Gail Hughbanks Woerner
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October 24th, 2016

10/24/2016

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RODEO HISTORY FROM A TO Z
Installment #1
What makes up the history of rodeo?  How did it start?  Where did it start?  How did it change – and why?

This is a broad subject and although I have written several books which took a good part of the last 30 years of my life to research and write, I have just begun to scratch the   surface   of  the subject   of   rodeo.  It’s  about   rodeo   that   floundered   around   small communities   for   years   before   it   was   really   considered   a   rodeo.  It   was   merely   a competition between two of the best bronc riders in the area, or two of the best ropers, according to those who wanted to see it – even a few bucks may have been bet on the event.    It’s the  story   of   cowboys   and   cowgirls   that   competed   and   performed  in  the beginning, and later, too.  It’s about the bucking stock, and the horses that were just as competitive as those that rode them, and later those men who started breeding bucking stock to bucking stock.   It’s about the rodeos that have been around for many, many years, and how they got started and evolved.  It’s about the organizations that formed to attempt to make rodeo bigger and better.   Some have served their purpose and are nolonger in existence, usually because they succeeded and rodeo got bigger and better as itgrew.  Others attempted to improve the sport but failed for one reason or another.

There is so much to the sport of rodeo that needs to be captured and written about,  and   yet   I  know   I’ll   never   get   it   all   done.     There   needs  to   be   an   army   of  writers,researchers, and reporters to cover rodeo history.  It takes the following to ‘git ‘er done’:1. You got to have the desire to learn about rodeo history.   2. Then you need to find a periodical or publisher that will print the findings.  3. Be willing to promote rodeo and encourage people to get to know it because it is the only sport that came out of the west.I will guarantee that the more they learn the more they will want to learn about it.  After all it is a sport that evolved from the pastures of our ranch lands and the cowboy’s work that was necessary with horses and cattle.  It is a sport that began by the very people that worked the pastures and the horses and cattle.  It is the most American sport we have.

As our country grew in numbers people began heading west to find land they could own.   The crowded cities and country on the east coast were taken.   During the Revolutionary War men that fought the British were common folks.   After the war the government began to pay the men that were willing to risk their lives in the war for their efforts.  In time the government coffers were low on funds so instead of monies land on the frontier was given to some of these returning soldiers.  One man was given land thathe thought would never be settled because it was so far west.  Thinking it was worth very little he traded it for a bottle of whiskey.  Later his descendants realized his judgment had been wrong.  The land he traded for booze was what today is Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.The man that gave  it away was Howard and Grant Harris’ ancestor.   Grant is fourth generation that owns and runs Cowtown, New Jersey, a summer weekend rodeo that has been entertaining on Friday and Saturday nights from Memorial Day through September since the 1950s.  Grant’s dad, Howard, was the first Rodeo Cowboy Association (RCA) rodeo producer to allow Cowtown, NJ to be filmed on television.  During the early days of television, 1950s, it was prohibited by RCA, for a time, to allow their member rodeos to be on television.   The ‘powers  that  be’ at  RCA thought   that showing a  rodeo   on television would ‘ruin rodeo’, and fans would quit attending rodeos.  It was thought that television  had   greatly   weakened the  sport   of   wrestling.   But Howard did  it   anyway, paying   his   weekly   fine   to   RCA,   and   still   made   money   as   the  crowds   that   attendedCowtown, NJ grew because of seeing it on television.  (It also did not deter all the RCA cowboys from competing at Cowtown New Jersey during that time as they were fined, too, if the ‘powers that be’ at RCA could identify them even though they gave fictitious names).   Buster Ivory was a ramrod at RCA during this time period and he had to fine his good friend, Howard Harris, each week during the summer.   The families had a good laugh about it once RCA lifted the ban on television.  Cowtown, New Jersey is still going strong as the fifth generation of the Harris clan is now taking over the management of their rodeo.

Buffalo Bill Cody had his first rodeo/wild west show in North Platte, Nebraska in1882.  His background earlier in his life was quite varied, but he entered a time when he concentrated on entertaining audiences with venues depicting the wild, wild west.   By1885 he hired Annie Oakley, who in reality had become Mrs. Frank Butler, after she beatButler   in   a   shooting   contest.     Her   ability   as   a   marksman   was   amazing   and   Cody immediately   recognized   the   importance   of   having   her   talents   on   his   advertising billboards.    Women   capable   of   doing   things   that   generally   were   done   only  by   men attracted much more attention by the fans.  Women began invading the western scene as excellent shots, as well as excellent horsewomen.  Others who worked for Buffalo Bill’sWild West Show were Adele Von Ohl Parker, Emma Lake  Hickok and Lillian Smith, just to name a few.  It wasn’t long before women were also performing as bronc riders, relay race riders, Roman riders and then came trick riding and roping.  Their outfits were often made  by   the  cowgirls  themselves,  and   fans   often   showed up   to  see  what   they  were wearing.

Rodeo came on the heels of wild west shows.  Rodeos were competitions and not just a performance of varied western events which was the basis of a wild west show. However, early rodeo producers generally called their rodeo a ‘show’, too.   As rodeo began to improve and the events were more consistent the rodeo promoters began to complain   that   rodeo   wasn’t   recognized   as   a   sport,   such   as   baseball,   basketball   and football.  They never thought back to the beginning when they promoted rodeo by calling it a ‘show’.  It took a long, long time before rodeos began to be recognized on the sports pages of various newspapers, and then just occasionally in a few locales where rodeo was truly appreciated.  Even today many newspapers fail to report the daily results of local rodeos on the sports pages.  Could this be true because most sports writers don’t know enough about the sport of rodeo?

Cowboys and cowgirls are very independent people.   They have minds of their own and often don’t agree with others about rodeo, how to train their horses, ranching, what to feed their cattle, and so on.  That, no doubt, is one of the reasons they do what they do -- rodeo.  They decide where they want to go, what events they want to compete in and when to head home.  For more than twenty years cowboys complained about the low purses, and that their entry fees were not included.  They also complained about the poor   judging   at   some   rodeos,   but   yet   they   continued   to   compete,   in   spite   of   their criticisms.  Actually they were more interested in competing regardless of the small payoffs, and judges that didn’t know rodeo well enough to score people accurately.  Was this because it was more fun to travel from one rodeo to the next and have the camaraderie with other cowboys and cowgirls, and meet the challenge of trying to score higher than the others, than it was to be stuck on a ranch, doing chores day in, day out,   often not seeing another human being for days and days?   It took more than thirty years (1936) before cowboys finally realized what it was going to take to improve rodeos from the competitor’s point of view.   You see, although many rodeos belonged to organizations such as the very first one formed in 1929, Rodeo Association of America, which was organized to help rodeos from one location to the next be more consistent in the events held   and   more.     This   organization   was   run   by   businessmen   that   made   up   rodeo committees, not the competing cowboys and cowgirls.  Some of the cowboys that chose to compete in the earliest rodeo, instead of stay at home, were: J. Ellison Carroll, Booger Red,   Clay   McGonigal,   Morgan   Livingston,   Juan   Levias,   Tom   Mix,   Chester   Byers, George Taylor, Jack Houce, Jim Minnick, Lee Robinson, and more.

Early rodeo was intertwined with Wild West Shows from time to time.  Many of the cowboys who competed often hired on with wild west shows even though they were performing and not competing.  They were hired and offered a salary.  It also came with a place to sleep and meals provided.  Sometimes the salary was a less than they expected, depending on what kind of an arrangement the management of the wild west show had made with each town. But the young cowboys got a chance to hone their skills while traveling with a wild west show.  In 1914 the Irwin Brothers Real Cheyenne Wild WestShow   was     held   at   Helena,   Montana   during   the   State   Fair.   It   boasted   ‘Greatest Aggregation of Wild West Artists in the World, which included 28 carloads, 150 Wild Horses, Steers and Buffalo, 40 Real Sioux Indians, 25 Cowboys, 15 Cowgirls, and 25 pieces in a Special Cowboy Band.  The bottom of the flyer that was passed out before they arrived said, “Bully-Woolly Wild West Show."  Now who wouldn’t want to go and see that?!

A 1921  Norton (Kansas) Frontier Roundup  boasted  48 cowboys  and cowgirls including a Grand Entry, Trick Riding Contest, Steer Riding, Calf Roping, Trick & Fancy Roping,   Bareback   Bronc   Riding,   Cowgirls   Bronc   Riding,   Cowpony   Flying   Express,Bronc Riding with   Saddle, A special  performance by  rodeo  clown Tommy Douglas,Roman Standing Race, Maverick Race, Steer Bulldogging and ended with the Wild HorseRace.

The Official Program of the Sixth Annual San Luis Valley Ski-Hi Stampede, held at Monte Vista, Colorado in 1924 held 20 events with 113 cowgirls and cowboys entered.The program consisted of various performers; Curley Griffith and son Dick Griffith in aRoman Standing Race; King Tut, Famous High School Horse, ridden by Bonnie Gray; and Ed Wright and his Twenty-Five Cent White Mule.  Events included Championship Bucking Contest with a purse of $1,000;  Cowgirl Bronco Busting Contest with a $325 purse; Calf Roping and Tying Contest with $800 purse; Bulldogging Contest with $600 purse; and other competitions such as Wild Horse Race, Range Relay Race, Wild Cow Milking, and more, totaling 23 events.

Rodeos   weren’t   just   being   held   in   the   western   states.     The   Connecticut Championship Amateur Rodeo was held in the New Haven Arena, as was the World’s Championship Rodeo Contest sponsored by the Elks Club in Miami, Florida in 1925.Rodeo was on it’s way. 

This is the 1st  Installment of the History of Rodeo A to Z.   Next month I will cover some more interesting facts about early day rodeo.  Have a great fall and remember rodeo is not a show, it’s a competition!!

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10/5/2016

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Induction Weekend Rodeo Historical Society
Rodeo Hall of Fame

National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum
​Oklahoma CityOctober 1, 2016
Six inductees entered the prestigious Rodeo Historical Society Rodeo Hall of Fame last weekend, plus an honoree of the Tad Lucas Memorial Award and an honoree of the Ben Johnson Memorial Award.   All were well qualified and were honored to be chosen.  At the Saturday night event those recipients were as follows:

Jake Barnes, of Scottsdale, AZ and Clay O’Brien Cooper, from Gardnerville, NV, were inducted independently although they won 7 PRCA World Championships in Team Roping together:  1985, ’86, ’87 ’88, ’89, ’92, ’94.  They both qualified many years for the National Finals Rodeo, Barnes went  27 years and O'brien-Cooper qualified 29 times.

They broke many records in Team Roping too numerous to mention.  Both had other partners at times but were an amazing duo.  Jake qualified for the National Finals in his rookie year at PRCA.  Jake had a horse fall with him in November 2015 and he incurred a traumatic brain injury which kept him out of competition for the Finals, however, he is back in the saddle and competing this year.

Clay was a child actor and made his screen debut in the 1972 film The Cowboys with John Wayne.  He went on to make more movies as a child, but when roping got to be his passion.  In addition to his World Championships, he has been a National Finals Rodeo average champion four times.  Clay is active in youth ministry.

Ote Berry, of Checotah, OK, was a four-time PRCA World Champion steer wrestler, winning in 1985, ’90, ’91 and ’95.  He qualified for the National Finals Rodeo 14 times.  He also hazed for other steer wrestlers at the National Finals six years. Ote Berry won 20 total NFR go-rounds in his career in the arena, and seven of those were in the last round at the Finals.  Among the many wins he had during his years in rodeo were Calgary, Denver, Fort Worth, Houston, Reno, San Antonio, San Francisco, Pecos, and Cheyenne.  Berry was invited back to compete at the American Rodeo as one of the Legends of Rodeo in 2014 and 2015.

Bud and Jimmie Munroe, who married in 1980, were inducted together.  Both had outstanding rodeo careers and both were World Champions, Bud in the PRCA Saddle Bronc event in 1986 and Jimmie in the WPRA Barrel Racing, in 1974, then she won theAll-Around Barrel Racing and Tie Down in ’75.   Additionally, They were both NIRA champions.  They have given back so much to the sport of rodeo.  Bud was involved heavily in PRCA as a Saddle Bronc Director and also on the Grievance Committee.

Jimmie was WPRA President from 1979 to 1992 and again in 2011 & 2012.  She was involved in getting equal monies for barrel racers, electronic timers, and more sponsors.  Both Bud and Jimmie are deeply involved in their community at Waco, TX in the rodeos held there throughout the year.

Wick Peth, of Bow, WA, a World Champion Bullfighter, who changed the profession of bullfighting by his outstanding ability to save bull riders from injury, and his extensive knowledge of bulls.  When Wick began his career in the arena he wore the makeup and baggies of the rodeo clown, had some acts, too.  You see before that the rodeo clown did it all – acting as a funnyman during the rodeo until the bull riding when he got serious and kept bull riders from getting hurt or worse.  Wick wasn’t funny, and it was soon discovered by the powers that be in rodeo.  But, he was so good at bullfighting they hired him anyway.  He was picked to fight bulls at the National Finals Rodeo eight  times in the 1960s & 70’s, and he was an alternate four different years.

Walt Linderman passed away in 2005, and son Jay & widow, Dorothy, accepted his medallion.  Walt was raised Red Lodge, Montana, and ranched and was a three event cowboy until 1961 when he began concentrating strictly on steer wrestling.  He was runner-up to the Steer Wrestling World Champ three times, and won  the National Finals Average in 1967.  He also had a steer wrestling horse, named Scottie, that was ridden by as few as four or as many as seven different National Finals Steer Wrestling cowboys any given year during the years of his reign..  Scottie took three different steer wrestlers to World Championships in 1965, 66 and 68 and won 6 NFR averages for steer wrestlers.  Walt knew Scottie had won over 3 million $ for those that rode him.  Walt also had many steer wretling schools throughout the country, passing on his talent and ability in the event, to those coming in to the event later.

The Tad Lucas Memorial Award the honoree was Amberley Snyder of Utah who started riding horses at 3 and won the All-Around at the Little Britches Finals in 2009. She was also FFA President and after graduation from high school took the year off the complete her duties.  On her way to Denver in January 2010, she rolled her pickup on I80 east of Rawlins Wyoming.  She was thrown out of the pickup, hit a fence post.  She was rushed from Rawlins to Casper, Wyoming, where she had surgery and it was determined the extent of her injuries.  She is paralyzed from the waist down. She told her doctors and therapists that she would walk again, ride her horses again and rodeo.   Although she has to be in a wheelchair, she was determined.  She has quite a story of her recovery and determination.  She and has become a motivational speaker.  She rides her horses now, competes in breakaway roping and barrel racing and qualified for her Pro- card this year.  Additionally, she has become a motivational speaker and travels the country telling her story.  Tad Lucas would be proud to know she was chosen as the 2016 recipient.

Jack Roddy was the honoree for 2016 Ben Johnson Memorial Award.  Jack was a two-time World Champion Steer Wrestler  1966 and 1968.  He rode Walt Linderman’s horse, Scottie and Walt hazed for him, and he hazed for Walt.  But this award is given to men who give back to the sport of rodeo once they have retired from competing.  Jack has done so much for rodeo in various venues.  He was on the Board of the PRCA for many  years.  He helped turn the Senior ProRodeo Association around and make it profitable.

He has been very involved in Animal Rights issues, not only for the sport of rodeo but also for the cattle industry.  He held the first and only Golf Tournament sponsored by Rodeo Historical Society at his ranch in Brentwood California.  He accepts cattle raised in Hawaii that graze on his ranch before they go to slaughter.  Jack graduated from CalPoly and has continued to support and donate to the school.  He also invited school children to his ranch to learn about the world of ranching and that milk and food doesn’t just come from the grocery store.  Jack also assisted Gordon Davis and Cecil Jones, who originated the Ben Johnson Memorial Award in many ways.  He never expected to be chosen as a Ben Johnson Memorial Award Honoree, however, the men who received the honor before him are the decision-makers in who is selected and Jack Roddy was their choice – hands down. He assisted Gordon Davis and Cecil Jones who originated the Ben Johnson Memorial Award – and never expected to be an honoree.

If you are not a member of the Rodeo Historical Society please become one and be able to vote for your favorite cowboys and cowgirls.  There are various levels of membership, but the lowest is only $35 a year.  Other benefits include two issues of The Ketch Pen, a biannual magazine devoted to rodeo history.  Year-round admission for two to the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum.  Invitations to rodeo-related events held there.  Opportunities to participate in a special Wrangler National Finals ticket offer once a year.  Tax deductible membership.  10% discount in the Museum Store on-site and on-line.
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    Author

    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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