Rodeo
Picture courtesy of Elaine La Rochelle
Are You Tough Enough to Wear Pink?...
For each rodeo contestant that wears pink to the rodeo on Saturday, June 7, EOLS will donate $1 to cancer research.
Rodeo Director: Clyde Longfellow ~ 541-564-9169
Rodeo Chairman: Darren Hansen ~ 541-568-4347 - lazyhcattle@yahoo.com
Harley Tucker Rodeo Series Award
This award is named in honor of the late Harley Tucker, a past northwest rodeo producer and stock contractor from Joseph, Oregon. At the time of his death in 1960, he was one of the nation's largest stock contractors, providing stock and producing over 25 rodeos in the Northwest each year. Harley Tucker was inducted into the Pendleton Round-Up Hall of Fame in 1980, the National Cowboy Hall of Fame in 1997, and the St. Paul Rodeo Hall of Fame in 1999.
The Harley Tucker Rodeo Series Award, formally known as the Harley Tucker Memorial Award, was first started in 1970. Recognized at the Saturday performance with a plaque and $2,000, this award goes to the cowboy scoring the most points in a combination of the Eastern Oregon Livestock Show in Union, The St. Paul Rodeo in St. Paul, The Elgin Stampede in Elgin and Chief Joseph Days in Joseph. If the award is earned three times, the contestant receives an accumulating purse. In 1982, Butch Knowles of Heppner became the first three-time winner and earned $5,100. In 1990, Rocky Steagall of Irrigon became the second three-time winner and received $3,100. Cowgirls became eligible to win the Harley Tucker Rodeo Series Award in 2002. This was due to women's barrel racing, as well as team roping, being added to the list of qualifying events.
Each year since its inception the award fund has received $350 from each of the four rodeos, totaling $1,400 per year. An extra $2,000 will go into the award fund compliments of series sponsor Mountain West Moving and Storage. The fund for the next three time winner will continue to build with $500 contributed yearly and is currently up to $10,500.
Heartland Series
In its relentless efforts to grow the cowboy sport and increase prize money for contestants, the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association has launched an ambitious new enterprise with the start of the 2008 season this month - the Heartland ProRodeo Series.
The concept offers added support to the majority of PRCA rodeos, those with a total added committee purse of up to $30,000, by bringing them together in a series that concludes with a rich and prestigious championship event. The Heartland ProRodeo Series Championships in Waco, Texas, scheduled for Oct. 3-11, 2008, will have minimum prize money of $400,000 and as much as $500,000.
The PRCA Board of Directors pledged its unanimous support of the Heartland ProRodeo Series on Aug. 29. The first event is the Leesville Lions Club Rodeo in Leesville, La., on Oct. 4-6, 2007.
To date, 174 rodeos have pledged to take part in the series - including two in Canada - and PRCA officials are projecting 300 rodeos will be on board by the May 1 filing deadline. Rodeo committees may elect to join the series at the time of rodeo approval or by May 1, 2008, whichever comes first.
"Our goal is to improve this sport and all our great rodeos for everyone involved, rodeo committees to contestants, contract personnel to stock contractors," said Keith Martin, Chairman of the PRCA Board of Directors and the PRCAs interim Chief Executive Officer. "We believe the appeal of the season-ending championships will help Heartland ProRodeo Series rodeos draw bigger and better fields across the board, so it's a win-win situation. I think this series will be a huge hit with our fans, too, and pleasing the people who love this sport like we do is always a top priority."
~Jim Bainbridge/PRCA Senior Public Relations Coordinator