ProRodeo Sports News - March 3, 2023

IN MEMORIAM ... JIM SVOBODA

Legendary

Photo courtesy Jim Svoboda

Photographer Jim Svoboda was a rodeo photographer for 66 years and was the 2008 PRCA Photographer of the Year.

J im Svoboda, a legendary ProRodeo photographer for 66 years, passed away on Feb. 19. He was 88. “He told me last week he was going out happy and wanted us to be happy,” said son Von, one of Svoboda’s three children. Svoboda graduated in 1956 from the University of Nebraska at Lincoln. He worked 33 years for the USDA as County Executive Officer for the Agriculture Stabilization Conservation Service serving Garfield, Loup, andWheeler Counties until he retired in 1989. He also owned a ranch with his wife and family north of Burwell, Neb., prior to his retirement, where they owned a registered Hereford operation. The sport of rodeo, however, was his passion. Svoboda spent nearly 20 years as a successful four event all-around rodeo competitor, competing in steer wrestling, saddle bronc riding, bareback riding, and bull riding. His best streak was 54 bareback rides in a row. He filled his PRCA permit in 1958 and received his PRCA Gold card in 1984. A severely broken leg forced Svoboda to become a full-time rodeo photographer. With more than three million photos shot and nearly 40 cameras worn out, Svoboda was a true legend in the rodeo photography industry. He was recognized as the 2008 PRCA Photographer of the Year. Svoboda retired at his hometown rodeo in Burwell, Neb., in 2021. He first attended Nebraska’s Big Rodeo in Burwell in 1946.

ProRodeo photographer Jim Svoboda passes away

BY TRACY RENCK

ProRodeo Sports News 3/3/2023

ProRodeo.com

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