Last Rodeo Pioneer

Bart Clennon

In sharp contrast with rodeos of today, back in 1945, Madison Square Garden’s, “World Championship Rodeo,” in New York was a grueling fifty performances over a thirty-day period! A man named Bart Clennon won the saddle bronc riding contest at that show. As a matter of fact, he won many bronc riding championships in the early days of rodeo; Reno, NV; Fort Worth, TX; San Angelo, TX; Burwell, NE; Red Bluff, CA; Salt Lake City, UT; Deadwood, SD, Miles City, MT; Kissimmee, FL and Boston Garden to name a few. Bart says, “I never kept any records, but I know that I made a living rodeoing for over twenty years.”

While his rodeo resume is quite impressive, what is even more notable is that he was the last living person of the original sixty-one fellows who signed the famous “Boston Garden strike document,” then walked out of performing at the rodeo in 1936. (Bart Clennon was born in Aberdeen, SD, 1910.)  This led to an eventual formation of the Cowboy Turtles Association (CTA) - the predecessor of the Professional Rodeo Cowboy Association (PRCA). 

Clennon, lived for many years in the Tucson, AZ area, a few miles north and west of the back entry road to old Tucson Studios, with his two sons, Bart Jr. and Terrance. His family went with him during much of his career and they saw many things together. Not all that happened on the rodeo trail was glamour and nostalgia though, as is often reported. The family recalls a tragic event in 1946 when two Army bombers collided mid-air as they performed for the crowd in Great Falls, Montana during the state fair. Bart and a friend were working stock behind the chutes when debris fell everywhere, killing over twenty horses and at least eight men.

Bart once said about the early days of rodeo, “We didn’t always get paid for winning. Sometimes the winners were determined (unofficially of course) before the show even started. But other times when you did win, the contractor may not pay the prize money out. We were kind of at the mercy of the producer in those early days.” 

It was not all that bad however, as a matter of fact, most of it was good times and Clennon said about getting started in the sport, “Back in those days, you would work for those old ranchers and farmers and make maybe $1 per day. Then those old tightwads would deduct days when the wind blew too hard or it stormed and you couldn’t work. So when I won $35 dollars at my first rodeo, I was hooked.” That was Ash Creek, SD and the year was 1928. He went on to work for several different rodeos and wild west shows (there was not much difference between them at the time) and sometimes got on as many as thirty to forty broncs per week!

In part due to grievances listed above, in 1936, at the Boston Garden rodeo, cowboys who were fed up with the status quo of rodeo production at the time decided to stand up for themselves, demanding better treatment. It was not easy. First off, Colonel W.T. Johnson, the producer, had paid to ship most of the contestants and their horses to Boston by train from out west. He also had sponsored rooms for a good many, making most of the cowboys indebted to him in some manner. When the cowboys threatened to strike if certain demands were not met, he told them they would have to find their own way home if they did - he would do his best to strand them in the east.

Clennon was worried, but the cowboys stuck together and walked out on the first of thirty scheduled performances. Johnson attempted to put the show on without them, using grooms and stable hands to fill in. That night Bart, “...paid $2 for a ticket to the rodeo and sat in the stands next to Howard McCrorey. When someone would come out of the chutes us cowboys would holler. Ol’ Howard was hollering so loud that I hardly had to...he’d beller like a bull!” Things eventually worked out and the cowboys soon thereafter formed the CTA. “We called it the Turtle Association because we were so damned slow to start and finally stick our necks out,” Bart recalls with a smile. He signed up and was given card number 418.

Bart is proud of his involvement with the formation of what was to eventually become the PRCA. With a gnarled finger, he smiles and points to his name on a nicely framed copy of the original strike document and says, “They’re all gone. I am the only one left.”

Bart was known as “a cowboys, cowboy.” Casey Tibbs once told a magazine reporter that Clennon was, "One of the best bronc riders I ever saw, and I can't figure out why he never won the (world championship)." 

Clennon recalls many good times with the prankster Tibbs including riding to a rodeo in California with a group of top cowboys from the day, one of them was Bud Linderman. Tibbs was driving wildly, and when they arrived, Bud jumped out of the back seat and said, “Anyone who rides with that S.O.B is plumb crazy!” Bart and Casey were friends and it was an honor for Bart when he was inducted into the Casey Tibbs Rodeo Center in his native South Dakota in 1995. He was also inducted into the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum’s “Rodeo Historical Society” in 1996 and remained a PRCA gold card member to the end (believed to be the oldest ever). 

Clennon quit rodeoing when he was about forty - after receiving his second broken neck. He then went to work as a hard rock miner and was in such amazing shape, he passed for 28, which was the age limit for new hires. He later was in the hardware business and eventually retired from that in his eighties.

Bart would recall the many broncs he rode with an amazing clarity of mind, for a man of any age, much less 101-plus. He did this with friends and rodeo buffs who stop by and listen. However, he once said in an interview that the greatest accomplishment he ever had, “...was when I married Geraldine Parkinson...the family traveled with me all over to rodeos...” Clennon lost his wife in 1982. Then he was fueled on by the many cherished memories of traveling the rodeo circuit and being together with his family.

Men like Bart Clennon changed the game of rodeo forever. His story ended on the night before turning an official 102 years of age. A few days before, he came down sick one last time. The legend died only hours before midnight - he almost made 102.

1. Jim Olson 2012

www.JimOlsonAuthor.com 

In The Beginning...

There was Rodeo. It started as a contest between cowboys to see who was the best roper and rider.

    

Soon it evolved into ranches competing against each other to see who had the best cowboys - much like a ranch rodeo of today. Before long, organized events were taking place in towns like Prescott, Arizona which claims to have the world’s oldest rodeo (started in 1888) and Payson, Arizona who argues they have the world’s oldest continuous rodeo (started in 1884). Then you have Pecos, Texas who claims the right to the world’s first rodeo (1883) but history tells us that William F. Cody (AKA Buffalo Bill) staged his first Wild West Show (which also had rodeo events) in 1882 at North Platte, Nebraska. 

But wait! There is more; Santa Fe, New Mexico also claims the first rodeo based on a letter dated 1847 written by Captain Mayne Reid from Santa Fe to a friend in Ireland: "At this time of year, the cowmen have what is called the round-up, when the calves are branded and the fat beasts selected to be driven to a fair hundreds of miles away. This round-up is a great time for the cowhand, a Donny-brook fair it is indeed. They contest with each other for the best roping and throwing, and there are horse races and whiskey and wines. At night in clear moonlight, there is dancing on the streets." 

Many will argue exact historic dates of the sport, but none will doubt the birth of rodeo was a contest of the cowboy.

In the early 1900s, rodeos were largely unorganized and scattered. The events as we know them today were mostly acts mixed in with wild west shows - which were more common at the time than a rodeo, as thought of in today’s terms. As a matter of fact, rodeos and wild west shows enjoyed a parallel existence in the early days and one was really not much different than the other (they even had a lot of the same stars and contestants). 

Many towns held annual “rodeos” but these shows were more commonly known as cowboy contests, stampedes, frontier days celebrations and of course, wild west shows. The term rodeo was not widely used until organization started to infiltrate the sport (in 1929). While rodeo had become a way of life for a select few in its earliest days, there was no standard to the event schedule, rules, judging, etc.. You might have a steer roping sandwiched between an Indian relay race and a shooting exhibition. Then they might go on with saddle broncs and steer wrestling followed by the “chicken pull” and trick roping. It’s been said there were over a hundred different events or acts to choose from, including a unique event held each year at Chicago where mounted cowboys went to lake Michigan, were floated out on a barge, and were then forced off, having to swim their horses several hundred yards back to shore! The first one back was the winner. Buffalo Bill Cody obviously had the most recognizable wild west show, and his show was more act and less rodeo, but rodeos of the day were a lot more wild west show than you think of in terms of your typical rodeo today.

These shows were very entertaining and popular with the crowds. However, cowboys competing in these performances were not thought of like a modern independent cowboy athlete is today. The organizers thought cowboys should be happy with cowboy wages and payouts for winning events were reflective of this mindset. At the time, cowboy wages were about a dollar per day ($30 a month). So if a cowboy could win (or was paid) that much, or sometimes even up to $100 for winning an event, he ought to be happy - and most were. Many cowboy from back in those days have been quoted as saying that winning a hundred dollars or so at a rodeo was more money than they had ever seen at one time in their whole life and that is what got them hooked on the shows. There were problems with this system however.

Cowboys still had to pay an entrance fee, much like today, and the amount of fees paid by the contestants was not reflected in the winning payout. Then there was the problem of each producer or town having their own ideas of how the show should be ran and which events to include. There was little standard in judging the riding events and rules varied from place to place. Then there were always those few who worked the system to their advantage and sometimes winners were determined before the show even started! (Unofficially of course.)

Accusations of bribes and crooked judges ran high. The rodeo cowboy became disgusted with this situation over time. It took a while, but he finally realized he was the star of the show; folks paid to see him perform, and he was not getting a fair share. There were thousands of dollars being made on some of the bigger shows from ticket sales and contestant entry fees, but only a few hundred would be paid back to the winners. This was fine for a few, but it was starvation for the overall lot. Just enough was being paid out to keep them coming back, with hopes it would be their turn to win the next show; kind of like dangling the proverbial carrot.

All of this changed however in 1936. That was the year professional rodeo was born. Rodeo organization was actually started in the northern states in 1929 with the formation of the Rodeo Association of America (RAA). This association was made up of managers and producers and did not include the cowboy in decision making and therefore was often contentious, seldom recognized and eventually it was merged with the Cowboys Turtle Association (CTA). They called themselves “turtles” because they were slow to organize but eventually stuck their heads out. They were the first cowboys to have a say in how the show ran. In 1945, the Cowboys Turtle Association changed their name to the Rodeo Cowboys Association (RCA) and in 1975 it was changed to the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association (PRCA).

It was Boston Garden, 1936, and the cowboys were fed up with one Colonel  William T. Johnson of Texas; promoter and organizer of major rodeos such as Madison Square Garden and the Boston show. While Johnson had a knack for producing spectacular shows and attendance was usually high, he refused to listen to the complaints of the cowboy. So they went on strike, demanded their entrance fees be added to the payout and that standard rules and judging be implemented. 

Johnson was livid and told the cowboys to leave the grounds; he would put on a show without them. As they rode out of Boston Garden, a-horseback, the press was there taking pictures. The press sympathized with the cowboys and the public was soon on their side. That night Johnson attempted to put on the performance using stable hands, grooms and wild west performers. The cowboys sat in the audience and booed. It became such a spectacle, with a poor performance, that the audience joined the cowboys in their disapproval. The Boston committee told Johnson to stop the show and work with the cowboys. Johnson said, “I’ll drive my stock into the bay before I give into their demands!” Cowboy Hugh Bennett, one of the strike organizers hollered, “We’ll saddle up and help you!”

Johnson eventually agreed to negotiate when the managers of the Garden told him to come to an agreement with the cowboys or he would be thrown out as well. Negotiations lasted throughout the night and into the next day, however, an agreement was finally reached. The seed of professional rodeo had been planted. There were sixty-one men who signed the original document which eventually led to the formation of the Cowboys Turtle Association that fateful day in Boston. Only one of those men remain alive at the time of this writing, Bart Clennon was a contestant at the Boston Garden show that October/November 1936. He turned 102 on November 5th, 2012. More on Bart soon.

(c) Jim Olson 2012

Lee Anderson

Lee Anderson, Vaquero!

Horseman of the Old School

Living historian, author and superb horseman, Lee Anderson, is a student - shall we say master - of the old Vaquero “Bridle Horse” methods. He jokingly admits, “I am probably the only Swedish vaquero you’ll ever meet.”

Born in Iowa, Lee has had a life-long affection for horses. He has ridden and trained in just about every genre of horsemanship, from Western to English and from the show ring to the pasture. He can drive two, four, six and even an eight-up team hitched to a wagon! He has trained and shown in reining, pleasure and trail and also worked with dressage, hackney, jumpers…and of course, the western cow-horse. His passion however, is the “Bridle Horse.”

For those who aren’t quite sure what a “Bridle Horse” is – it refers to a horse trained in the old Vaquero methods – methods not seen much in this country for 100-plus years. A layman will recognize a bridle horse as one which eventually ends up in the use of a spade bit. Many people are taken back by the spade and automatically assume it is a harsh bit based upon its appearance. Not true. In the wrong hands, any bit is harsh. Lee quotes, “All souls criticize that which they do not understand.” A horse trained in this method responds to a feather’s touch of the reins.

In the hands of a true bridle horseman, a well-trained bridle horse is pure poetry in motion. For example, it has been recorded that the old Vaqueros were big sportsman and loved to show off at festive occasions. One such game played went something like this: A hair was plucked from the horse’s tail and the “breakaway” in the reins was replaced with said tail hair. This meant if you pulled any harder than necessary to break the hair, your reins broke. The horse was then blindfolded and put through a series of intricate moves, showing its pure trust in the rider. For the finale, horse and rider ran full-tilt, straight at a solid wall. The team stopping closest to the wall, without hitting the wall or breaking the “breakaway hair” was the winner and the Vaquero considered a top horseman. (Before criticizing a contest such as this, keep in mind it was a different time, place and culture.)

When asked why old methods such as these are fading, Lee responds, “In today’s day and age, not many are willing to spend half a lifetime learning the proper methods of horsemanship so they can spend four or five years training a horse this way.” Lee is passionate about it however and says, “It’s like driving a high performance sports car. Whatever you want is there…and at a touch.

To a learned master such as Lee, he realizes every piece of the horseman and horse’s gear work intricately together to achieve an eventual result with the slightest of effort. He says, “The spade is a bit of signals. When properly used, a horse receives signals long before he ever feels the bit and responds before the bit is ever actually used.” Each piece of the tack and gear are a part of that signal system, not to mention the rider himself. Lee can pull the bridle off his horse and preform intricate maneuvers using nothing more than body language. Anderson uses a piece of string as a “breakaway” in his reins every day. Much like the old Vaqueros and their horsehair, if he uses more than just a slight tap of pressure on the reins, they break!

After many years of being fascinated with horses, Lee chose to concentrate on this old style of horsemanship because he felt it most in tune with the horse. After a lifetime of studying what makes a horse tick, Anderson has even written a book on the subject. Developing the Art of Equine Communications is all about how to communicate with your horse, from a horse’s understanding and point of view. In Lee’s opinion, the bridle horse style of horsemanship comes closest to that.

He studied horses and how they react to certain situations for over half a century. He noticed that most times, communications with a horse are approached from a human point of view, yet a horse can only understand things from a horse’s viewpoint. Lee has made it his life’s work to understand more from the horse’s view.

Lee has been known to spend hours sitting in a pasture full of horses just watching them. He studies their moves with each other in natural surroundings - how they interact together. Most people know, by nature, a horse is a “prey” animal, but few think of that when dealing with a horse. Man is, by nature, a predator and horses are easily scared of them. Lee is probably one of the best modern-day trainers who understands the philosophy of a horse, from the horse’s perspective. He felt compelled to write Developing the Art of Equine Communications to clear up some of the myths and misinformation out there.

The Bow

As a historian, Lee does a presentation called Four Hundred Years of Southwest Cowboys. He does this in any one of three different outfits: A 1750 Spanish Colonial Caballero, an 1850 Mexican Vaquero or an 1890 American Cowboy. For each look, he has all of the period correct clothing and gear for rider and horse. The outfit may change depending upon what the situation calls for, but the historical presentation is tailored to fit what the client asks for. Lee goes over the evolution of the cowboy from its origins, beginning with the Spanish Hacendado (rancher) of the mid-1500s up through today. The first brand laws were recorded in New Spain (now Mexico) in 1529 and Lee is well versed in the history of the Vaquero - Cowboy from then through today.

Lee says, “We must include the Spanish origins in the history of the cowboy because the Vaquero was rounding up, roping, and branding cattle more than 300 years before the first American Cowboy ever threw a leg over a horse. By 1800 a highly sophisticated Vaquero culture had reached its peak in what is now the state of California. To this day, no mounted herdsman on earth has ever achieved the elegance, the presence, the beautiful equipment, the exquisite horsemanship or the sheer artistry of the everyday working Californio.”

He has spent much time and research in getting his outfits correct for each time period as well. Everything Lee puts on he and his horse is either an authentic antique piece or a reproduction from the period, made by Lee himself. He says,  “The Vaquero was a flashy dresser. He was extremely proud of his status amongst his peers. Then, due to the influence of the emerging American Cowboy culture the Mexican Vaquero lost quite a bit of the elegance and finesse of the Spanish Colonial Vaquero but he never fully accepted all of the trappings and methods of the American Cowboy culture…these things are covered at length in a presentation. The heyday of the American Cowboy only covered about 20 years… The modern image of the cowboy is loosely based on the drovers that made the three month long (cattle) drives. The cowboy most people are familiar with today is purely a Hollywood creation. However, my preference just happens to be the real cowboys… and I am well aware of the difference between ‘reel cowboys’ and ‘real cowboys.’”

Besides having a life-long passion for understanding what makes a horse tick, and the history of the cowboy, Anderson is a study of human nature as well. He is extremely good-natured and has a wry sense of humor. Lee claims, “I intend to live to be 125 and not die from natural causes, but at the hands of a thirty-year-old, jealous spouse!” You gotta love a man past seventy with an attitude like that!

Jim Olson © 2012

www.JimOlsonAuthor.com

Everett Bowman... Cowboy Leader

World's First Rodeo Trailer

     Everett bowman was born July 12, 1899 at Hope, New Mexico (the family actually lived near Weed) and he was a cowboy from the word go. Arguably remembered as one of rodeo’s greatest legends, this ten time World Champion Cowboy helped bring modern-day rodeo to where it’s at today.

Everett was the first president of the Cowboy Turtles Association “CTA” (the predecessor to the Professional Rodeo Cowboy Association or “PRCA”). As a matter of fact, he was one of the first organizers of the association and signed up as member (card number) fifteen; but first and foremost, he was a cowboy.

     The Bowman family moved from New Mexico to the Safford, Arizona area when Everett was about thirteen. One of his first full-time jobs away from his parents ranch was that of a cowboy with the famed “Chiricahua Cattle Company” also know back in the day as “the Cherries” or the “Three C’s” which ran cattle all up and down that rough Arizona – New Mexico border country. The foreman at the time was quoted as saying, “Everett made the best hand we ever had. It was amazing; never saw anything like it! He became a top roper, he was tougher than leather – was the strongest man I’d ever seen.”

     At the age of twenty-three, Everett and his brother Skeet, along with eight other cowboys drove a large herd of cattle from Globe, Arizona to Ely, Nevada. This may have been one of the last “old time” great cattle drives, stretching over 900 miles! When they reached Ely, after being on the trail most of the summer, the Bowman brothers decided to “stay on” and give cowboyin’ in Nevada a try. However, one cold winter in that “North Country” changed those boy’s minds. Everett said, “That country has two seasons - winter and late fall.” They cowboyed there a little over a year, then returned to Arizona, making the entire round trip a-horseback.

     Once back in Arizona, Everett (along with brother Skeet) pursued a full-time rodeo career. That turned out to be one of the best moves ever made.

     Although officially credited with ten World Championships, author (and nephew to Everett), Lewis Bowman, claims Everett won at least eleven. You see, prior to 1929, records were sketchy and, in some cases, championships were determined by winning a certain rodeo. Lewis says he may have won even more than eleven.

     Officially, Everett was a two-time World All-Around Champion, four-time Steer Wrestling Champion, three-time Calf Roping Champion and gained one Steer Roping title. He won or placed at most of the day’s biggest shows such as Madison Square Garden, Cheyenne, Calgary, Ellensburg, Prescott and Pendleton to name just a few. He even rode bucking horses till about 1928, but gave it up and stuck with the timed events saying, “Too many events and a man is no good at any of them.” The timed event end of the arena was where he shined anyhow.

     At six-foot, two-inches and 200 pounds, Everett was a physical specimen. To date, Everett is one of only three men who have won rodeos “triple crown” (three world titles in a single year) more than once.  He accomplished that feat two times. Trevor Brazile and Jim Shoulders are the only other men to do that. Bowman became known in media circles as “Rodeo’s Babe Ruth.” His fellow competitors often spoke of him as “A Cowboy’s Cowboy.” He competed in full-time rodeo competition until 1943, a period of about twenty years!

     Other advancements credited to Bowman include towing the first horse trailer on the rodeo circuit and being the first to fly to rodeos. Everett’s older brother, Dick, fashioned a hand-made wooden horse trailer in1924, which Everett and younger brother Skeet took on its maiden voyage from the home ranch in Safford, Arizona to Cheyenne, Wyoming. They put one horse in the trailer and one in the bed of the truck (as was customary then). When they arrived in Cheyenne, the Bowman boys received a lot of strange looks, but it wasn’t long till the contraption caught on. Then in 1929, Everett is credited with being the first cowboy to get the bright idea to charter a private airplane to get him to more rodeos. That idea also seems to have caught on as well. By the late 1930s, Everett bought his own plane and learned how to fly it for himself, something he did the rest of his life.

     Perhaps Everett’s biggest contribution to the sport of rodeo however was his involvement with the CTA. He served as the association’s president from its inception in 1936 until it reorganized as the Rodeo Cowboys Association (RCA) in 1945. The guy’s called themselves “Turtles” because it took them so long to get started and have a voice in rodeo business for themselves. For too many years, cowboys had been unhappy with their entry fees not being added back to the pot, the type and order of events and non-standard judging practices.

     In 1936, at Boston, all that changed when Everett and his fellow cowboys went on strike and refused to compete unless the aforementioned grievances were rectified. When the dust settled, the predecessor of the PRCA was born, and Everett was a big part of it all. It has been said, that once he got an idea formed in his head, it was hard to change. He went “toe to toe” with many rodeo committee members during his day, in the best interest of the cowboy. Many of the fundamental changes that are now the bedrock of rodeo came about under Bowman’s leadership.

     According to Lewis Bowman, “Everett Bowman (president) and brother-in-law, Hugh Bennett (secretary/treasurer) were the cogs that got the Cowboys Turtle Association into gear. The men signed up the cowboys and kicked ‘em straight (sometimes literally). Their sister wives, Lois and Josie, were the official timers and record keepers. The girls stowed the books and association’s money in the back seat of their car and kept records between rodeos.”

     Competitor, Phil Mills, said of Everett, “He did more to put the cowboy in good graces than any other man.”

     Lewis also tells of another event he witnessed as a boy, “One year at Cheyenne, this fellow and Uncle Everett got into a heated argument about having to join the association to compete in sanctioned rodeos. This fellow took a swing at Everett, who blocked the punch with one hand and landed a crushing blow at the same time with his other - knocking the guy out and breaking his nose. He then threw fifty dollars on the man’s chest and told two guys to haul him to the doctor and get him fixed up. A couple hours later, the guy returned with his nose all bandaged up. He threw twenty dollars back at Everett and said, ‘Here’s your change Bowman - Doc only charged thirty dollars. By the way, I’ll join your danged association.’ Everett smiled, handed the man back the twenty and said, ‘If your going to join, keep this and put it towards your dues.’ The two men remained good friends after that.”

     After retiring from rodeo, Everett settled on his own ranch near Wickenburg, Arizona where he spent the last parts of his life. He also worked as a sheriff there for a time. He still loved the sport of rodeo and would, “talk rodeo” with anyone who came by. Bowman judged many rodeos after retiring from competition and added “Mule Trainer” to his resume. Always the showman, he continued to make public appearances up into his sixties. At age seventy, Everett accepted a part in the movie, The Great White Hope, taking the role of a pastor.

     As a true natural athlete, he took up the sport of golf, and in his later years, became quite good at it. He even hit a hole in one at age fifty-five. Upon doing this, Bowman put down his golf clubs and retired from the sport of golf saying, “You just can’t get any better than that.” Just as with rodeo, he retired at the top.

     In 1951, Everett underwent surgery to remove a throat cancer. It lasted six hours. Rodeo stock contractor, Everett Colborn, heard about this and sent Bowman a letter which stated, “It does not surprise me your surgery took six hours, it probably took about four of that just to get through the hide.” It was done in good nature and as a testament to Bowman’s toughness.

     The sport of rodeo also loved Everett Bowman, inducting him into the ProRodeo Hall of Fame in 1979. He was also admitted to the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City in 1965, the first living man to be so honored. The rodeo grounds in Wickenburg are also named for their long time resident and rodeo legend. The Everett Bowman Rodeo Grounds are still in regular use to this day and the city of Wickenburg has a large bronze statue commemorating Everett.

     The “Father of Professional Rodeo,” Everett Bowman, passed in 1971 while flying his own airplane. Then PRCA president, Dale Smith, read the eulogy at Everett’s funeral and famed cowboy, Rex Allen, sang.

Everett Bowman

Jim Olson © 2012

www.JimOlsonAuthor.com