PRORODEO Sports News - August 23, 2024

MEMORIAM DR. FRANK SANTOS

as in 1942 World Champion Team Roper brothers Vic and Vern Castro (Vern struck again for a second gold buckle in 1955). The Castros are who Frankie’s all-time favorite head-heel-haze-calf horse Jake came from. After graduating from Richmond High School, young calf roping, team roping, steer wrestling Frank put himself through school at the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine on rodeo earnings and completed his college course in six years instead of the standard eight while rodeoing on the weekends. He was hired straight out of school by Sid Vale, and moved his young family to Oakdale, California, where he served as the personal vet for Vale’s legendary Hall of Fame horse Three Bars. Dr. Santos then set up permanent practice in Portola Valley, where he raised his family before making his final move a few hours south to the small town of Creston on the California Central Coast in the late ‘70s. It was a familiar sight in cowboy parking lots in California over the course of his rodeo career to see Dr. Frank helping fellow cowboys with their horses. He was honored to have the likes of Paul and Gail Petska bring Gail’s iconic barrel horse, Dobie, to his clinic in Portola Valley when he needed special attention, and Dee Pickett trust him on a tricky procedure with his best head horse, Colonel. Dr. Santos had an easy bedside manner with horses from being raised on the ranch by his dad, who trained hall of fame horses. He was also the most trusted resident horse and cattle surgeon at his practice, including horses that needed tracheotomies after snakebites, and occasional cesarean sections on cows, as well as every dog and cat surgery. Dr. Santos also was entrusted by Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Neil Young with the care of his prized Broken Arrow Ranch buffalo herd. At the other end of his client spectrum, Doc Santos was

Doc Santos was famous for not charging families who couldn’t afford to put down their collicking ponies or financially strapped college kids with rodeo-horse problems. He was generous about volunteering his time, and cowboys never paid more than his cost on the drugs, bandages and sutures. As a cowboy veterinarian, Santos was also a strong lifelong advocate for rodeo on the animal welfare front.

famous for not charging families who couldn’t afford to put down their collicking ponies or financially strapped college kids with rodeo-horse problems. He was generous about volunteering his time, and cowboys never paid more than his cost on the drugs, bandages and sutures. As a cowboy veterinarian, Santos was also a strong lifelong advocate for rodeo on the animal welfare front. Santos won event and all-around titles at all the California rodeos – including Salinas, Oakdale, Red Bluff, Redding, Hayward, Santa Maria, Livermore, Clovis and the Cow Palace in San Francisco, many more than once. He was invited by the likes of his friend and Hall of Fame team roper Les Hirdes to rope at the National Finals Rodeo, but respectfully declined because back then even the NFR team roping payoff did not “pencil.” Santos is survived by his three children, Blaine, Kendra and Wade; five grandkids, including Blaine’s daughter, Kayla; Kendra’s sons, Lane and Taylor; Wade and Terri’s sons, Colby and Jackson; and three great-grandchildren in Kayla’s sons, Hank and Jack, and Lane and Jane’s daughter, Charlie Hazel Papa Frank was very excited about Taylor’s upcoming marriage to 2020-2021 Miss Rodeo America Jordan Tierney, and was honored to hear from World Champion Team Roper John Miller not long before he died that he was an inspiration for the Lazy E’s Timed Event Championship of the World, which John says all these years later, “Was made for Frank Santos.” Papa Frank was so proud to see his grandsons have success at that truest rodeo-ironman test of all-around timed-event cowboys. Frank leaves behind a long list of great friends and cowboy characters, legends to locals, with last names like Camarillo, Jones, Berry, Roddy, Wheatley, Nichol, Spratt, Emrich, Enk, Bogenrief, Gomes, Goforth and Martinez. Leo and Jerold Camarillo were dear friends, as was their dad, Ralph, before them. Cousin Reg continued to swing into Creston for visits with Frank until the end Santos would be honored to give his other brother Leo the last word here. The two of them, who were the best of cowboy friends, used to go round and round over Frank choosing not to be out on rodeo’s “big trail,” where The Lion was adamant he belonged. Before Leo left this world in 2020, though, he did circle back and let Frank know that maybe he was the wise one after all for putting his family and home life first. “Frank’s first time at Salinas was in 1950, and he was 12 years old competing in the Junior Stock Horse Class over on the track, which he won,” Leo wrote. “Today (in 2012), Frank was competing here in the Salinas Gold Card roping, as strong and fierce a competitor as any of us at 74. Frank Santos has been my hero and my mentor since back before I turned pro. He continues, still, to go at it with a subtle, yet eminent flame of desire to win, and is still very capable of beating any of us. Frank depicts the true spirit of rodeo-cowboy heroism, and vast oversight has left him not yet inducted into the ProRodeo Hall of Fame. He’s definitely at the forefront of my personal Rodeo Hall of Fame. I’ve never seen anyone tougher in his three events than Frank Santos.”

California Rodeo Salinas photo

BY KENDRA SANTOS, Special to ProRodeo Sports News F rank Kenneth Santos was born June 10, 1938 to Frank Sr. and Lucy Santos. Dr. Santos passed away on May 31 at the age of 85. His childhood nickname was “Livermore,” because his dad dropped his mom off at Alta Bates Hospital in Berkeley, Calif., on his way to the Livermore Rodeo, where he was showing in the stock horse class, so as not to leave her home alone at the ranch on her due date. Remembered

Fifty years ago, timed-event cowboy veterinarian Dr. Frank Santos, right, was the 1974 California Rodeo Salinas all-around champ. Salinas Rodeo President Gene Nielsen, left, made the presentation.

All-Around Cowboy & Veterinarian Dr. Frank Santos left his mark

When Frank Sr. called the hospital from a pay phone to check on her, he was told “they” were doing fine. Frank Jr. and his older brothers, Don and Russ, were raised on the Cutter Ranch on Castro Ranch Road in the Pinole Valley of Contra Costa County. Little Frankie was one of the first to receive the polio vaccine, which was made from serum taken from the band of mares that ran there on the ranch. The Santos family was friends and neighbors with the Castro family,

ProRodeo Sports News 8/23/2024

ProRodeo Sports News 8/23/2024

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