ProRodeo Sports News - Feb. 21, 2020

James Phifer photo

A group of Clydesdales runs through the dirt at Dickies Arena during the Fort Worth Stock Show & Rodeo, Feb. 5.

ProRodeo Sports News 2/21/ 2020 PRCA NOTES 68 JOHNNY KIRK EDMONDSON Johnny Kirk Edmondson, of McCaulley, Texas, a former PRCA tie- down roper, passed away Feb. 9 at Fisher County Hospital in Rotan. He was 73. Edmondson was born Nov. 5, 1946, and raised in San Saba on the Colorado River. His roping started at an early age during the drought as a necessity of trying to keep cattle on the right side of a dry river. He gave his parents, J.C. and Grace, credit for his success. He started competing in local FFA rodeos at the age of 12 and in the early 1960s joined the AJRA. He won the tie- down roping, ribbon roping, steer wrestling and all-around titles in 1966. In the fall of 1965, Johnny entered Tarleton State College in Stephenville, Texas. Edmondson qualified for the College National Finals Rodeo three times. His team won the national championship in 1967. Edmondson was a regional tie-down roping champion in 1967, 1968 and 1969. He graduated from Tarleton with a bachelor’s degree in Agriculture Education. He joined the PRCA where he won the average in San Antonio and placed second in Dallas to help him win the tie-down roping title the first year the Texas Circuit was formed in 1975. Edmondson won San Antonio and Dallas, placed at Cheyenne and Houston, and won the prestigious OS Ranch Rodeo in 1974 by winning both go-rounds, the short round and the average. He also placed at the San Angelo (Texas) Invitational Roping. In 2000, he was inducted into the Cowboy Walk of Fame in Stephenville, and in 2013 he was inducted into the Tarleton State University Rodeo Hall of Fame. PASSAGES Edmondson

In 1968, he married Diltzie Bland. They had a son, Carter, and a daughter, Lorissa. Johnny and Diltzie lived in Roby, Texas, where he had a swine operation for 25 years and ran cattle and produced hay. He also spent years assisting the Bland family-owned business, the Cal-Tex Feedyard in Trent. Edmondson was known for how he treated people. He had a way of making people feel valued and was a master of making people feel like they could accomplish anything. Edmondson was preceded in death by his parents J.C. and Grace; father-in-law, R.L. Bland; and brother-in-law, Steve Bland. Edmondson is survived by the love of his life Diltzie; son, Carter (Tessa); daughter, Lorissa (Charlie); grandchildren Nealy, Chaynee, Hallie Rose, Cason, Carty, Creed, Chaylis and Clay; mother-in-law, Rosemary Bland Hayter; sister, Patricia (Sammy) Smith; brothers-in-law Rex (Kathy) Bland and John (Barbara) Bland; sisters-in-law Becky (Terry) Brown and Tootie Bland; and numerous nieces, nephews and cousins.

ProRodeo.com