News and Notes from the Rodeo Trail, June 8
by ProRodeo.com | Jun 08, 2015
Trevor Brazile is on the final ballot of nominees to be voted on for the Texas Sports Hall of Fame Class of 2016. Those joining the 21-time world champion on the ballot include former Dallas Cowboys offensive lineman Larry Allen, Texas Rangers infielder Michael Young and former Dallas Mavericks guard and current Milwaukee Bucks coach Jason Kidd. The deadline to become a member of the Texas Sports Hall of Fame and be able to vote for the upcoming class is July 15. The official announcement of the Class of 2016 will be made in September. The banquet to enshrine the class will take place early next year, in Waco.
“Man in the Can,” a rodeo documentary by independent filmmaker Noessa Higa, won the Audience Award for Documentary Short at the June 2 Dances With Films festival at the TCL Chinese Theatre in Hollywood, Calif. The 38-minute film follows the personal journey of aspiring rodeo clown and barrelman Ronald Burton, a Mississippi native, as he seeks to reach “the major leagues of the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association (PRCA) before he gets taken out by a bull.” PRCA announcer T.C. Long and PRCA Director of Rodeo Administration and Chief Operating Officer Aaron Enget also appear in the film.
The Upper Peninsula Championship Rodeo (Iron River, Mich.) Board of Directors and health system Aspirus have announced a partnership that offers an opportunity for the rodeo to be held as planned. Aspirus has committed $10,000, and will provide up to $5,000 more as a matching contribution to any additional funding exceeding $10,000 raised by the Iron River community by July 12. Without a sponsor, the rodeo taking place was in doubt, but it will now happen as planned. The 48th annual U.P. Championship Rodeo is scheduled July 17-18 at the Iron County Fairgrounds. It is the only PRCA-sanctioned rodeo in the state of Michigan.
The San Angelo Stock Show and Rodeo Association has hired Texas-based Pete Carr Pro Rodeo as its stock contractor for the February 2016 event. “The rodeo committee has voted to move forward with Pete Carr,” said Justin Jonas, the executive director for the association. “Pete Carr has shown us the commitment and concern imperative to putting on a premier event, as San Angelo has grown accustomed to over the past 84 years.”
Shane Nett, the son of Children’s Western Wish Foundation Chief Executive Glee Nett, died June 5 in a two-vehicle crash on Wyoming State Highway 59 north of Douglas. He was 43. All five passengers in Nett’s SUV, ranging in age from 44 to 7 years old – including three of his children – were taken to Memorial Hospital of Converse County in Douglas. Their conditions are unknown. Kevin Hall, the driver of the other vehicle, was not injured and he had no passengers.
The organizing committee for the Johnson County Sheriff’s Posse Rodeo in Cleburne, Texas, is encouraging everyone who attends their June 11 performance to wear red in tribute to World Champion Bullfighter Greg Rumohr, who lost his life in a heavy equipment accident on May 11. “We are going to do a proper cowboy send-off for him,” Committeeman David Welty said.
Nell Lindsey Kemp, widow of former PRCA barrelman/clown John Lindsey, passed away May 30 in Bedford, Texas. She was 102.
Two vintage airplanes will fly over the Sisters (Ore.) Rodeo June 14 as a special addition to the rodeo’s 75th anniversary celebration. The aircraft, a P-51 Mustang and a Skyraider, are from the Erickson Aircraft Collection in Madras, Ore. The P-51 was flown in World War II, the Korean War and other conflicts. The Skyraider was flown in Korea and Vietnam, and remained in service in many nations until production ended in 1980. The flyover is being sponsored by Kevin and Laurie Adams, of The Mountain Group, LLC.
The Wild West Arena in North Platte, Neb., will have an even more Western feel than usual for the June 17-20 edition of the Buffalo Bill Rodeo, with a 19th-century settlement constructed just outside the grounds with 15 buildings. “It’s a saloon, a dance hall, a mortuary,” said event publicist Ruth Nicolaus. “It’s square dancing, gunny sack races, pig races, a roping dummy – something for the whole family.” Admission is $4 a person or $20 dollars for the whole family.
Douglas Duncan, a two-time Wrangler National Finals Rodeo qualifier and the 2008 PRCA Resistol Bull Riding Rookie of the Year, is featured in a new Carl’s Jr. and Hardee’s television ad for The Most American Thickburger Ever, along with Sports Illustrated swimsuit model Samantha Hoopes. What makes it “the most American?” It’s a split hot dog placed on top of a layer of potato chips over a beef patty.
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
“I think going into the NFR in the No. 1 spot is the hardest thing to do in rodeo. Anybody can get hot during the 10 days of the NFR and win a gold buckle, but to go in with the lead means you were hot and roped well all year. We’ve done it both years we’ve roped together, and we want to do it again this year.”
-Three-time World Champion header Clay Tryan talking about he and team roping partner Jade Corkill each currently leading the world standings by more than $14,000.
Courtesy of PRCA