ProRodeo Sports News - May 26, 2023

PRORODEO HISTORY

Tooke was revered in rodeo, his great-grandson is immortalizing those stories in documentary ‘Feek’s Vision’ Photo Courtesy Toby Tooke Toby Chandler Tooke, middle, the great-grandson of ProRodeo legend Chandler Earl “Feek” Tooke, shares a light moment with ProRodeo Hall of Famers Mel Potter and Larry Mahan.

BY BECKY HILLIER E kalaka, Mont., sits in the far southeastern corner of Big Sky Country. It seems a world away from the majestic, snowcapped mountains people typically envision when they think of Montana. Ekalaka is known for its wide-open prairies, weather extremes and the dinosaur fossils recovered from the area’s plentiful sandstone rocks. The 400 people who call this rugged, remote part of Montana home, know of Ekalaka’s true claim to fame – one even more impressive than dinosaurs. Bucking horses. It’s a story that began innocently enough in the 1930s, when a cowboy named Chandler Earl “Feek” Tooke, along with his brothers, started hosting weekly rodeos in Ekalaka. The rodeos were the main attraction, but

according to Feek’s great-grandson Toby, Feek made sure there was plenty of other entertainment too. “He made it worth their while to drive there,” Toby said. “In addition to the rodeo there was boxing, wild mare milking, baseball, and a dance. Something for everyone.” Production of those weekly rodeos eventually spawned another career, one for which Feek is revered. He started a breeding program for rodeo broncs, famously pairing registered Shire stallions with cross-bred mares. It

ProRodeo Sports News 5/26/2023

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