ProRodeo Sports News - February 19, 2021

In Memoriam LEE MARKHOLT 1939-2020

Lee Markholt a PRCA Gold Card Member and 2020 inductee into the Idaho Rodeo Hall of Fame, who finished third in the world standings for the 1970 National Finals Rodeo in bull riding, and seventh in the average passed away surrounded by his family at his home Oct. 3, 2020. He was 81. In 1970, the year he qualified for the Finals, he had an 83-point ride on Christensen Bros.’ Wilfred in Monroe, WA and also won rodeos in Spokane, WA., La Grange, CA., Sonora, CA., Guerneville, CA., Blackfoot, ID., Salem, OR., Tremonton, UT., and Cottage Grove, OR. Markholt was an inspiring tough Cowboy with a heart of gold. He was born in Seattle, WA Feb. 15, 1939 and always dreamed of becoming a cowboy. He got on his first ProRodeo bull at 17, bought his permit and although he didn’t fill it, he began competing as a Pro in the RCA. He didn’t officially join the RCA until 1962 although he had been competing in RCA rodeos and saying he had his card since he was 18. He always said, “I would rather be a small fish in the big pond. I wanted to be a Pro.” Lee worked as a Cowboy on ranches

in Northern California and the labor list at many rodeos. “The only way you could learn your skills was to pay your entry fees and go at it,” Markholt said. When he was 21, he began working for Christensen Bros.; by age 22 he became stock boss and foreman due to his hard work ethic. At 5’11” and 167 lbs. he was tall for a bull rider and small for a steer wrestler. Lee’s biggest accomplishments for combined event awards in bull riding and steer wrestling are; 3 rd in the North Star Circuit Finals in 1966, as well as 9 All Around Champion Cowboy Awards; Oregon State Fair in Salem, OR 1971, 72, and 76, 2 nd Annual Renton Eagles Frontier Days in Renton, WA, Washington State Fair in Puyallup, WA 1973, Coos County Fair in Myrtle Point, OR 1975, Kitsap County Fair in Bremerton, WA 1975, Cowlitz County Fair in Longview, WA 1976, and Rogue Valley Roundup in Medford, OR 1980. Some of the biggest wins of his bull riding career were winning the Golden State Finals at Anaheim, CA in 1970. Lee

was also the Columbia River Circuit Champion in 1978 at age 39; he won 2 nd place in the Circuit in 1976 and 1979, and 3 rd place in 1980 the year he retired from bull riding at the age of 41. Markholt was the first cowboy to ride some of the top ranked NFR eliminator bulls in the PRCA. They are in no particular order #6 Too Salty of Big Bend Rodeo Co. at Walla Walla, WA in 1973, #26 Tricky Dick of RSC Rodeo Co. at a small rodeo in Northern California, OJ of Jim Shoulders at the NFR in 1970, #12 Cowtown of Howard Harris’s at Denver in January of 1969. After Lee rode Cowtown George Paul came over to him shook his hand and told Lee that he had just been bucked off of Cowtown at the NFR in 1968 breaking his record of riding 79 bulls in a row. Lee also rode Son of Frankenstein of Perry and Hook Rodeo Co. at Williams Lake, BC in 1970 and #17 of Big Bend Rodeo Co. at

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