PRORODEO Sports News - March 27, 2026 Digital Edition

PRCA PASSINGS

PRORODEO HALL OF FAME BULLFIGHTER/CLOWN RICK YOUNG PASSES AWAY Rick Young, a bullfighter and clown, inducted into the ProRodeo Hall of Fame in 2022, passed away March 20. He was 92. Young dedicated nearly 60 years of his life to ProRodeo as an award-winning rodeo clown and bullfighter. “I tell you what, I don’t think it’s truly set in yet,” said Young in the June 23, 2022, issue of the PRORODEO Sports News about his induction into the ProRodeo Hall of Fame. “I wake up in the middle of the night thinking about the Hall of Fame. It’s really gotten to me. I’ve had more phone calls than I ever would’ve imagined. Not only rodeo people that I haven’t seen in 20 or 30 years, but fans who found out I was being inducted. It’s truly an honor. I have so many friends in the Hall that have passed away and I just wish they could be here to enjoy this moment with me.” Young was known as the “Ragin Cajun,” and later “The Agin’ Cajun,” as his career spanned from the mid 1960s until he retired in 2019 at the age of 85. Over that span he was selected to work the National Finals Rodeo in Oklahoma City in 1974 and in 1980 he was named PRCA’s Clown of the Year. He was named Coors Man in the Can at the NFR in 1991, 1994 and 1996-97. He said he never grasped the impact he made on people’s lives until it was time for him to step away from the sport. “You don’t realize how many lives that you touched with all those years of rodeoing until you step away,” he said. “A lot of people know me, but I don’t know them because they see you out there with your makeup on and clowning. “Then they walk up to you like they’ve known you your whole life. The people are really what I miss more than anything and seeing all my friends in rodeo. I made friends all over the United States.” Raised on his family’s Appaloosa horse ranch near Tick faw, La., Young did not set out to become a rodeo clown and bullfighter. He really wanted to be a college football player after earning all-state accolades in both football and basketball. However, the 5-foot-9 Young was deemed too small for the Louisiana State University football team, so he joined the rodeo team instead. For LSU and, later Southeastern Louisiana University, Young competed in bareback riding, bull riding, roping, and steer wrestling. He used his earnings to pay his way through college and earn an Animal Husbandry degree. Becoming a rodeo clown happened by accident when he was asked to fill in for a clown that didn’t show. Young agreed to continue working with the Kinney Brothers Ro deo Company in their rodeos across Texas, Arkansas, and

Louisiana. When they made the move to the professional ranks by joining the Rodeo Cowboys Association, Young went with them. Young eventually became a free agent and booked his own shows. This allowed him to be more selective on the rodeos he went to and gave him time to tend to his Appa loosa herd. Young worked rodeos from Florida to Connecticut to Calgary and Hawaii. Young prided himself on having covered all aspects of being a rodeo clown. He has fought some of the toughest bulls, been gored while in the barrel, and constructed some of the best acts in the business. He has worked with broken ribs, a broken leg, a broken jaw, stitches, and plenty of bruises. Young worked over 50 years of the Sikeston (Mo.) Jaycee Boothill Rodeo. He also worked the All-Indian National Fi nals Rodeo (1978, 1980, and 1982), Dodge National Circuit Finals Rodeo (1991 and 1992), and the Wrangler Bull Fights (1980-1983). Young also added some movie credits to his resume for “The Great American Cowboy,” “Alvarez Kelly,” and “Ev erybody’s All-American.” He was inducted into the Nation al Cowboy Hall of Fame in Oklahoma City in 2004. Beyond the rodeo arena, Young, alongside his wife Bernie Lee, maintained a family business dedicated to breeding and marketing top-quality Appaloosa horses.

46 PRORODEO SPORTS NEWS DIGITAL MAGAZINE MARCH 27, 2026