Contract Personnel • Inducted 1995 Chuck Henson was born with rodeo blood in his veins. In fact he was born Feb. 4, 1931, in Arcadia, Fla., where his parents were competing at a rodeo. He competed in five different events but considered bull riding his forte. In the mid 1950s he...
Contract Personnel • Inducted 1995 Known as the “First Lady” of rodeo, Ellen Backstrom, born Sept. 9, 1929, in Missoula, Mont., began her rodeo career as a young child, singing during intermissions for her father’s productions. After years spent as a bookkeeper, she decided to hit the barrel racing circuit. She...
Contract Personnel • Inducted 1994 Montie Montana, whose first trick roping performance was at the 1925 Miles City, Mont., rodeo, claimed each performance was just as exciting to him as that first one. At 17 he joined the Buck Jones Show, trick roping and riding and training horses. Arena announcers had...
Contract Personnel • Inducted 1993 From the time he was a toddler, Glenn Randall was fascinated with horses. Born on Christmas Day, 1908, in Melbeta, Neb., he took a special interest in teaching the family horses tricks, such as lying down and sitting up. Randall sold his first trained pony to...
Contract Personnel • Inducted 1990 In 1946, Wilbur Plaugher was the all-around champion at the Madison Square Garden rodeo in New York. His clowning career was born later that year when he was asked to fill in as a bullfighter. He was the PRCA Clown of the Year in 1982. Plaugher...
Contract Personnel • Inducted 1990 Mel Lambert took to the microphone after trying every event in rodeo. Born June 6, 1920, he started competing when he was 16 and announced his first rodeo in Bend, Ore., in 1938. Lambert announced the National Finals Rodeo in 1969 and 1972, and during his...
Contract Personnel • Inducted 1989 Known as the voice of Cheyenne Frontier Days for 26 years, Chuck Parkison started his rodeo career as a bareback rider, bull rider and sometime chute boss. Born Dec. 30, 1918, in Rapid City, S.D., his announcing career began in Los Angeles in 1947 when the...
Contract Personnel • Inducted 1979 Jimmy Schumacher, born in 1920 in Prescott, Ariz., invented and was the first rodeo barrelman to use the barrel open at both ends. This allowed the clown to move the barrel around while he was inside it. He could approach the bull without depending on the...
Contract Personnel • Inducted 1979 His peers, professional rodeo cowboys and audiences across North America considered Wick Peth to be the greatest rodeo bullfighter of all. Making no attempt to be funny, his costume was more functional than clownish. Born on April 15, 1930, in Mount Vernon, Wash., Peth was a...
Contract Personnel • Inducted 1979 George Mills is credited with being one of the first bullfighter/clowns to hurdle a bull in the arena. Mills approached the bull from an angle while running full speed. When he got the bull’s attention, the animal lowered its head to hook him, and Mills became...
