News and Notes from the Rodeo Trail, Sept. 22
by ProRodeo.com | Sep 22, 2014
Neil Love, a six-time National Finals Rodeo qualifier, died Aug. 31 in Grandview, Texas. He was 82. Love joined the Rodeo Cowboys Association in 1953, and was part of the Texas Tech rodeo team that won the National Collegiate Rodeo Association championship in 1955. Among his many achievements were winning the steer wrestling in Cheyenne (Wyo.) in 1963, and the tie-down roping at the Cow Palace in San Francisco in 1964. Love’s six NFR appearances (1961-65, and 1967) came at the timed-event end of the arena – three times as a tie-down roper and three times as a steer wrestler.
For the first time in 30 years, Tyler, Texas, will have a PRCA rodeo. Thanks to the Cross Brand Cowboys Church – which is the site of the rodeo – the Rose City Round Up will run Sept. 27-28.
California Rodeo Salinas will host a fundraiser on Oct. 9 from 5:30-7 p.m. on the Mike Storm Director’s Patio at the Salinas Sports Complex. The Hot Irons & History event will be a unique one featuring a hosted bar, western appetizers and a ceremonial branding. Attendees can bring their livestock brands and pay to have them placed on the barn wood walls on the patio to raise funds for the California Rodeo Salinas’ Hall of Fame. Funds from the Oct. 9 event will be used toward the purchase of plaques for the 36 members who have been inducted since 2010. If interested, you can register by calling 831.775.3100 or online at www.carodeo.com/events/2014/hot-irons.
John Larick, a PRCA gold card member and former rodeo judge and saddle bronc rider, will be inducted into the Hartnell College (Salinas, Calif.) Athletics Hall of Fame on Nov. 15. Larick was the rodeo coach at Montana State University for 18 years until 2000, where he led the men’s team to four national titles and the women’s team to a national title. In 1993, he saved the program from extinction, and during his tenure coached several top cowboys, including five-time World Champion Dan Mortensen. The ceremony will take place at 12:15 p.m. at 411 Central Ave. in Salinas.
On Nov. 4, Fort Worth (Texas) residents will vote on three propositions – all to create financing measures to help build a new multipurpose 14,000-seat arena adjacent to the Will Rogers Memorial Center west of downtown. The new arena would be home not only to the annual Stock Show Rodeo and other equestrian and livestock events, but also concerts, sporting events and family shows. If the measures pass, the arena and related structures could open in 2019.
Stand Up For Salem, a non-profit, volunteer-based program in New Jersey, has organized the Inaugural Cow Run on Oct. 5. Cows from the Cowtown Rodeo will start the race with the runners in what Salem Main Street Executive Director Chris Davenport says is a tongue-in-cheek homage to the running of the bulls in Pamplona, Spain. Runners will begin at the Cowtown Rodeo on Route 40, in Pilesgrove, and run down stretches of Kings Highway and Old Kings Highway before heading down Route 45 and finishing in downtown Salem.
Stock contracting firm Do or Die Pro Rodeo has changed its name, and will now be known as Hurst Pro Rodeo.
Courtesy of PRCA