News and notes from the rodeo trail, April 14, 2014
Joe Louis Shoulders Jr., a brother of 16-time rodeo World Champion Jim Shoulders who made his own name as a college basketball player and a widely-respected high school basketball coach, died April 8 in Collinsville, Okla. He was 88. Shoulders went to Oklahoma A&M (now Oklahoma State University) where he played basketball for the legendary Henry Iba, who called him “the tallest 5’8” player” he ever had. As a high school basketball coach in Kansas and Oklahoma, Shoulders won more than 400 games, averaging 18 wins a season. He was inducted into the Oklahoma Coaches Association Hall of Fame in 1989 and the Oklahoma Basketball Hall of Fame in 1995 …
The Wrangler Network (www.WranglerNetwork.com) will air live streaming video of the second performance at the Red Bluff (Calif.) Round-Up at 2:30 p.m. (PT) on April 19. Nicknamed the “spring break” of rodeo, the Red Bluff Round-Up is one of the first outdoor rodeo events of the season, signifying to the rodeo community that spring has arrived. More than 500 contestants will visit the Tehama District Fairground to compete in this Wrangler Million Dollar Tour rodeo …
Online voting for the Utah professional/Olympic athlete of the year award continues through noon on April 18 and three-time Bareback Riding World Champion Kaycee Feild remains in strong contention. Go online at www.stateofsportawards.com to cast your vote. Fans are allowed to vote once per day and with a week to go before the deadline, more than 100,000 votes had been tabulated …
James Fain, the 2006 winner of the PRCA Excellence in Photography award, has been voted into the Utah Cowboy Hall of Fame and the Logan resident will be inducted during ceremonies on July 11 in Ogden …
A rodeo benefit was held April 12 in Burkburnett, Texas, for former PRCA tie-down and team roper Ted Smalley, 84. He is undergoing chemotherapy to combat cancer and the roping jackpot was to help defray his rapidly mounting medical bills …
Wrangler NFR bareback rider Casey Colletti and 1982 Bull Riding World Champion Charles Sampson, along with representatives from the rodeo committees in Denver, Steamboat Springs, Elizabeth, Pueblo and Castle Rock will be at the State Capitol on April 17 when Colorado Senator Vickie Marble introduces a resolution honoring the PRCA, the ProRodeo Hall of Fame and the more than 50 PRCA rodeos for their economic impact on the state …
The head of Red Bluff-based California Parks Companies wants to buy or lease city-owned land between the Convention Center and the Redding Rodeo Grounds for a 60-room resort he’s calling the Sundial Lodge and Spa. John Koeberer will outline his plans – and unveil concept drawings by the architectural firm of Nichols Melburg & Rossetto – at the city of Redding’s priority-setting workshop at 9:30 a.m. April 15 in the council chambers.
Courtesy of PRCA