Gail Hughbanks Woerner
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Gail Woerner's Way Out West Blog

6/17/2015

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Rodeo Historical Society
Choose Two Good Contract Personnel For The Ballot  
The Rodeo Historical Society ballot for the 2015 Hall of Fame Inductees has been sent to members of RHS.  Included in the ballot are nominees the Board of Directors have found worthy to be considered.  Members will vote for six living nominees and two deceased.  I would like to endorse two well qualified living nominees:

JERRY OLSON, of Belle Fourche, SD, was born November 22, 1935 in Sturgis, SD to LaRue & Rena Olson.  His father LaRue had a horse act that was contracted to area rodeos early in Jerry’s life.  In this act they performed the famous Roman Riding which Jerry continued to use throughout his professional career.

In the early 1950s Olson Roman Riding Act and finish by riding them in to the truck to load.  His Buffalo Act first included buffalo’s named Pat, then Sam followed by Chief.  Jerry said, “Horses learn 12 times faster than buffalo, but it’s not because they aren’t smart, they are a wild animal.”

Jerry began his bullfighting career when the regular bullfighter was a no-show at a rodeo contracted by his father in the late 1950s.  He joined the RCA in 1954 and continued to work as a rodeo clown and bullfighter as well as contract acts until 1990.

He also competed as a bareback and saddle bronc rider, tie-down roper, team roper and steer wrestler.  He was one of the top fifteen steer wrestlers to qualify for the 1969 National Finals.

He worked and competed in rodeos across the country, including Madison Square Garden, Edmonton (Canada), Pendleton, Denver, Fort Worth, El Paso, Deadwood, and many, many more.  He was also hired to work rodeos in Mexico, Canada and Puerto Rico.

In 1973 he was picked as bullfighter for the National Finals.

He served on the PRCA Board of Directors from 1969 to 1973 as Contract Director which included announcers, rodeo clowns, bullfighters, judges, stock contractors, laborers, secretaries, specialty-act performers, timers and photographers.  In 1985-‘86 he again served on the Board of Directors until he was injured severely in a ranching accident.

Honors include: 1983 PRCA Contract Act of the Year
1994 Induction into the Casey Tibbs South Dakota Rodeo Center, Pierre,  SD
2001 Induction into the ProRodeo Hall of Fame, Colorado Springs, CO
2004 induction into the South Dakota Hall of Fame

Jerry and his wife, Fern, have celebrated 60 years of marriage.  They have three children; Jerry Wayne Olson, Lonnie Olson and Vicki (Olson) Tope.  Jerry is also a retired rancher.  He is the second generation of a rodeo family, and his son, Jerry Wayne is the third generation to continue being a Contract Act performer.

Jerry has made a remarkable contribution to the sport of rodeo by being a contestant, bullfighter, contract performer, and (two term) Board Member.

TOMMY LUCIA, of Weatherford, TX, was born in 1942 and grew up in Minneapolis, MN where times were tough for the family.  But at age 15 Tommy started riding bulls and competed at rodeos in Minnesota, South Dakota and Iowa.  He began clowning a few years later.  He went to his first PRCA convention in 1965.  He was hired by Bill McKee and later by Billy Minick.  He continued to fight bulls and have acts until 1982, when he knew he needed a change.  “My mind was telling my body it needed a different occupation.”

He continued training animals and concentrated on having specialty acts.  He used primates and horses.  He had much success with his swayback horse, In His Glory I, and when he died of colic he found In His Glory II.  Both had many tricks and were hits with the audience.

He found his Capuchin ‘star’ Whiplash in Miami, when he answered an ad.  The monkey was just a youngster and Tommy took his time with him.  Whiplash has an energetic attitude.  One might say he is a bit ‘hyper’.  When it is time to eat he’ll throw his toys against the cage to show his demands.  Eventually Tommy put him on the back of his border collie and it took him 8 months to learn to keep his balance.  Then it took another length of time to get him used to the clothes, chaps and hat he wears when performing.  He has nothing keeping him in the saddle except a safety belt, and he hangs on to the handlebars with his hands, while his feet hang on to the dog’s hair.  Tommy’s dogs were often imported from Scotland, being the larger type of border collies weighing 50 to 60 pounds.  The sheep used in the act are Barbados, because he explained, “they stay wild”.

Tommy, and Whiplash, in addition to performing at numerous rodeos across the nation, have been on the television Letterman and The Tonight Show, and have performed at National Basketball Association venues, as well as for numerous  private business events.

Tommy Lucia was the PRCA Specialty Act in 1999 and (Dress) for 2003, ’04 and ’05.  He was an alternate bullfighter/barrelman for the National Finals in 1972, ’73 and ’79.

Tommy retired in 2013 due to major health problems and has had to give up performing.  (Whiplash, however, is still on the rodeo road under the direction of  Kenny Petet.)

These two men are both extremely qualified to be inducted to the Rodeo Historical Society Hall of Fame.  Please consider voting for each one.

See you at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum September 25th & 26th for the Induction Weekend.  And, if you are NOT a member of the Rodeo Historical Society call 405-478-2250 and ask to speak to Stacie Michaels and ask her to send you a membership form, so you are eligible to vote for those being considered for induction.


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B. J. Pierce: Three Time World Champion

6/2/2015

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The Rodeo Historical Society, at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum, has put the 2015 Hall of Fame cowboys and cowgirls to be considered on their ballot.  B. J. Pierce, age 89, is one of those candidates.   

I first met B. J. Pierce at Pendleton Round-Up on their 100th Anniversary.  The Round-Up committee  invited former winners back to celebrate their 100th year of rodeo and I visited with B. J. at that time.  I learned that he had won the Calf Roping World Championship in 1952, 1953 and 1955, for the I.R.A. (which was the Rodeo Association of America and the National Rodeo Association which had originally been the Southwest Rodeo Association) that had merged in 1946 ‘to make rodeo better’.  They called their joint organization the International Rodeo Association (I.R.A.).  In addition, to winning these three championships, he was also ranked 3rd in the R.C.A. calf roping event for 1952 and 1953, and in 1955 he was ranked 5th.  (The reason for the discrepancy between an R.C.A. World Champion and the I.R.A. World Champion was the I.R.A. did not include entry fee monies in the tally of cowboy earnings as R.A.A. had been naming World Champions since 1929 in this manner.  R.C.A. did count entry fee monies.)  After 1955 the I.R.A. shifted their efforts toward other rodeo business and changed their name to International Rodeo Management Association.

 B. J. was born August 22, 1926, and has always lived in Clovis, New Mexico.  As a youngster his grandfather Jernigan, a well-known cowboy, saw that B. J. got to rope every afternoon and taught him well.  His first roping win was in 1945 at Tucumcari, NM, where he joined the R.C.A. and won between $300 and $400. 

B. J. also competed in team roping, steer roping and the wild cow milking during his competitive years.  Good friend, Delmar Smith of Edmond, Oklahoma, said of him, “He always took care of his rodeo business.  He was dependable, well-liked, clean-cut and someone young people could look up to.”

He also played basketball and received a scholarship to play in college.  Most weekends he went to Bob Crosby’s ranch to rope.  His second year in college, Shorty Matlock, offered to take him down the rodeo road.  Matlock was a seasoned roper that saw B. J.’s potential.  When he roped, he also entered B. J. and provided the pickup, a horse, and all expenses.  Matlock gave B. J. one-fourth of their winnings.  Most nights they camped, slept in sleeping bags, and used a Coleman stove  for cooking, to save money.

B. J. met Patty Rawls at college, fell in love and got married.  In time, B. J. quit basketball and concentrated strictly on roping.  His expertise in roping competitions made enough money for both he and Patty to finish their college educations.  Meanwhile he trained horses for others that turned out to be good competitive roping horses.

His roping horse, Iodine, by Billy Clegg, was “a near ideal gelding” said Willard Porter, a well known expert on roping.  In 1952 B. J. competed against 70 highly skilled ropers and won $1,700.  He also won many of the major rodeos in the country twice, like Pendleton Round-Up, Cow Palace, Lewiston, Walla Walla (WA), Santa Maria (CA), Cheyenne and Lethbridge, (Canada). He won Ellensburg (WA) three times.  Other major wins were Los Angeles, Salinas, Denver, Chicago and Tucson.  He placed in Calgary, Madison Square Garden, Boston, Houston, Fort Worth, San Antonio, Havana (Cuba) and too many more to list.

In addition to his rodeo competition and horse training, he was a teacher for 31 years, and a school administrator.  He and Patty had two children, Rena Joy and Ben Grady.

When you receive your Rodeo Historical Society ballot, please read the qualifications for each candidate thoroughly, and vote for those most qualified.  I’m sure you will consider B. J. Pierce as one of the most highly qualified candidates.

He is being endorsed by the following Rodeo Historical Society members:
Mel Potter                  Dale Smith                  Delmar Smith                  Liz Kesler
Doug Clark                 Jack Roddy                 Bill Fedderson                 Mitzi Riley
Dilton Emerson         Tater Decker               Cotton Rosser                 Dean Oliver
Gene McLaughlin      Bob Nordtome           Mrs. Clem McSpadden   Chuck Schroeder   
Gail Woerner

In the event you are not a member of the Rodeo Historical Society please contact Stacie Michaels at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum, 405-478-2250 ext. 269, and ask that a membership form be sent to you quickly, so you can vote.

I hope to see each of you at the Rodeo Historical Society Induction Weekend, September 25th & 26th.  It is always a very exciting and great weekend, especially if you want to meet world champions and important people of rodeo.  You’ll be glad you came.


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    Gail Hughbanks Woerner is one of rodeo's foremost historians, having written hundred of articles and six books on the subject. She has interviewed hundreds of cowboys and cowgirls,

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