in Wichita Falls to get more business training. She was an excellent administrative person and was eager to gain more knowledge and skills.
Liz met June Bull from Pampa, Texas, and when June finished high school her parents hoped she would want to go to college. Instead it was June’s desire to barrel race. Being their only child her parents were patient with her and agreed. Liz traveled with June Bull to various rodeos around Texas and beyond. At first, Mrs. Bull traveled with them. They always had such a good time and found people in rodeo easy to get to know. It wasn’t long before the rodeo people they met seemed just like family. By the early 1950s they were going to rodeos further from home. Cheyenne Frontier Days, Madison Square Garden Rodeo in New York City, the Boston Garden Rodeo and many others. By this time Liz had resigned her job as Assistant County Superintendent and could travel the country.
In time, Liz went to work for Standard Oil Company, and was offered a transfer with a substantial increase in salary and title. The transfer took Liz to Liberal, Kansas, which seemed like ‘the end of the world’ to her. Fortunately she could still see friends when she worked at a rodeo. She and June learned to secretary rodeos together and soon their reputations as ‘outstanding’ rodeo secretaries spread through the rodeo world.
She often worked in the rodeo office for Everett Colborn, who was the ramrod of the World’s Championship Rodeo. He had some of the biggest and the best rodeos in the country. His daughter, Rosemary, who married World Champion All-Around Cowboy, Harry Tompkins, was generally her dad’s secretary and often Liz would assist or do whatever was necessary.
In 1954 June Bull and Buster Ivory, a bronc rider, were married during the Cheyenne Frontier Days at a Methodist church in Cheyenne. Liz was maid of honor and Jo Decker was matron of honor. Casey Tibbs, World Champion saddle bronc rider and Bill Ward, also a bronc rider were Buster’s attendants. Bill Linderman, All-Around World Champion and President of the Rodeo Cowboy Association, gave June away. Mr. Bull was not ready to give his only daughter up and refused to attend the wedding. It was truly a rodeo wedding.
Liz met Reg Kesler, in Oklahoma City during the 1966 National Finals Rodeo. Liz was a good friend with Jim and Sharon Shoulders, Clem and Donna McSpadden as well as June and Buster Ivory. All these people were good friends with Reg. He was a former three-time All-Around Champion cowboy in Canada who worked every event. He was from Alberta, Canada and went to college there, but was more interested in playing hockey or riding bucking horses. It was evident his life was going to be rodeo. He also collected bucking horses and in 1951 he produced his first rodeo. He had become a well known stock contractor and produced rodeos in Canada and the United States until 1995. Later they became an item.
They married in Bozeman, Montana in 1971 during the NIRA (National Intercollegiate Rodeo Association) Finals. Those attending their wedding in the Methodist Church were Liz’s mother, and niece, Phyllis Jones, and good friends Bud and Anna Lee Purdy. Liz remembers that Byron Walker and Martha Tompkins were among the college students competing at the rodeo. She assisted announcer Don Harrington by identifying the various college contestants and what colleges they represented.
Two days after their wedding Liz was secretary and timer at the Red Lodge, Montana, rodeo. The newlyweds lived in Missoula, Montana and Rosemary, Alberta, Canada, but traveled most of their time on the ‘rodeo road’. They produced rodeos in Denver, Houston, San Antonio, all over the province of Alberta, all over Montana, Idaho and too many other places to mention. Often Reg would be hauling stock to one rodeo and Liz would be heading another direction and putting on a rodeo somewhere else. Reg trusted Liz and knew she had the skills and ability to run a rodeo the right way. Liz often was responsible for getting the cowboys monies to the bank and traveled by herself many miles with never a problem. They were a good team.
Reg was very instrumental with two other men in starting the ProRodeo Cowboy Association Circuit Finals in 1987. It was held in Pocatello, Idaho, and Reg not only helped organize it, he backed it financially, as well as offered his knowledge and his stock for the event. This allowed all 12 circuits in the United States to send their best cowboys in each event to compete against each other. A circuit was made up of one state, or more, depending on the rodeo activity in the states. PRCA cowboys could register for one of the twelve circuits. Liz was the secretary at the very first circuit rodeo held, which was in Montana. She, also secretaried the first National Circuit Finals in Pocatello. This additional level of competition helped the cowboys, who held jobs or were needed on their own ranches and couldn’t rodeo full time, earn more money.
Reg had outstanding broncs for both Saddle Bronc and Bareback events. He had good stallions that bred good bucking stock. Liz once said, “Reg only had to see a horse buck one time to know if it was going to be a good bucking horse.” His horses were chosen as top horses many years in the RCA, PRCA and the National Finals Rodeo. He also had some bucking bulls that were tops, too. He continued in the rodeo business until 1995, when his grandson, Duane Kesler, bought the business. Reg was inducted in to the ProRodeo Hall of Fame, the Canadian Rodeo Hall of Fame, Alberta Sports Hall of Fame and the Rodeo Historical Society Rodeo Hall of Fame in Oklahoma City. He was well respected and appreciated in the rodeo world.
Liz also began teaching others to secretary rodeos and held schools in Canada and also helped train secretaries in the U. S. At that time in rodeo the secretary was much more involved with those entering rodeos as it was all done by telephone directly calling the secretary. There was so much more ‘hands on’ administrative work done by the secretaries. They were working without all the technical machines and computerized programs that are in use today.
Liz, Donna McSpadden, Sharon Shoulders, June Ivory, Irene Harris and Nell Shaw started a Ladies Fashion Show during the National Finals Rodeo held in Oklahoma City in 1967. In the beginning they used contestant’s wives and mothers to model the clothing in the show. The local stores and boutiques were so gracious and allowed the gals to come in to the store and pick whatever they wanted to model. This style show has continued annually during the National Finals Rodeo in Las Vegas. It is still being organized by the wives of today’s contestants. The proceeds from the show, including sales of auction items and cost of the show are now given to the Justin Crisis Fund which helps cowboys that are injured or have a serious financial problem pay bills other than their medical bills.
When Liz’s mother became ill she and Reg came back to live with Mrs. Russell so Liz could help care for her. In 2001 Reg went back to his Canadian ranch on business and was tragically killed in an automobile accident. He was 82. It was a big shock to Liz and the entire rodeo world, Reg was still very active in rodeo.
Reg and Liz were involved with Buster and June Ivory in holding the Cowboy Reunion, during the National Finals each year. Today Liz is the ramrod of the event, held in Las Vegas, and still gathers the ‘movers and shakers’ in rodeo, from all across the United States and Canada, each year. The proceeds from this 501c3 organization, are given to the Justin Crisis Fund, the ProRodeo Hall of Fame and Museum of the American Cowboy and the Rodeo Historical Society.
Presently Liz lives in the family home which has a 130 year history for the Russell family. When her mother died, at the age of 98, Liz became much more active in the community and the county. She is a founding member of the Clay County Historical Society, and was a chairperson for the renovation of the museum. She is also involved in the Pioneer Reunion and rodeo and was chosen Pioneer Reunion Queen in 2000. She is a member of the Bluegrove Baptist Church. Her great-grandparents gave an acre of land for the Bluegrove Cemetery of which she is a member of the cemetery board. She also is a Clay County Memorial Hospital Foundation board member. In 2010 Liz received the Silver Award from the Retired Senior Volunteers of North Texas (which includes 17 counties). In 2013 she was honored as the Outstanding Senior Citizen of Clay County.
In the rodeo world she was honored by the Women’s Professional Rodeo Association in 1984 for her contribution to them which involved making each PRCA rodeo in Montana also a WPRA rodeo for the barrel racing event. At that time WPRA had to get each rodeo committee to agree to their requirements and Liz got the entire state committed. She also received the Montana Governor’s Award for the preservation of our western heritage in 1986. In 1988 Reg and Liz were honored as Outstanding Citizens of Missoula Montana. The Kesler outstanding bucking horse, Three Bars was inducted in to the ProRodeo Hall of Fame in 2004 and Liz accepted. In 2008 Liz and Reg were inducted in to the Texas Rodeo Cowboy Hall of Fame. Liz received the Tad Lucas Memorial Award at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum, in 2010, which is given to women who give above and beyond what is expected of them in rodeo as did the namesake, Tad Lucas. That same year Liz and Reg were inducted in to the Montana Wall & Hall of Fame in Billings. In 2013 Liz was given an American Cowboy Culture Award as Pioneer Woman at the Cowboy Symposium held in Lubbock, TX.
She helped organize and is a member of H.A.N.D.S. which stands for Help A Needy Diva Survive. It is a fifty member group of rodeo women, dedicated to helping any rodeo family member who has been injured or has medical problems and may need help either financially, or emotionally.
Liz has enjoyed her life immensely. She has worked hard at everything she has done, and accomplished much. She has never hesitated to assist when anyone needs help. Liz is actually an important part of three families. Her own family, including her sister Margie, Margie’s children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren, as well as Reg’s children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren and the rest of her relatives; her second family is the rodeo family which includes everyone who has had the good fortune to meet her or worked with her at rodeos and rodeo functions. Especially the young cowboys, who were just starting out in rodeo and love her so much for all the help she gave them when they were still ‘wet behind the ears’; and last but not least her Clay County family which grows with each and every event Liz participates in.
Liz is truly proud of her heritage and deep Texas roots. She has the manners and demeanor of a lady. She gains the respect of everyone she meets because of her gracious ways. She is no where near finished making memories and living her life to the fullest. Don’t expect to see her sitting in a rocking chair and watching the world go by. She still has much she wants to do, so many events to attend and so many friends to see.

Larry Clayman comes from a long line of rodeo clowns. He is third in the line of Claymans, including his daddy, Bill, and his granddaddy, Stanley, who were in the business of making rodeo fans laugh and protecting bull riders from angry bulls.
Clayman, who was chosen as the 1973 National Finals Rodeo bullfighter, was born in 1941 and “raised up” in the Missouri Ozarks, in the southwest part of the state. He worked his first rodeo in Mansfield, Mo., with his grandad at the age of 13. For two performances, he got paid twenty bucks, and “I thought, my gosh, I’ll never see another poor day,” he laughed.
Larry had already signed up for the Marine Corps when he was approached at an amateur rodeo in Okmulgee, Okla., by a legend in the rodeo world. World champion Jim Shoulders walked up to him, asking if he would clown rodeos for him. It “about floored” the barrelman to have the legend standing in front of him, but he had to decline, as his commitment was to the Marines came first. Shoulders told him about the rodeos held at Camp Pendleton in California, and that he should meet a Colonel who was working at Pendleton.
When Larry got out of boot camp and was assigned to Pendleton, he got to meet Colonel Ace Bowen, the man Shoulders had told him about. That acquaintance led to Larry meeting one of old original stock contractors in California, Andy Jauregui, an immigrant Basque sheep herder-turned contractor who was also the 1931 world champion steer roper. Andy owned J Spear Rodeo Co., and hired Larry to work his first professional rodeo. His dad and granddad had only worked amateur rodeos, but after being hired by Andy, Larry never worked another amateur. It was in Bishop, Calif., and he worked alongside Slim Pickens.
Larry clowned rodeos at Camp Pendleton, and then worked a lot of rodeos in southern California for Jauregui.
At the  end of his four years in the Marines, he was stationed in Washington, D.C., at Marine Corps Headquarters, with top secret clearance, working for generals and colonels. He became acquainted with Howard Harris, Cowtown Rodeo, and began working his weekly rodeos in New Jersey.
While he was in D.C., Jim Shoulders was putting on a bi-weekly rodeo in Leesburg, Va., on a polo field. Larry clowned for him, as well as for other stock contractors up and down the East Coast: Foy and Reynolds, among others, in Virginia, Florida, Pennsylvania, Alabama, Delaware, all over.  He worked for stock contractors across the country: Cotton Rosser, Harry Vold, the Alsbaughs, Keslers, Suttons, and Korkows,
After discharge from the Marines in 1965, he went back to California. Cotton Rosser’s Flying U Rodeo Co. and Any Jauregui’s J Spear combined to make the Golden State Rodeo Co., one of the biggest in the business. He clowned and fought bulls for them, which was a great thing, he said. “They had more rodeos than anybody, and kept me busy.”
Larry wasn’t working exclusively on the coasts. Throughout his career, which spanned three decades, he worked some of the biggest rodeos in North America: the Calgary Stampede, the National Western in Denver, Madison Square Gardens, the Cow Palace, the National High School Finals, the Indian National Finals, the College National Finals, and, in 1973, the National Finals Rodeo, which he worked with Jerry Olson
as the funnyman and Tommy Lucia
as barrelman.
Back in those days, the bullfighter and rodeo clowns were one and the same; the sport hadn’t evolved to where different people do each job. Larry was proud of his roles and loved doing both of them. “I was considered a good bullfighter, and took a lot of pride in that,” he said. “I loved to fight bulls. It was fun, exciting, and a challenge. And yet I loved to make people laugh.” He credits his grandpa with that trait. “It was natural for him to make people laugh.”
Larry was best known for his chimpanzee, Todo. He bought Todo in 1967 when he was six months old. For the next fifteen years, Todo traveled the rodeo road with Larry, making people laugh everywhere. One of his first acts was as a “doctor.” Larry would dress Todo in a white uniform with a red cross, with a red cross on his bag. Larry would be “down” from losing a shootout with the other rodeo clown, and his help would drive an “ambulance” into the arena, with Todo in it. Todo would jump out of the ambulance with his bag, stethoscope dragging on the ground, and bring the house down. He would give Larry CPR, jump on top of him, and make the monkey sound – “ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh.”  Todo loved it. “He could hear the crowd roaring,” Larry said. “He got the biggest kick out of it.”

Todo also Roman rode a team of horses, slapping one of the horses on the backside, throwing him off. As the horses made the circle around the arena, Todo would tumble across the circle and get back on.
Todo was Larry’s main act, but he had others like a poodle named Squirrely Shirley who had “beatcha” bugs… scratch in one place and they “beatcha” to a new spot. He had a border collie act, and had trained horses that laid down, sat up, bucked him off, counted, and, while they napped together, stole the blanket off of Larry.
One of his greatest honors was being part of a rodeo tour in Europe in 1970. It was organized by Buster Ivory, and the group, called Rodeo Far West, performed in Italy, Switzerland and France. Larry took Todo as one of his acts, and  also drove truck, hauling equipment and livestock. The tour lasted three and a half months. World champion bull rider Freckles Brown was also part of the tour, and Larry got to be good friends with him during that time.
In 1977, Larry decided to put on a pro rodeo in Springfield, Mo, and then he began a pro rodeo in Branson, Mo., six nights a week, all summer long. Harry Vold and Jim Shoulders were hired as stock contractors, and Jerry Olson came with his dress acts and worked as the barrelman. He got so busy producing the rodeos that his clown/bullfighter career slowly phased out.
And Todo had to be put to sleep for safety reasons in 1980. That was the final straw. “I didn’t intend to quit clowning, but it broke the straw in me a little bit,” he said. I didn’t have the umph, the fire in my belly, to go back on the road.”
And he wanted to live a normal life. He announced a few rodeos, but began trucking as his second career. He’d driven truck as a kid, and loved being around them. At the age of 75, he’s still driving. “Everybody asks me why I don’t retire. Heck, I don’t want to. Somebody’s gotta keep America rolling,” he joked.
Larry had a son, Stan, who died in an auto accident, and Stan has two sons, Joseph and Isaac, who live in Arkansas. Larry has three other kids: Kimberly, Matthew, and Michael, and five grandchildren. He and his wife Renee have been married twenty years.
He remembers fondly his rodeo days, and has no regrets about his work. “I never dreamed I’d fight bulls at the (National) Finals. I never dreamed I’d have that kind of success. I loved the rodeo business and it was so good to me.” He met a lot of people, went a lot of places, and had some unbelievable experiences.
He worked rodeos in nearly every state, he remembers, and one thing he is proud of is that he never missed a performance due to injury or illness. “I take pride in that,” he said, even though he suffered broken arms, legs, and had teeth knocked out. “You just keep working.”

HL Todd was larger than life.  Whether it was riding his famous horse Rufus as he steer roped, hosting cowboys at his home in Burlington, Colo., or chewing on one of his signature cigars, he stood out in people’s minds.
The Colorado cowboy, who will celebrate his 79th birthday this year, qualified for the National Steer Roping Finals four times and took numerous victory laps at such rodeos as Pendleton, Cheyenne, and everywhere in between.
He grew up the son of John and Bernice Todd, hardworking farmers in northwest Kansas who were good people but had no use for rodeo. “They didn’t like nothing about it,” HL remembers. “It was like pulling teeth, when you loaded up to go to one.”
Their middle child of three, born in 1937, began roping at the neighbor’s. Elmer and Albert Garrett had a roping pen, and that’s where HL got his start. He was sixteen or seventeen years old, and he was looking for something different than farming. “I’d be out there, (in the field) in August, in the dust and it’d be hot and I’d be sleepy, and I was going to figure out some way to make a living without running this tractor,” he recalls.
He roped in high school a bit, then in college at Kansas State University, he competed in the calf roping and steer wrestling.
After college graduation, HL moved to Burlington, Colo., where he worked for an insurance company for ten years. In the early 1970s, he got into the feedlot business, with a 10,000 head operation. After ten years in the cattle business, he went broke and went back to the insurance company, living in Kansas City and Oklahoma City before moving to a ranch near Chickasha, Okla.
He roped steers on weekends and when he could get away from work. He won rounds and placed at rodeos across the country: Cheyenne Frontier Days, Walla Walla, Wash., Miles City, Mont., Pendleton, Ore., Ponca City, Okla., everywhere he went.
And he and his wife Rita’s place became a stopping spot for fellow cowboys. Their home north of Burlington included an indoor arena. It was on the way for those cowboys from Texas as they headed north for the summer run. “A lot of those steer ropers and calf ropers would come and stay with us,” Rita said. “They were coming from south Texas, and Burlington was over a day’s drive. They’d camp there, go to county fairs, and then go on to Cheyenne and Pendleton.”
Some of the names legendary to the sport of rodeo stayed with the Todds. James Allen, the father of eighteen-time world champion Guy Allen, came with his kids. Sonny Davis, Olin Young, Roy Cooper, Dick Yates, Jimmy Brazile, and more sat at the kitchen table with the Todds. They stayed in their campers or living quarters, and Rita cooked supper for them. Beef was plentiful, in the feedlot business. Cowboys often brought their families along, and HL and Rita’s two daughters, Kim and Kelly, loved it. Their home was a gathering place. “The kids loved it,” Rita said, “and I did, too. It was fun.”

Clark McEntire, the father of country music superstar Reba McEntire, roped steers in the same era as HL did, and he often stayed at the house with his four kids. After roping all day, Rita would fix a big cook-out, and the McEntire kids, mainly Pake and Reba, would pull out their guitars to sing and entertain. “Mom jokingly said they had to sing for their supper,” Kim remembers.
Jeff Todd, HL’s nephew and a team roper, remembers the big personality his uncle had in his rodeo days. “He was just always a figure that was larger than life,” he said. People comment to him that they always wanted to be like HL when they grew up. “He was the guy who, everything he did, was first class. He wasn’t flamboyant, but he always had nice horses and took good pride in his stuff.”
He didn’t always catch, but if he did, he won, Jeff remembers. “That was his mojo. He had that winner’s knack. He might completely miss one in the first round, and then win the next round. He was always a go-round threat.”
HL rode good horses and his best-known horse might be one he raised, a roan gelding named Rufus, who was the AQHA’s 1995 Steer Roping Horse of the Year at the age of nineteen. Rufus was also ridden by HL’s son-in-law, Jimmy Hodge, who made the National Finals Steer Roping three times. The horse was the envy of every cowboy in the arena. One time, at Cheyenne after slack, as HL went to put horses away, one of his granddaughters said to her grandpa, “I want to ride Rufus.” Tee Woolman, overhearing her, said, “Yeah, and so does everybody else around here.”
HL qualified for the National Finals Steer Roping in 1973, 1975, 1976, and 1982, and continued to rope professionally till he was in his sixties. He won a go-round at Cheyenne at the age of 52, and went on to rope in the National Senior Pro Rodeo Association. He quit competing about seven years ago.
HL mentored young cowboys, including the 1978 Tie-Down Roping Champion Dave Brock, and another steer roper, Rod Pratt. As a youngster, Pratt and his family neighbored the Todds, and Rod worked for HL, rebuilding his arena. “One thing led to another,” Rod remembers, “and he taught me how to rope.”
Rod remembers HL with the big cigar in his mouth. “He always chewed on a cigar,” he said. “He’d light it twice, and it’d go out, and then he’d chew on it.” But when he spoke, it was time to listen. “He was pretty quiet and laid back, and you could tell when he spoke seriously, you needed to listen.”
Pratt qualified for the National Finals Steer Roping eight times, winning the average in 1987. He rode one of HL’s horses for the last five rounds in 1987, and placed in every round. “If I needed something, he always helped me,” he said.
HL worked hard to be a good roper, Rod said. “He was a good athlete. He had to work at it, but he wanted to, so that’s the driving factor right there. The ‘want to’ makes you do a lot of things well.”
In addition to teaching him how to rope steers, HL taught Rod some life lessons, like how to enjoy the moment. “It didn’t matter where you were, he enjoyed life. Wherever he was, he enjoyed being there. He never did let life get him down.”
HL and Rita enjoy retirement in Johnson City, Texas.  Their older daughter Kelly married Mark Dykes and they have two daughters and a son, and their younger daughter, Kim, married Jimmy Hodge, and the couple has twin daughters.

If it wasn’t for Will James, John Gee might never have been a cowboy. The Montana man grew up reading the western books written by James, while he and his buddies dreamed of riding bucking horses and living the cowboy lifestyle, and Gee did just that.
Growing up in Delta, Ohio, on the west side of Toledo, John, also known as “Doc,” delivered newspapers to buy his first horse. “My father helped subsidize the horse,” Doc remembers. “I was nine or so.” Five years later he was at local county fairs and rodeos, riding bareback horses and bulls.
He and childhood friends Tom and Don Decker and their buddies traveled together to rodeos, and Decker remembers when they rode at a rodeo in Findlay, Ohio. “They had a horse that was pretty rank,” Tom Decker said. John got on him in the saddle bronc riding. “The horse threw him over his head the first jump and took him down the arena, kicking every jump. John was unconscious for a short while, and on the way home, he didn’t remember his ride.” On the way home, he came to. “He didn’t remember anything. We told him his ride was like a Will James book,” he laughs.
The boys were in training, Decker said. “We knew we’d have to be tough so we could become cowboys. We had to take cold freezing showers, to see who could stand in the shower longer.” The boys were daredevils on horseback, too. “”We’d ride this crazy horse down a gravel road, one-hundred miles an hour, bareback and double,” Decker said. “The horse was a renegade. John used to put the horse under the edge of the roof, and (the horse) would lift the rafter.”
After high school graduation in 1953, John headed west. His interest in agriculture took him to Colorado A&M (now Colorado State University), in part for the education, and in part for their rodeo team. When the team was chosen that fall, John was not on it. “I was pretty broken up about the deal,” he said. In those days, a person could compete on the team or individually, so John went to some rodeos by himself and won. He was working three events: the bareback riding, steer wrestling, and bull riding. That spring, he was chosen for the team. Being voted on the team was done partly for a person’s talent and partly for if they had wheels:  “In those days, the team was picked by the people who were going to rodeo,” John says. “You put your name on the board, and the events you worked. And then each person who had their name up there got to vote. So you voted for somebody that had a car, you voted for yourself, and you voted for whoever you thought would be the best cowboys.”
With paying out-of-state tuition, John had to concern himself with entry fees. “You didn’t go many weeks without winning something unless you were subsidized in some way,” he said. His
dad, a truck driver, wasn’t paying his fees. “We weren’t that affluent.”
In 1954, his first year of college, the Colorado A&M team won the national championship, and John won the National Inter-Collegiate Rodeo Association’s Steer Wrestling title. In his sophomore year, he won second place, and his third year of college, he won the title again. The Colorado A&M rodeo athletes knew how to get lots of points. In those days, there were no college regions and students could compete anywhere in the nation, “so some of us would get in the car and go to a rodeo and get on other people’s horses,” John recalls. Fuel was a quarter a gallon. “One weekend, we had a team 30 miles from the New Mexico border, and a team 30 miles from the Canadian line.” Because they borrowed horses, they could travel easier. “The Texans, if there were six on a team, there were probably six outfits, because they all hauled their own horses. We had an advantage.”
After his first year of college, John switched his major from agriculture to animal husbandry. “Unless I married a rancher or inherited one, I couldn’t afford to be one.” After three years at Ft. Collins, he transferred to Ohio State to get his doctor of veterinary medicine degree.
He graduated from Ohio State in 1960 and immediately headed back west. Doc, as he would be better known by, got a job for a veterinarian in Great Falls. Three years later, he went out on his own, establishing his practice in Stanford, Montana.
And he kept rodeoing. He got his Rodeo Cowboys Association membership, predecessor to the Pro Rodeo Cowboys Association, in 1961. He worked all three events, never hitting the road full time due to his veterinary clinic, but going hard enough. Among his rodeos, he competed in Denver at the National Western Stock Show and Rodeo many years. He spent a few summers rodeoing in Ohio and back east. His practice never let him get too far from home.
He rode bulls until 1964, quitting because he had married. He rode bareback horses for another ten years, and steer wrestled till he was in his forties.
Doc’s wife, JoAnn Cremer always had an eye for horses, he said. She was the niece of well-known Montana stock contractor Leo Cremer, and grew up around rodeo. They met at a college rodeo in Bozeman. In her early years, she didn’t have a chance to rodeo, but after they married, she began running barrels. “She was a very good coach and fan,” Doc said. “She was always ready for the next good one,” eldest daughter Maria said. One year, Maria finished 17th in the Women’s Pro Rodeo Association barrel racing standings, missing qualification for the National Finals Rodeo by two places. JoAnn “laid a lot of groundwork” in getting Maria ranked in the top twenty, Doc said, even helping drive from rodeo to rodeo.

 

Doc was and still is humble about his accomplishments “Dad always said, “God first, family second, work and rodeo after that,” Maria said. His family reflected those values. John’s son, John J., finished in the top twenty in the PRCA steer wrestling standings three times. The third time, his family only realized it later.  “That’s what my dad believed in,” Maria said. “You take care of other things first.”
After he finished PRCA rodeo, he spent several years competing in the National Senior Pro Rodeo Association. He loved to compete. “He was pretty fun to watch,” Maria said. “He still gets that competitor grit in his eye.”
He also judged PRCA and open rodeos, taking horses along that needed to be seasoned. “They usually figured he was the best bronc ride of the day,” Maria chuckled. He judged the open rodeo at Roy, Montana, for years.
Doc was part of the group that started the Stanford, Mont. pro rodeo in 1965. The Jaycees, of which he was a member, produced the rodeo, and Doc was instrumental in building the arena from scratch.
Last summer, he celebrated 50 years as veterinarian in the Judith Basin, Charles Russell Country in Montana. Childhood friend Tom Decker was on hand for the celebration. “We passed the mike around,” Decker said. “Everybody just loves him. He’s one of those kinds of people.” Decker, who served on the Board of Directors for the Russell Museum in Great Falls, kept in touch with Doc and his family. “He’s always been a hero of mine, and a mentor to me. His character is the finest. His Christian faith is what makes his character what it is.” Even on the rodeo trail, Doc went to church every Sunday. “If there was no ride, he walked,” Decker said. “He was razzed by a lot of his rodeo buddies about going to church.”
His clients in the vet business love him, too. “He’s adored in Montana,” Decker said. “The people of Montana dearly love him. He’s a wonderful human being, and his Christian values are the center of it.”
Doc and JoAnn had four children: John J., Leo, who passed away at age 19, Maria and Theresa. JoAnn passed away two years ago. At the age of 81, Doc still goes out and helps at his son’s feedlot and, if the phone rings for a call to doctor an animal, he answers. His grandkids continue the rodeo tradition. John, Jr.’s son, Luke, won the Montana Circuit bull riding title in 2014, and has qualified for the Montana Circuit Finals eight times: five in the bull riding and three in the steer wrestling.
Even though rodeo had its place behind his faith, his family and his work, Doc loved it. “The people we’ve met, they’re priceless. You can go practically anywhere and see people you know and enjoy. That part is especially, in my advanced age, the great part of it.” He also loves to see his son, John, and grandson, Luke, compete.
“This guy is a sensational human being, and I’m not the only one who thinks so,” Decker said.