ProRodeo Sports News, June 29, 2018

TIME CAPSULE

A Pioneer Member No. 14: Richmond competed until age 84

G eorge Richmond was one of the first cowboys to join the Rodeo Cowboys Association, but he was far from be- ing one of the first to retire. The Idaho cowboy, born Feb. 6, 1920, was member No. 14 and continued to compete until the age of 84, when at the 2004 Pendleton (Ore.) Round-Up he finished fourth in the Gold Card Steer Roping. Richmond’s first PRCA competition was at Belle Fourche, S.D., in 1942. Not even World War II could stop him from competing in all the timed events while he served at Fort Robinson (Neb.) for three years as a U.S. Army corporal. “The cavalry was disbanded when World War II started, and they shipped most of the horses there

• Red Lodge, Mont. – Tie-down roping (1946 and ’57- 58) • Puyallup, Wash. – Tie-down roping (1954 and ’57) • Deadwood, S.D. – Tie-down roping (1955) • Hayward, Calif. – Team roping with Earl Morgan (1957) • Walla Walla, Wash. – Steer roping (1985) Richmond was 65 years old when he won steer roping titles in Moses Lake, Wash., and Walla Walla, Wash., while earning a check at the Pendleton Round-Up on his way to becoming the 1985 Dodge Columbia River Circuit year-end champion. He qualified for the Dodge Columbia River Circuit Finals Rodeo for the last time in 1991. “I beat all the young guys, which was kind of like, I say an ego-satisfying thing,” Richmond told PSN in 1996. When his career as a full-time cowboy ended around

to Fort Robinson, and we took care of them,” Richmond told ProRodeo Sports News in 1996. “I had a very understanding commanding officer. I built a calf roping arena right there on the post and used an Army horse to rope from.” He used that same Army horse the first time he competed at Cheyenne (Wyo.) Frontier Days. From 1943 through 1999, Richmond competed in nearly every steer roping event at Cheyenne. He started going to Pendleton in 1947 and stood fourth in a field of 68 after the first day of steer roping in 1991. Over the years, Richmond left his mark at many of the biggest rodeos in the country, including wins at: • Belle Fourche, S.D. – Bull riding (1945) • Ellensburg, Wash. – All-around and tie-down roping (1946)

1960, Richmond and his wife, Alberta, moved from Park City, Mont., and bought a cattle ranch in Hayden Lake, Idaho. Over the years, he also owned a real estate business, worked as a rodeo announcer and ran a tie-down roping school, where one of his students was future 1975 World Champion Tie-Down Roper Jeff Copenhaver. Richmond went on to be inducted into the Pendleton Round-Up Hall of Fame in 2012 and the Montana ProRodeo Hall and Wall of Fame. He and Alberta had two sons, Dave and Lee, and two daughters, JoAnne and Jeanne, and 10 grandchildren. Lee and Dave were also PRCA competitors – Lee was the 1987 Dodge Columbia River Circuit year-end steer roping champion. Richmond’s wife preceded him in death on Feb. 24, 2013. He died May 2, 2013, at 93 years old.

ProRodeo Sports News 6/29/2018

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