Hall of Fame Clown/Bullfighter Henson Dies at 87
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – ProRodeo Hall of Fame rodeo clown/bullfighter Chuck Henson passed away Aug. 11 in Tucson, Ariz. He was 87.
Henson was inducted into the ProRodeo Hall of Fame in Colorado Springs, Colo., in 1995.
Henson was born with rodeo blood in his veins. He was born Feb. 4, 1931, in Arcadia, Fla., where his parents – Charlie and Margie – were competing at a rodeo. Margie was one of the famous “Riding Greenoughs.”
Henson competed in five events but considered bull riding his forte. In the mid-1950s, he traded his boots and hat for baggy pants and a red wig, and his clown/bullfighter career took off.
Henson made people laugh and saved cowboys from disaster until the 1980s. Henson worked the 1967 and 1971 National Finals Rodeo. He served on the PRCA’s Board of Directors as contract member director from 1974-77. He was PRCA Clown of the Year in 1977.
“The big rodeos were a little bit tougher to work because you were out in the middle of this big arena,” Henson said in a 2009 article in The Ketchpen. “I like the small rodeos, where the crowd was right up next to me and I could play with them. I always like to hear the little kids giggle.”
When Henson hung up his rodeo clothes, he took on Hollywood as a stuntman double.
Of his rodeo career he said, “It made me feel mighty good when some kid who had drawn a bad bull would say, ‘Boy, I’m glad to see you here.’”
Henson compared bullfighting to football.
“You fake a bull quite a bit, use your hands to grab hold or to push off,” Henson said in the March 19, 1980, issue of ProRodeo Sports News. “You just always keep moving. If you are standing still and he hits you, it’s like breaking an egg. If you are moving, he just boosts you along a little faster or tosses you in the air a little. Sometimes a little has become a lot. I’ve been in orbit a couple of times.”
Henson is survived by his wife of 59 years, Nancy; daughters Nancy Jane (Jerry) Dorenkamp and Leigh Ann (Eric) Billingsley; and granddaughters Kaylee and Rayna Billingsley.
A celebration of life will be 2 p.m., Aug. 22, at the Tucson (Ariz.) Rodeo Parade Museum, 4823 S. 6th Ave.
Courtesy of PRCA