ProRodeo Sports News - October 13, 2023

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PRCA announces 2023 Polaris Remuda Awards

BY THE NUMBERS 83

On Oct. 9, the PRCA announced its 2023

The Burch family, Max, his wife, George Ann, and their sons, Chad and Matt run the rodeo company based in Gillette, Wyo. The Burch Rodeo Company has been sanctioned in the PRCA since 1999 and the company will have bareback and saddle bronc horses and bulls competing at the 2023 Wrangler National Finals Rodeo, Dec. 7-16 at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas. John Adams, the chairman of the Douglas County Fair & Rodeo committee, was thrilled about the honor. “To receive an award like this is payoff for what I would say is over 100 years of work,” Adams said. “Our first rodeo was in 1918 and it has been a fun journey for an awful lot of people, and it is really neat to be recognized at this point and time. The 2023 Polaris Remuda Award winners will be honored at the PRCA Awards Banquet at the South Point Hotel in Las Vegas at 6 p.m. (PT), Dec. 6, the eve of the Wrangler NFR.

The bull riding percentage for Stetson Wright in the month of September. Wright made the eight-second whistle on 19 of-23 bulls he climbed aboard. Wright, the reigning PRCA Bull Riding Champion, will head to the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo Dec. 7-16 in Las Vegas as the season leader in the PRCA | RAM World Standings with $368,630. $20K The amount of money ($20,421) earned by Brody Cress at the Brad Gjermundson Extreme Broncs in New Town, N.D., Oct. 6-7. He split the win in the average with Qwint Stroh. $309K The combined amount ($309,250) earned by the nine champions in bareback riding, steer wrestling, team roping heading, team roping heeling, saddle bronc riding, tie down roping, breakaway roping, barrel racing and bull riding at the Cinch Playoffs Governor’s Cup presented by Community Coffee on Sept. 30 in Sioux Falls, S.D. $1.1M The payout ($1.1 million) of the inaugural Cinch Playoffs Governor’s Cup presented by Community Coffee on Sept. 28-30 in Sioux Falls, S.D. It was the richest rodeo in South Dakota history.

Polaris Remuda Awards.

The best pen of bucking horses brought to PRCA rodeos is Burch Rodeo Company and the committee recognized for assembling the best pen of bucking horses is the Douglas County Fair & Rodeo in Castle Rock, Colo. The annual Remuda Awards go to the stock contracting firm and rodeo committee that provide the best, most consistent pen of bucking horses, creating the best opportunities for contestants to score well. This is the first time Burch Rodeo Company and the Douglas County Fair & Rodeo have won Remuda Awards. “We’re tickled pink,” Chad Burch said. “It is very surprising. We didn’t have any thought about the award, let alone winning it. I have known about the award since they started doing it (in 2004), but I didn’t think we ever had a chance of winning it. It was very surprising and very cool to win this award. That’s a lot of bragging rights.”

Five-time NFR qualifier Wiley passes

Bob Wiley, who qualified for the National Finals Rodeo five times from 1961-65 in tie-down roping, passed away Aug. 19. He was 87. Wiley was the reserve world

Porterville (Calif.) College. While he was at PC he worked as an extra-help deputy and as a rodeo cowboy to support his family. In May 1965, he made a name for himself in calf roping, competing across the state, the country and Canada.

champion in 1963 at the NFR in Los Angeles. The world champion was ProRodeo Hall of Famer Dean Oliver. In 1964, Wiley finished fifth in the world standings and was second in the average to ProRodeo Hall of Famer Jim Bob Altizer. After his rodeo days were done, Wiley served as the Tulare County, Calif., sheriff from 1967 to 1991. The Bob Wiley Detention Facility north of Visalia, Calif., is named in his honor. Wiley graduated from Kingsburg High School, where he was a standout in football and track. Wiley went on to play football at Wiley

He competed in the Cheyenne

(Wyo.) Frontier Days and the Calgary Stampede. When he

retired as sheriff in 1991, he continued to compete in a few senior rodeos and taught boys and girls how to rope. Wiley also served as president of the California State Sheriffs’ Association. In 1972, Wiley was the subject of a column written by Pulitzer Prize-winning sports columnist Red Smith for the New York Times , covering Wiley’s experience in rodeo while competing at the Woodlake Rodeo while serving as sheriff at the same time.

ProRodeo Sports News 10/13/2023

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