ProRodeo Sports News - June 23, 2022

NOTABLE

PRCA ProRodeo file photo

Mel Potter A familiar face in rodeo BY JOLEE JORDAN, Special to ProRodeo Sports News I nducted into the Notables category, Mel Potter comes to the ProRodeo Hall of Fame after a lifetime spent participating in nearly every aspect of the rodeo business. Getting his card as a kid in 1951 roping calves, he qualified to the first National Finals Rodeo in 1959. “My dad asked me what I was going to do, and I said, ‘rodeo and make lots of money,’” Potter, 87, said. After the Finals, he reevaluated. “I had worn out my station wagon, one of my two bloodlines on bucking horses he once bought from Feek Tooke, some of which trace down to fellow 2022 ProRodeo Hall of Fame inductee Medicine Woman. “All of the others going in (to the Hall) are friends, except I’ve never met Jerry Nelson (owner of Medicine Woman),” he said. “I’ve met a lot of neat people, made a lot of friends.” Over the course of more than five decades as a competitor, Potter won major rodeos like Calgary, Denver, Phoenix, Tucson and Cheyenne. The Daddy of ‘emAll added Potter to their Hall of Fame in 2003. Potter competed in tie-down roping, team roping and

“My dad asked me what I was going to do, and I said, ‘rodeo and make lots of money.’ I had worn out my station wag on, one of my two horses was crippled, the trailer needed new tires and I thought, I better go learn how to raise cran berries!”

horses was crippled, the trailer needed new tires and I thought, I better go learn how to raise cranberries!” Though Potter never again rodeoed full time, focusing on his family business raising cranberries inWisconsin, he stayed active in the business, spending 10 years as a stock contractor with Rodeos, Inc., where they owned two-time Top Saddle Bronc of the NFR, Major Reno, along with many other outstanding animals. He also served four years on the PRCA Board of Directors from 1996-99. Potter has had major influence in the industry through his breeding program, which has produced world champion horses and NFR qualifiers in several events. Passionate about bloodlines, Potter even knows

steer roping, last qualifying to the Great Lakes Circuit Finals Rodeo in 2010 and placing in ProRodeos as recently as 2015. As a pilot with his own plane, he was able to “lead a double life,” as he put it, working in the morning and making a rodeo that night. “My wife always said I was a rodeo junkie,” Potter laughed. “I’ve had an interesting life.” As for being recognized for that life, Potter laughed that he wasn’t sure about the decision making of the Hall of Fame selection committee. “I’m grateful to them but I’m not sure why they selected me,” he joked. “It’s a pretty cool honor and I’m tickled to be selected.”

– MEL POTTER

ProRodeo Sports News 6/24/2022

ProRodeo.com

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