ProRodeo Sports News - Feb. 21, 2020

ProRodeo Hall of Famer was ‘Dean of Rodeo Clowns’ Legend Passes MEMORIAM LECILE HARRIS

BY TRACY RENCK A rodeo legend has been lost. ProRodeo Hall of Famer Lecile Harris, dubbed the “Dean of Rodeo Clowns/Bullfighters,” passed away in his sleep in Jackson, Miss., Feb. 13. Harris, who lived in Collierville, Tenn., was 83. The last rodeo Harris worked was the Dixie National Rodeo in Jackson, Miss., Feb. 6-12, working the night before he passed. Rodeo announcer Mike Mathis worked in Jackson with Harris. “(Lecile) said he was getting lightheaded and thought he might be getting the flu,” Mathis said about what Harris told him after the Feb. 12 rodeo in Jackson. “He said he was going to go to bed. I left Jackson this morning (Feb. 13) and came to Hattiesburg (Miss.). We start it with an event here and then the rodeo Friday and Saturday. Lecile told me that he was not going to get up early, he was going to sleep a little later and he would see me at Hattiesburg this afternoon (of Feb. 13). This morning, the people at the hotel went in and found him unresponsive. I was shocked.” Harris worked the Dixie National Rodeo 35 times. The first time Mathis and Harris worked a rodeo together was 37 years ago. “We’ve done lots and lots of rodeos together, and there was only one Lecile,” Mathis said. “He has timing like no one else and he loved comedy. Lecile fought bulls forever before he began to just do comedy. He was unique. He was a really good athlete. He was a musician. He was an entertainer. He had a varied career, but he loved rodeo and was a legend.” Scotty Lovelace, the general manager for Harper &Morgan Rodeo, became emotional when talking about Harris. Lovelace was the stock contractor for the Dixie National Rodeo. “Lecile was a dear friend of mine, and I’m heartbroken,” Lovelace said. “God put Lecile Harris on this Earth to make people laugh. He just had a wit about him, and he had timing. He always believed in timing. Timing was everything with announcers, with clowns, with me in production and how we presented flags. I learned a lot from Lecile. They loved Lecile all over the United States, but especially in the Southeast.” Harris got his start in rodeo as a bull rider and then a fill-in

LECILE’S HIGHLIGHTS BORN: Lake Cormorant, Miss., on Nov. 6, 1936 PRCA: Clown of the Year 1992, 1994-96

ACHIEVEMENTS: Inducted into ProRodeo Hall of Fame 2007; seven years on TV’s “Hee Haw;” bullfighter for U.S. rodeo team touring Africa; RAM National Circuit Finals Rodeo (Pocatello, Idaho) 1991, 1997, 2010; Canadian Finals Rodeo, five times; Dixie National Rodeo (Jackson, Miss.), 35 times; Collierville (Tenn.) Sports Hall of Fame. BOOK: “Lecile: This isn’t my first rodeo,” published 2016

John Moon photo Lecile Harris, the PRCA Clown of the Year in 1992 and 1994-96, waves to the crowd in this undated photo. Harris passed away Feb. 13, a day after he performed at the Dixie National Rodeo.

ProRodeo Sports News 2/21/2020

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