Mount Rushmore of Rodeo
In the winter of 2009, ESPN selected sports figures from each state that could be put on a Mt. Rushmore for that state.
Rodeo personalities for Kansas ' Biggest Rodeo were asked their picks for the “Mount Rushmore of Rodeo” and here are their choices.
Randy Corley's Mt. Rushmore of Rodeo
The Mt. Rushmore for me would be Hadley Barrett and Bob Tallman , there's no doubt. There would be Chuck Parkinson . He had Cheyenne for years. He had a lot of huge, big
rodeos. He died in Cheyenne . He went to his hotel between the afternoon and the night show, sat down and watched TV for a minute before he went back to do the chuckwagon races, and had a heart attack and died. He loved Cheyenne . He just was a super guy. I worked the front end of Cheyenne when I just started, with him, and the first year I went to the Finals (NFR) with Phil Gardenhire , and he would be the other (nominee), by the way, on my Mt. Rushmore .
Can I put 5 heads on Mt. Rushmore ? Clem McSpadden . Definitely Clem. But, back to the story, the first year Clem and I did the Finals in Las Vegas , Chuck was our alternate, of all things. The alternate, I thought, was always supposed to be a guy who was coming up. Chuck had been there and done everything. Yeah, Chuck would be on the Mt. Rushmore .
Rodney Hayes' Mt. Rushmore of Rodeo
Rudy Burns . He's my favorite, as far as the clowning.
Leon Adams . What Leon has done for our industry is just amazing, you know. He kept it going for all these years. Leon and John
Payne , both. If it weren't for them guys, I don't know if there'd be that many specialty acts out there. There aren't many top acts out there left (now.)
Trevor (Brazile ) has been a big influence on everybody, too.
Cody Ohl is my favorite, as far as the calf roping goes.
Rob Smets. There ain't another one who could take a punch like he could take and keep going, by far.
Keith Isley's Mt. Rushmore of Rodeo
Well, it would probably be people that nobody in Kansas knows. It would be people who had an influence on my life. They know ‘em in the rodeo business, but not in that area. It was more locally.
There have been some people that I've admired in the business. John Gilstrap and Bill McEnaney . Those, I've watched and studied and admired them because of their talent and ability to entertain.
Gilstrap was a clown. He never did go to the PRCA, but he clowned a lot of rodeos. He was in the IPRA (International Pro Rodeo Association.)
McEnaney worked both IPRA and PRCA rodeos. He used to trick ride, trick rope, do comedy. He did a lot of things. Very talented.
Bill was back in the ‘50s, all the way up to, I think he retired in 2004. And John was from the ‘70s into the ‘90s.
John helped me get started. He let me help him (clown) some. We worked together at one time. Bill and I worked some together, back in the late ‘90s. I would watch him, and think that he was one of the most talented people in the business, because of the variety of different things that he could do.
John used to fight bulls. Towards the end of his bullfighting career is kinda when I came in. Once he and I were working together, he was the bullfighter and I was doing all the comedy. I would help him do some acts.
Greg Rumohr's Mt. Rushmore of Rodeo
I don't know about four, but I can think of a stock contractor who helped me. Vern Franklin and Shane Franklin (Franklin Rodeo Co., Bonnyville , Alberta , Canada ), they are the ones who got me rolling. When I came back from bull fighting school, they hired me so I could work some amateur rodeos. They're the ones who taught me how to fight bulls and turn bulls back. Vernie's dead now, but Shane's still alive, still puts on PRCA rodeos and goes to the Finals every year.
Shane could fight bulls as good as anybody in the world, but he never did, as far as buying a card, he never did. He picked up rodeos, produces rodeos now. A cowboy of all cowboys. I'll match him against any cowboy who wants to rope a hookin' bull or a fightin' bull or turn a bull back or ride a buckin' horse, or anything you want.
Yep, he is unbelievable.
My dog, Jigger. He was a dog I trained with every day for a lot of years when I went to the (Wrangler Bullfighting) Finals. He ran with me every day. He worked out with me every day. We'd run the hills, working out, he was with me every day. When I was training for the Finals, I'd run 3 miles (a day). When I went to the Finals, I was in as good a shape as when I was boxing. He went to every rodeo I went to, he went in that little green car, he went everywhere. He stayed in the motel with me. And I built a tombstone for him, and it's made out of a big slab of rock, and it says, “Jigger, 1989-2003, We beat ‘em all in 1990.” He was a blue heeler. (Greg won the Wrangler Bullfight Championship in 1990.)
Dusty Tuckness' Mt. Rushmore of Rodeo
My top choice would be Rob Smets. Somebody that's not only done tremendous stuff for bullfighters, but as a kid, he was somebody I'd admire and watch and try to do some of the same things he's done.
From there, Maury Tate, the contractor with Mo Betta Rodeo Company. He is an inspiration to me and to rodeo as well. He takes pride in everything he does, and he's helped me be successful and he's given me some opportunities as well. Just before I got my PRCA card, he actually does the Cody ( Wyo. ) Night Rodeo, and I got to know him through that, and built a relationship through that. He actually brought me down south and helped me get rodeos down there. He helped me get into the PBR Bullfights, which furthered my career. He's been a big asset to me.
Another one is Lecile Harris. He's been a big asset to rodeo, being able to work with him. He's not only one of the funniest guys in the rodeo business, it used to be that bullfighters would have to do a lot of extra work and not get paid as much. But he was the one who stepped up the bar and made it to where we got hired for the job of bullfighter.
I'll end it with another bullfighter, Miles Hare . Between him and Rob, those are the two guys who I really looked up to as a kid, watched their styles, I just love watching them. There's so much aggression (in their bullfighting) and dedication to the sport and helping it grow. Rob and Miles were just bullfighters. They weren't bullfighters, rodeo clowns, barrelmen, specialty acts. They strictly were bullfighters and they went to big rodeos and got respectful checks just for fighting bulls. And I've actually had the opportunity to get to know him over the last couple years and he's awesome.
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