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February
8th the Texas Rodeo Cowboy Hall of Fame
inducted their 2003 Honorees at the Bell County
Exposition Center, in Belton, Texas.
Those inducted were:
Governor Bill Daniel, Contesting Cowboys;
Johnny Ackel, R. C. Bales, Leon Bauerle, Joe Beaver,
Bobby “Hooter” Brown, John Clark, Jerry L. Coble,
Gerald Conner, Tony Crainer, Glenn Dorn, Todd Fox,
Glenn Keith, Ronnie Proctor, Clinton Wyche.
Women in rodeo; Jo Decker, Manuelita
Woodward-Richards.
Deceased Cowboys; Jim Bob Altizer, James Alfred
Cox, Fannie Mae Cox, Derrell Gilfillian, Whitey Bob
Walker, and Special Recognition to Ferrell Butler,
Sarge Cook, and Charlie Rankin.
These honorees, because of their
accomplishments as true athletes in the sport of
Rodeo, will join 159 previously honored cowboys and
cowgirls.
Anyone interested in becoming a member can
contact D. L. ‘Dwayne’ Meachem at 281-316-0704.
The
Wild West Arts Club is holding their 14th
Annual International Convention at the Tropicana
Resort & Casino, Las Vegas, Nevada, March 10th,
through the 13th.
WWAC is dedicated to promoting and preserving
the Western Arena Arts, such as trick roping, whip
cracking, fast draw, knife throwing, re-enactments,
and gun spinning.
There will be workshops, showcases and much,
much more.
For information contact WWAC at 1-800-858-5568
or e-mail:
Mallen1946@aol.com.
In
my recent article about the beginning of the Cowboy
Turtle Association, which evolved into the ProRodeo
Cowboy Association, I made the statement that there
were only two signers of the 1936 petition still
living - Bart Clennon and Buttons Yonnick.
Clennon, age 92, lives in Tucson, Arizona, and
Yonnick, age 85, lives in Clarksville, Texas.
However, I failed to state that Buttons Yonnick
was
not the second cowboy’s real name.
His real name is John Segleski, but he thought
it was too difficult to pronounce and spell so he went
by Buttons Yonnick all through his rodeo career. (The
nickname ‘Buttons’ had been given him by a rancher
he worked for, and Yonnick was his middle name).
Segleski was born in New London, Connecticut,
and ran away from home and joined a Wild West group
when he was sixteen, where he learned to ride steers.
Shortly, he began his rodeo career and rode
bulls, saddle broncs and bareback, and won the Wild
Horse Race in Madison Square Garden one year.
He quit rodeoing in the mid-fifties, but always
raised cattle, starting with a roping calf he brought
home from the Madison Square Garden rodeo.
Clennon was born in Aberdeen, South Dakota, and
rode primarily saddle broncs from 1928 through the
1950s.
He
won many rodeos across the country.
He was inducted in to the National Cowboy &
Western Heritage Hall of Fame.
Clennon has a keen mind and memory about all
the broncs he knew in his career and can describe in
detail about them.
We salute these two men who ‘lived the early
life of a rodeo cowboy’!
The
San Antonio Stock Show & Rodeo is celebrating
their first year in their new ‘home’, the SBC
Center.
The facility is a 21st century
state-of-the-art structure of gleaming silver that
seats 19,000 fans.
After a very unique laser light show complete
with dinosaur, Hadley Barrett and Randy Corley, two of
the best announcers in the business, introduce and
inform the Alamo city audience about each contestant
and each head of stock.
The impressive and colorful electronic signage
that surrounds the seating area gives sponsor
recognition and changes with each event.
The TV screen and scoreboard, suspended above
the center of the arena, give the fans total
information about each event.
The Terrace level has boxes for corporate
sponsors, companies and friends of rodeo that want all
the up-scale amenities, however all 19,000 rodeo fans
have great seating, acoustics are excellent, colorful
decor and the fifth largest rodeo in the country can
give themselves a tremendous pat-on-the-back for a
transition well done and are, no doubt, the envy of
many other rodeos.
by
Gail Hughbanks Woerner
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