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The
year is drawing to a close and with it come the
holidays – Christmas, then New Years.
What a wonderful year this has been with all
kinds of blessings to behold.
Those who choose to make the “Bah Humbug”
cries and dwell on the sad and deplorable things the
world endured in 2004 are not welcome in my home.
I, and mine, prefer to be grateful for all the
wonderful happenings that filled the year.
As for rodeo, and my small amount of input, I
was touched by the people who e-mailed me inquiring in
to all sorts of curious questions about rodeo.
Some questions were truly puzzlers, and made me
dig in the books, and get on the telephone to some of
my reliable sources, for answers.
I try to help everyone that inquires but
sometimes I just can’t find the answer.
I guess that is one of the reasons this is such
a challenging job.
Some of the inquiries I received throughout the
year were:
Information
on DOFF ABER? Answer:
He was born on a ranch near
Wolf
,
Wyoming
, and was the World Champion Bronc Rider in 1941 and
1942. He
died in a jeep accident on his ranch near
Fort Collins
,
Colorado
,
May 6, 1946
.
Please
settle an argument.
How tall was steer wrestling horse, BABY DOLL,
owned by Willard Combs?
Answer:
Baby Doll was a petite 14.1 and weighed 1075
pounds. Willard
Combs was inducted in to the National Cowboy &
Western Heritage Hall of Fame.
Combs donated
Baby Doll’s tombstone to the Hall.
Give
me some information about BENNY BENDER, rodeo clown. Answer:
Bennie was born in
McClusky
,
SD
on
July 26, 1914
. He rode
for mount money in his early days.
Jimmy Nesbitt, well known rodeo clown took
Benny under his wing and showed him the ropes of being
a good rodeo clown.
Bender lived in Mobridge SD most of his life.
When not working in rodeo he was a railroad
conductor and had a freight crew.
Bennie had two mules, JoJo and Cupid.
At Blackfoot,
Idaho
, Bennie happened to see a 16 month old child fall in
a deep water canal and he dived in and saved her. He
died in 1972.
I
am trying to find the complete names of the members of
the Flying Cimarrons and the Fireballs trick riding
groups. Answer:
The Fireballs were Karen Vold, Bev and Dick
Hammond, and Butch Morgan.
The Flying Cimarrons were Karen’s later trick
riding group.
I
have a saddle made by Hamley and Co,
Pendleton
,
Oregon
, and would like to know the history.
It has a silver horn and conchos and both sides
have “The RoundUp 1916” carved in the leather.
It looked like a woman’s saddle?
Answer: Jackson
Sundown won the bronc riding at Pendleton in 1916, the
Queen of the RoundUp was Muriel Saling, Frank
McCarroll won the bulldogging and George Weir won the
steer roping, the All-Around was Jackson Sundown.
No record was in any of the books on Pendleton
RoundUp as to who won the women’s bronc riding.
Hamley’s is still in existence, but no longer
in the Hamley family.
The Pendleton RoundUp Hall of Fame office is
most likely the only one to know this answer.
Good luck!
I
am looking for information for my father, G. A.
“Red” Millett, who was an original member of the
Turtle Association and rode saddle broncs in the
‘30s and ‘40s.
Answer:
After
searching in the 1938 and 1940 Cowboy Turtle
Association membership roster, his name was found in
the 1944 CTA membership list.
G. A. Millett was #1841.
I
have an old postcard of Dorothy Morrell, The
California Girl. All
I can find out about her was that she was at the
Pendleton RoundUp in 1914.
Can you help?
Answer: Morrell
was a performer in wild west shows as well as rodeos.
She also performed in Bison Moving Picture
Company films. She
addressed the Congressional Union for Women’s
Suffrage Conference in
San Francisco
in June of 1915. She
happened to be home because she had been injured.
I
work with a developmentally disabled young man whose
entire life revolves around the rodeo with the rodeo
clowns being his very favorite.
In a recent American Cowboy magazine we saw a
picture of past rodeo clowns at a Rodeo Clown Reunion
held in May at
Stephenville
,
Texas
. Is it
possible to purchase a photograph for him to frame and
hang in his bedroom?
Answer: The
photograph is in the mail.
FollowUp Response:
He was an ecstatic young man today upon getting
the mail. He
proudly showed everyone his new picture and phoned his
mother with the news.
If you could have seen the smile beaming from
ear to ear on him.
There
was a bucking horse from
Canada
in the mid-1920s named Tumbling Mustard.
It was later a very famous bucking horse, but
the name changed.
Do you know the popular name of this horse?
Answer: The
horse you are referring to became well-known as Five
Minutes to
Midnight
.
As you can see, by this brief smattering of
inquiries, this
has been a busy year for me.
I have researched and contacted my sources
almost every day.
I especially want to thank Imogene Veach Beals,
a good friend of mine who never tires of digging
through old Hoofs & Horns, or hundreds of books on
rodeo, as well as papers, records, etc., that have
been collected since the 1930s.
Another good source, especially of bucking
horses, going back as far as the 1920s is Bart Clennon,
a 94 year old original signer of the Cowboy’s Turtle
Association petition in 1936.
Jim Shoulders has never been too busy to answer
my questions or help me in my quests.
Jim still represents Wrangler and Justin and
has many public appearances to make during the year
but a call to this sixteen time World Champion is
always a help, to say nothing of the laughs we share.
Rodeo has blessed my life, although I have
never competed or participated in the sport.
The men and women who have competed, performed
and worked in rodeo are to be saluted.
They work harder, compete harder, and perform
better, than people in any other sport.
Rodeo people are some of the most patriotic
Americans I know.
I never attend a rodeo that I don’t get
chills up and down my spine when the National Anthem
is played and all the cowboys and cowgirls stand at
attention in addition to an entire grandstand full of
spectators face the American flag, hold their
shoulders back, hand over their heart, and show openly
to everyone how much respect they have for our
country. God
Bless the
United States of America
!
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