Hindman ends up in front at the Rapid City Xtreme Bulls
RAPID CITY, S.D. – Talk about an underdog. Clay Hindman wasn’t even supposed to compete at the Jan. 29-30 Seminole Hard Rock Xtreme Bulls Tour event, presented by B&W Hitches – let alone win the thing.
He was admittedly “way down” on the list of qualifiers – he finished 66th in the world standings last year – but it so happened that the PRCA called him this week to see if he wanted to fill in for someone at Rushmore Plaza. Hindman started getting on bucking bulls at 12 years of age and works as a carpenter, along with doing some ranch work, in his spare time. He’s hoping to make his own debut at the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo in 2010, and will try to make further strides toward that goal Friday, when he’s up at the Black Hills Stock Show Rodeo.
Rapid City was the second stop on this year’s 10-event PRCA Seminole Hard Rock Xtreme Bulls Tour, presented by B&W Hitches, which offers a combined purse of $530,000 that counts toward the PRCA World Standings and qualification to the Wrangler NFR. The Tour finale is scheduled for Sept. 4 in Ellensburg, Wash. The event can be seen via Webcast for two weeks at www.ESPN360.com, or by clicking on the link at www.prorodeo.com.
Roughstock events steal spotlight at New Mexico Stampede
RIO RANCHO, N.M. — Top bucking stock from Classic Pro Rodeo and a world class field of competitors made the Jan. 29-30 New Mexico Stampede something special.
How special? Kaycee Feild and Jerad Schlegel tied for the bareback riding championship with a pair of 90-point rides – Feild on Classic Pro Rodeo’s Good Time Charlie and Schlegel on Classic’s Big Tex.
In the saddle bronc riding, the title was shared by 2008 World Champion Cody Wright and 2009 Wrangler National Finals Rodeo average champion Shaun Stroh, each with scores of 83 points in a field with three past world champions.
Schumacher was injured badly by a bull named Buster at the 1969 National Finals Rodeo in Oklahoma City when the bull picked up the barrel, with Schumacher in it, and tossed it over his head. Schumacher broke all the ribs on one side and one punctured his lung. The doctor told him he’d have to undergo surgery to remove the rib unless Schumacher could cough hard enough to dislodge it. He did what the doctor suggested, and he left the hospital the next week without surgery.
“You had to be able to bruise easy, but heal quick,” Schumacher said of his chosen occupation.
He began his career as a barrelman in 1948 and didn’t retire until 1972. He was hired by many of the top rodeos such as Madison Square Garden, Phoenix, Belle Fourche, S.D., Denver, Fort Worth and Houston, and was selected to work as the NFR barrelman nine times (1960, 1962-69).
After retirement, Schumacher did many things, but was known for working for various casinos, beginning at Binion’s, running the Big Six Wheel of Fortune. When he retired from the casino world, he and his wife, Alice, moved to Prescott, but said, “There were too many old people there. I was startin’ to walk like them,” so the consummate funnyman returned to Las Vegas.
Schumacher and Alice were married 56 years at the time of her death in February 2009. He is survived by two sons; Sid and Rodney; wife, Robin; and two grandsons, Adam and Sean, all of Las Vegas. Schumacher was cremated and his ashes will be scattered on a favorite butte of his in Prescott, Ariz. Memorials should be made to the Justin Crisis Cowboy Fund in his name.
Officials: Mike Todd, Round Rock, Texas, and Lynn Smith, Idaho Falls, Idaho
Stock supervisor: John Wright, Clearfield, Utah
Timed event cattle contractor: Load’Em In the Dark Cattle Co., Pocatello, Idaho
Murray featured on Jan. 31 Extreme Makeover Home Edition
ProRodeo Hall of Famer Ty Murray and wife, Jewel, were guests on ABC-TV’s Extreme Makeover Home Edition, Jan. 31. The couple helped build a home for a mother battling stage-four colon cancer in the episode “A Final Wish” about the Creasey family. The complete episode can be viewed on the show’s Web site:
http://abc.go.com/shows/extreme-makeover-home-edition
“They’re a really nice family, and they're facing a sad situation,” said Murray, who traveled with Jewel to North Carolina to be a part of the construction.
A group of 3,000 volunteers were involved in the project to build a house of the family’s dreams in just one week.
“It would take anybody over a year to do what (the volunteers) did in a week,” Murray said. “This is one of the sweetest ladies in the world, she has a husband and three little kids, and she knows her cancer is terminal.”December send-off party in Great Falls, Mont., for the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo. The party was for Kruse, a Great Falls native, and Miss Rodeo Montana Lesli Furniss.
A silent auction was held at the party, and Kruse, 23, selected the JCCF to receive his half of the silent auction proceeds, which totaled $705.25. The Cascade Chapter of Thrivent Financial for Lutherans matched the amount, and send-off party organizers sent the donation to the JCCF.
“I appreciate the Justin Sportsmedicine Team and the JCCF,” Kruse said. “The Justin Sportsmedicine Team helped me when I injured my foot and my back, and the JCCF helps us when we get hurt (seriously enough to miss part of the season). That is why I picked them.”
Donations to the JCCF may also be mailed to the JCCF, PRCA, 101 ProRodeo Drive, Colorado Springs, CO 80919.
JCCF donations may be made online by visiting the JCCF page at www.prorodeo.com/justin_cowboy.aspx?xu=3
ProRodeo Livestock video available for free
A 20-minute video titled ProRodeo Livestock is available free of charge to rodeo enthusiasts through the PRCA Industry Outreach Department in Colorado Springs, Colo. The educational video covers rodeo history, livestock care, PRCA stock contractors’ born-to-buck breeding program and PRCA rules that govern the safety of animals in competition.
PRCA stock contractors Dona Vold Larsen (Triple V Rodeo Company) and Jim Korkow (Korkow Rodeos) speak in the video, and several cowboys talk about the athletic ability of bucking horses and bulls and also discuss rodeo equipment.
Three-time and reigning World Champion Bareback Rider Bobby Mote, 2006 World Champion Bull Rider B.J. Schumacher and 19-time Wrangler NFR saddle bronc qualifier Rod Hay are among the cowboys featured in the video.
Representatives of rodeo committees, rodeo clubs, Western youth groups and other organizations wishing to get a copy of the free video may call PRCA Industry Outreach Director Cindy Schonholtz at 719.593.8840 or e-mail requests to animalwelfare
Next Up
Feb. 1 Southwestern Exposition & Livestock Show, Fort Worth, Texas, ongoing
Feb. 4 Seminole Hard Rock Xtreme Bulls Tour event, San Antonio, Texas
Feb. 4 Black Hills Stock Show Rodeo, Rapid City, S.D., begins
Feb. 4 SW District Fat Stock Show & Rodeo, Lake Charles, La., begins
Feb. 5 San Antonio Stock Show & Rodeo, begins
Feb. 5 Los Fresnos (Texas) PRCA Rodeo, begins
