News and Notes from the Rodeo Trail, Jan. 30
by ProRodeo.com | Jan 30, 2017
Residents, friends and rodeo fans rallied Jan. 24 at the Martin Community Center in Marshall, Mo., for an opportunity to meet and congratulate PRCA 2016 World Champion Bareback Rider Tim O’Connell. The city and Missouri Valley College hosted the event. “We decided that since we do have a world champion here, we need to promote it,” Marshall Mayor Mark Gooden said. In addition to the meet-and-greet, the city proclaimed Jan. 24 as “Tim O’Connell Day.” “I was just blown away and humbled by that,” O’Connell said in an article in the Marshall Democrat-News. “I never thought in my whole life that I’d have a ‘day.'” O’Connell is a native of Zwingle, Iowa, but has ties to Marshall through his college days when he competed on the Missouri Valley College rodeo team.
Steve Kenyon of www.ProRodeoLive.com will be broadcasting the final three performances of the Southwestern Exposition and Livestock Show in Fort Worth, Texas. He will go on the air at 7:30 p.m. (CT) Feb. 3. On Feb. 4, he will broadcast at 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.
The city of San Antonio approved a second breakfast to “catch the rodeo spirit” for 2017. Bexar County Commissioners Court proclaimed Jan. 28 as the inaugural Bexar County Rodeo Breakfast. The free event featured complimentary tacos, activities, music and giveaways. The original Cowboy Breakfast – a tradition since 1979 – was hosted at Cowboys Dancehall Jan. 27 to unofficially kick off rodeo season in the Alamo City. The San Antonio Stock Show & Rodeo, a Wrangler Million Dollar Gold Tour rodeo, is scheduled for Feb. 9-26.
Miss Rodeo America 2017 Lisa Lageschaar will be entertaining crowds at the San Antonio Stock Show & Rodeo Feb. 9-16, and Feb. 20-26. Each evening, while sitting atop Dietz, a black American quarter horse, Lageschaar will open the rodeo performances by racing around the arena, presenting the American flag. Lageschaar also opened shows with Dietz at the National Western Stock Show and Rodeo in Denver earlier this month.
The 2017 Black Hills Stock Show & Rodeo Cowboy Stampede in Rapid City, S.D., will feature four-time Country Music Association Vocal Group of the Year Diamond Rio Feb. 3. The Cowboy Stampede, located at the James Kjerstad Event Center, is a dance hall setting with live music. “We set out a few years ago to create a fun, party atmosphere for our Black Hills Stock Show guests,” General Manager Ron Jeffries said. “In a few short years, the Stampede has become a staple to the 10-day event, and we’re very excited to offer top Nashville talent for the first time this year at an affordable price.” Tickets are $15 in advance, or $20 at the door, for the Diamond Rio concert.
An 800-pound bull led Rapid City, S.D., police on a chase that started at the Central States Fairgrounds and ended at the Executive Golf Course Jan. 29. No one was injured. The bull ran on and off the bike path, through Memorial Park, under bridges and through Rapid Creek before finally tiring. Cowboys on horses were called in to help catch the bull. Several mounted cowboys, including Brent Sutton (of Sutton Rodeo) were able to rope the bull and get him into a trailer. The bull escaped when the owner was trying to load him.
Jeannette Maré, founder and executive director of Ben’s Bells Project, has been named the Grand Marshal for the 2017 Tucson (Ariz.) Rodeo Parade. The Tucson Rodeo Parade Committee is a non-profit organization which plans and organizes the annual Tucson Rodeo Parade and operates the Tucson Rodeo Parade Museum, a collection of horse-drawn vehicles and Western memorabilia. The 2017 parade will take place Feb. 23 at 9 a.m. La Fiesta de los Vaqueros Tucson Rodeo takes place Feb. 18-26.
Tommy “Brook” Deerman, a former PRCA team roper, passed away Jan. 22 in Artesia, N.M. He was 46. During their college days, he and his wife, Joley, were on the New Mexico State University rodeo team and competed at the National Intercollegiate Rodeo Finals.
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
“No doubt Rapid City has been good to me and has kind of been my sweet spot.”
-Bull rider Dalan Duncan told the Rapid City (S.D.) Journal after winning the Xtreme Bulls Division 2 event Jan. 27. Duncan also won an Xtreme Bulls Division 2 event in Rapids City in January of 2016.
Courtesy of PRCA