Half million in TETWP fundraising
Gunnison, Colo., committee reaches half million in TETWP fundraising
Gunnison, Colo., may be a community of about 5,000, but the people there raise money like a big city. The Cattlemen’s Days committee and its community has raised more than $500,000 in the past five years for the Tough Enough To Wear Pink program.
The committee pushed past the mark during the 110th annual Cattlemen’s Days celebration, which was held July 9-18. The rodeo was held July 15-17.
The committee was honored for its efforts to fight breast cancer at the 2008 Wrangler National Finals Rodeo, where they received a matching funds check from Wrangler for $210,000.
Colorado bullfighter of the Year gets street named in his honor
Cory Wall, the reigning PRCA Bullfighter of the Year, takes a lot of pride in helping put on a first-class rodeo in his hometown of Burlington, Colo. The Kit Carson County Fair & Rodeo committee and the community showed their pride and appreciation for Wall by surprising him with an announcement that a Burlington street will be named in his honor – Cory Wall Way. In addition, signs will be placed on the outside of town saying “Home of 2009 Bullfighter of the Year Cory Wall.”
Wall, and wife, Nikki, recently took over the reins at the Burlington rodeo and feel blessed to have so much support.
“It meant the world to me that people recognize how much work we’re doing, and not to pat us on the back, but that we’re doing it for the community,” Wall told the PSN.
Organizers also announced that a savings bond was being arranged for Wall and Nikki’s new baby. Saylor was born on July 12 during festivities for the Pikes Peak or Bust Rodeo Days in Colorado Springs, Colo., where Wall was a bullfighter and Nikki worked in public relations.
McFarland injured again, out 4-5 months
Tom McFarland’s remarkable comeback from what many thought might be a career-ending arm injury in 2009 has been put on hold, just as he was mounting a charge to return to the Wrangler NFR.
His win at Salt Lake City July 24 paid $4,161 and moved him from 17th to 15th in the PRCA World Standings, but he suffered a ruptured biceps tendon in his right arm during that ride, an injury that will end his season.
McFarland underwent surgery on July 26 and is expected to be sidelined for four or five months. McFarland was out for nearly six months in 2008 after he suffered 26 fractures in his right wrist and arm in June when a bucking horse flipped over on him in the chute at the West of the Pecos Rodeo in Pecos, Texas.
Injury updates:
Injury updates: Bareback rider Kaycee Feild had the cast removed from his broken arm three weeks ago and spent two weeks working with physical therapist Keith Klevin in Las Vegas to accelerate the healing process. Klevin has worked with Tiger Woods and other top athletes; he taught Feild techniques to not only strengthen his arm, but also his core. Feild will return to PRCA competition Aug. 13-14 at rodeos in Hermiston, Ore., and Logan, Utah. “I’m craving it like crazy,” he said. Feild was second in the world standings at the time of the injury in Livermore, Calif., last June, and has only dropped to fifth with earnings of $64,626 …
Idaho bull rider Mason Michaelis, younger brother of 2007 Wrangler NFR qualifier Marcus Michaelis, is sidelined for at least 30 days after suffering a dislocation of his right shoulder at Nampa, Idaho …
Fellow bull rider Nathan Klassen had a groin strain and a concussion at Cheyenne (Wyo.) Frontier Days and is out indefinitely …
Bareback rider Jared Keylon suffered a fractured clavicle and fractured fibula in addition to a concussion after a wreck during the July 31 performance. Bull rider Shawn Harris suffered a broken nose, fractured orbital bone and a concussion as the result of a wreck, and Friday Wright II also sustained a concussion. Steer wrestlers Matt Cupp (right shoulder) and Riley Johnson (concussion) are also out for an indefinite period.
New home for Dodge Prairie Circuit Finals Rodeo
The Dodge Prairie Circuit Finals Rodeo has a new home.
The annual championship rodeo for PRCA members in Kansas, Nebraska and Oklahoma will be held at Hartman Arena in Wichita, Kan., Oct. 29-30, with a performance Friday night and two performances on Saturday.
“The very first circuit final was held at the Kansas Coliseum,” said Circuit President Bronc Rumford. “Basically, the finals are moving back home to where they originated. The Hartman Arena is a beautiful complex, and we’re really pleased. The staff is super to work with.”
The Dodge Prairie Circuit Finals Rodeo is the regional championship where the top 12 contestants in each event seek to qualify for a spot in the Dodge National Circuit Finals Rodeo, held annually in Pocatello, Idaho.
“We have all the ingredients to be successful,” Rumford said. “I think it will build and work into a good home. I know it can work here, because it has worked here before.”
Prior to Wichita, the rodeo was held in conjunction with the American Royal at Kemper Arena in Kansas City.
Iraqi students attend “Daddy of ‘em All”
Twenty-five Iraqi students attended the July 24 performance of the Cheyenne (Wyo.) Frontier Days Rodeo as part of the World Learning exchange program, an experience medical student Kayth described as “a dream come true.”
“I really want to see America and mix with U.S. culture,” Kayth told the Wyoming Tribune-Eagle. “I want to someday make my country better.”
He said that he and his fellow students in the program have found the Americans they have encountered in Washington, D.C., Fort Collins, Colo., and Wyoming as helpful, friendly and kind.
“They’re always smiling in our faces,” Kayth said with a laugh. “It’s very cool.”
The students have created a Facebook page as a means to spread their message – that Americans aren’t “the worst people in the world.”
News and notes from the rodeo trail …
Former Rodeo Cowboys Association bull rider Steve Giddings died in Phoenix, Ariz., July 12 after a lengthy illness. He was 66. The Two Harbors, Minn., native joined the RCA at 17 and placed in the Grand National Rodeo in San Francisco as a rookie …
ProRodeo Hall of Fame inductee Tee Woolman and his wife, Jacque, have just opened the Cherry Creek Equestrian Center in Mont Belvieu, Texas, where they will teach roping, barrel racing and basic equestrian skills, along with providing private horse training. The facility has 48 stalls to accommodate full-service boarding, a 150×250-foot covered arena and 250 acres of wooded trails. Woolman, who was inducted into the ProRodeo Hall of Fame in 2004, had a record 42 National Finals Rodeo qualifications (19 in steer roping and 23 in team roping); Jacque also was an NFR qualifier as a barrel racer …
Saddle bronc rider Howard Hunter, who qualified for the National Finals Rodeo three times (1976, 1979-80) was honored in the arena July 31 at the Deadwood (S.D.) Days of ’76 Rodeo. Hunter, a Sioux who grew up on the Pine Ridge Reservation, will be the first in a series of bronc riders to be immortalized with a Tony Chytka statue at the new Deadwood Days of ’76 Museum …
The Pendleton (Ore.) Round-Up is marking a Let ‘Er Buck Cologne and, no, it is not a fragrance you would expect to find out in the pens. Troy LeGore, the licensing committee chairman of the rodeo, says that instead of dust, sweat and manure, the $69-a-bottle cologne will smell more like “white amber, sensuous musk and warm sandalwood.” …
Last weekend’s 53rd annual Deep South PRCA Rodeo was dedicated to the memory of James Marvin “Daddy Bo” Fletcher, who played a pivotal role in bringing the rodeo to Winnsboro, La. Fletcher died Dec. 31, 2009, at the age of 69 …
Each of the pickup men at the Cowtown Rodeo won an event on Saturday night held at Woodstown Pilesgrove, N.J. Clay Harp won the steer wrestling (5.1 seconds) and David Rubel won the saddle bronc riding (70 points on Cowtown Rodeo’s Hang ’em High) …
The Star of Texas Fair & Rodeo’s 2010 Scholarship Reception Ceremony has been scheduled for Aug. 12 at the Bob Bullock Texas State History Museum in Austin. Rodeo Austin is distributing a record $372,000 in scholarships this year, bringing its total to $4.5 million.
