ProRodeo Sports News - Dec. 20, 2024

PRORODEO HALL OF FAME

BY PRCA STAFF K aycee Feild, who set the gold standard for PRCA bareback riders, winning an event record six PRCA World Championships, headlined the 2024 ProRodeo Hall of Fame class. Feild, who won consecutive PRCA World Championships in 2011-14, and 2020-21, is joined in the class by contestants – team roper Art Arnold, a 1968 RCA World Champion; the late bull rider, Blue Stone, a PRCA World Champion in 2001 and 2002; stock contractor Sammy Andrews; bullfighter Darrell Diefenbach, who worked the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo 12 times (2001-12), notable J.D. Yates, who made the NFR as a team roping header and heeler; standout bull Mr. T of Burns Rodeo Company (1986 PRCA Bull of the Year, and Bull of the NFR in 1986 and 1989); the rodeo committee from the Tri-State Rodeo in Fort, Madison, Iowa; and barrel racers Marlene (Eddleman) McRae, the 1983 WPRA World Champion and Jeana Day, the 1974 WPRA World Champion. The 2024 Ken Stemler Pioneer Award, which recognizes those who have provided groundbreaking, innovative ideas and forward thinking that help the development, advancement and success of the PRCA and or the Hall of Fame was awarded to Bob Feist. He was a contestant and announcer at the 1979 National Finals Steer Roping and 1980 National Finals Rodeo and founded the immensely popular Bob Feist Invitational Team Roping. FEILD’S DAY CAPS AT PRORODEO HALL OF FAME Kaycee Feild’s greatness as a PRCA bareback rider was unmatched. The Utah cowboy won an event record six PRCA World Championships in his decorated career and it didn’t take long for him to be immortalized into the ProRodeo Hall of Fame joining his late father Lewis, a five-time PRCA World Champion. Kaycee qualified for the National Finals Rodeo 13 times (2008-15, 2018-22) - tied for fifth most ever for bareback riders. He also won the average four times (2011-14). Kaycee also captured a bareback riding record 29 NFR round wins. LATE BULL RIDER STONE ENTERS HOF Blue Stone didn’t have a lengthy PRCA career, but it was quite memorable. Stone qualified for the National Finals Rodeo twice in 2001 and 2002 and proceeded to win back-to-back PRCA World Championships and the NFR Average twice. Stone passed away March 13, 2022, at the age of 43. Stone was the first cowboy to win back-to-back PRCA Bull Riding World Championships since Don Gay won three straight from 1979-81. VERSATILE ROPER YATES JOINS PRORODEO HALL J.D. Yates holds a PRCA record that will likely never be broken. He became the youngest cowboy to qualify for the National Finals Rodeo at 15 years, four months in 1975. J.D., a header, partnered with his father, Dick, at the ’75 NFR. The duo Legacy ProRodeo Hall of Fame inducts star-studded class for 2024

The 2024 Hall of Fame class at the ceremony in Colorado Springs, Colo. PRCA ProRodeo photo by Fernando Sam-Sin

placed in five rounds, highlighted by winning three of the rounds. That was sign of things to come for J.D. as he competed at the NFR in team roping in 1975-1993, 1996 and 2002. From 1975-93, he qualified as a heeler and in 1996 and 2002 he qualified as a header. He also qualified for the National Finals Steer Roping in 1988-89, 1991, 1994, 1996-98, 2000, 2007, 2008 and 2010. ARNOLD FINDS HIS PLACE IN THE HALL Art Arnold took the team roping world by storm in the late 1950s and 60s. The Buckeye, Ariz., native joined the Rodeo Cowboys Association, precursor to the PRCA, in August of 1958. It didn’t take long for Arnold to reach the pinnacle of the sport. In 1959, he punched his ticket to the inaugural National Finals Rodeo in Dallas. Arnold went on to compete on rodeo’s biggest stage nine more times (1959-63, 1965-68 and 1970) during his legendary career – all as a header except for 1962. He was crowned the 1968 RCA World Champion Team Roper. That year at the finals Arnold teamed up with fellow Arizona world champion Dale Smith. STOCK CONTRACTOR ANDREWS FINALLY GETS HALL CALL Sammy Andrews is a third-generation stock contractor, who formed Andrews Rodeo Company in 1980. He bought his PRCA card in 1987 and has made a name for himself in the past three-plus decades in the ProRodeo ranks. Andrews has had countless great bulls over the years – and horses for that matter – but he’s best known for his ProRodeo Hall of Fame bull Bodacious, one of the most famous bulls in the history of ProRodeo. Bodacious was the PRCA Bull of the Year in 1994 and 1995 and was the

top bull of the NFR in 1992 and 1994 and 1995. DIEFENBACH FOREVER ENSHRINED AT PRORODEO HALL Darrell Diefenbach came to the United States with a dream to be the best bullfighter in rodeo. It didn’t take long for what seemed like a far-fetched dream at one time to become a reality. Diefenbach’s journey to the PRCA began at the age of 24, just three years later he made his first of 12 trips to the National Finals Rodeo in Las Vegas. Diefenbach, a native Australian, also worked the National Circuit Finals Rodeo, the Wrangler ProRodeo Tour Finals, and several marquee rodeos including Houston and Tucson, Ariz. BURNS RODEO COMPANY BULL MR. T ONE OF THE BEST When Hal Burns bought Mr. T, the bull just seemed like another run-of the mill roughstock animal. Little did Burns know the purchase he made at Jim Shoulder’s Bucking Sale in Oklahoma City at the 1983 Nationals Finals Rodeo would change the lives of he and his father Pete Burns, co-owners of Burns Rodeo Company. Mr. T, who failed as a Wrangler fighting bull for Jim Sutton, blossomed into a superstar for Burns Rodeo Company, winning 1986 PRCA Bull of the Year and the top bull of the NFR in 1986 and 1989. The black-and-white 1,700-pound bull with the massive rack of horns, known respectfully among PRCA bull riders as “Old Spot,” bucked at every NFR from 1985-90. TRI-STATE RODEO RECEIVES THE HOF NOD Fort Madison, Iowa, lies on the banks of the Mississippi River with a population of just over 10,000.

The Tri-State Rodeo has always been one of the area’s largest attractions. The event brings cowboys and cowgirls from across the nation to the southeast corner of Iowa as one of PRORODEO’s standout events. “For a city of just over 10,000 people we draw a crowd from across the Midwest and the country for that matter. We are awfully proud of that,” said Chuck Kempker, the President of the Board of Directors at the Tri-State Rodeo. The Tri-State Rodeo became the 35th rodeo committee to be inducted into the ProRodeo Hall of Fame. BARREL RACER EDDLEMAN MCRAE JOINS HOF Marlene (Eddleman) McRae significantly impacted the WPRA in and outside of the arena. The Ordway, Colo., barrel racer qualified for the National Finals Rodeo 10 times (1983-91, 2000), won the world in 1983 and the NFR Average twice (1983, 1988). McRae gave back to rodeo by serving two stints on the WPRA Board of Directors in 1990 and 2016. BARREL RACING CHAMP DAY CAN NOW CALL HOF HOME Jeana Day, the 1974 WPRA Barrel Racing World Champion, was filled with emotion when she received word of her selection from WPRA president Jimmie Munroe. Day qualified for the National Finals Rodeo six times and finished as a reserve champion four times before capturing the gold buckle. Day also served 11 years on the WPRA Board of Directors during a pivotal time in the association’s history, as it took a stand for equal money in barrel racing. She served two different terms (1975-1979 and 1986-1991).

ProRodeo Sports News 12/20/2024

ProRodeo Sports News 12/20/2024

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