News and Notes from the Rodeo Trail, Oct. 12
by ProRodeo.com | Oct 12, 2015
The Wrangler Network will be live streaming the final two performances of the NILE ProRodeo in Billings, Mont., Oct. 16-17, with coverage beginning at 7 p.m. (MT) both nights on www.wranglernetwork.com.
Steve Kenyon of ProRodeo Live will be broadcasting the final three performances of the All American ProRodeo Finals, presented by Pendleton Whisky, Oct. 15-17. Coverage from Waco, Texas, will begin at 7 p.m. (CT) each night and can be heard at ProRodeoLive.com and on Rural Radio Sirius XM Channel 147.
Charlie Daniels’ tribute song to the Wrangler NFR and its contestants is now available on iTunes. The full music video can be viewed at www.NFRSocialArena.com.
Before the second round of the RAM Badlands Circuit Finals Rodeo Oct. 9 in Minot, N.D., a check for $69,663 was presented to the area’s Tough Enough to Wear Pink campaign. That amount represents the monies raised for this year of the campaign, with all funds going to the Trinity Health Cancer Exercise Rehab Center. Since the program began nine years ago, a total of $574,649 has been raised. Myron Feist, a cancer survivor and a member of the Minot Y’s Men, presented the check to Russell Gust, exercise physiologist for the Exercise Rehab Center.
The Badlands Circuit’s Levi Wisness Award was presented Oct. 10 to steer wrestler Taz Olson, Prairie City, S.D. The award is given in honor of Levi, a Keene, N.D., steer wrestler who died of cancer in 2008. The Badlands Circuit lost two contestants this year, and the Steer Wrestling Horse of the Year award, a breast collar, was given to Jason Reiss’ horse Scooter, in honor of Brian Fulton, who passed away in August. The Hazing Horse of the Year award, another breast collar, was given to Anton Helfrich’s horse Moses, in honor of Brady Wakefield of Valentine, Neb., who passed away in July. Fulton, of Valentine, Neb., was a long-time Badlands Circuit steer wrestler and tie-down roper who qualified for the National Finals Rodeo in 1991 and 1996. Wakefield, who was 20 years old when he passed, was an up-and-coming steer wrestler and team roper.
Donna McSpadden, the widow of ProRodeo Hall of Famer Clem McSpadden, will be a speaker at the 2015 Claremore (Okla.) Hall of Fame ceremony Oct. 27 at the Claremore Conference Center. McSpadden will present Maggie Culver Fry for induction. Fry sponsored a young Clem McSpadden as a student in 4-H, and also spent a decade serving as his personal assistant during his time at the state Capitol as a senator.
Rodeo Austin held a fundraiser for youth education Oct. 9 with the Rodeo Austin Shoot Out Sporting Clay Tournament. Purple Heart veterans of the Texas Capitol Chapter of Order of Purple Hearts shot clay pigeons, and their entry fees for the event went toward scholarships for local youth. Last year, Rodeo Austin raised $2.6 million for scholarships and awards.
Karen Cugnini, mother of former PRCA member Becky Cugnini, died Sept. 30 from gunshot wounds after a man who was robbing her house shot her in Flora Vista, N.M. Karen was 69. The Cugninis are a well-known cattle ranching family in Durango, Colo., and are also involved in the local rodeo scene. The suspect in the shooting, Rick Stallings of Farmington, N.M., has been arrested and charged on suspicion of murder in the first degree and aggravated burglary, as well as several other charges.
Eddie Browning, a former PRCA team roper, was an honorary inductee into the 2015 Willcox (Ariz.) Cowboy Hall of Fame class Oct. 1. Browning has been the induction’s master of ceremonies for the past 27 years, and his induction was a surprise during the 33rd annual event. In 1987, Browning was asked to emcee the CHOF dinner, which he has agreed to do the past 27 years “as a way to stay close to his heritage.”
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
“I’ve had quite a few broken bones. This year I broke my fibula (leg bone) on July 20 in Cheyenne, and I rodeoed through it. They made me a little homemade plastic cast that I wore. You get to dealing with the pain; (but) the thrill of the competition more than makes up for it.”
-Bull rider Brett Stall talking about fighting through injuries to qualify for the 2015 WNFR
Courtesy of PRCA