ProRodeo Sports News - October 5, 2018

LEGACY

Voice of Cowtown

Longtime rodeo announcer Dusty Cleveland is stepping away from announcing after a career that spanned six decades and saw him announce for 35 consecutive years at the Cowtown Rodeo in Woodstown Pilesgrove, N.J. Photo courtesy Betsy Harris

Dusty Cleveland steps down after lengthy announcer tenure BY SCOTT KANIEWSKI D usty Cleveland remembers the experience well. Among more than 650 performances as the rodeo announcer at the Cowtown Rodeo inWoodstown Pilesgrove, N.J., that’s saying something. He had just finished announcing with the famed ClemMcSpadden. The man whose name graces the ClemMcSpadden National Finals Steer Roping said goodbye and headed out of the announcer’s box. “Next thing I know I heard a tap on the announcer’s stand,” Cleveland recounted. “I turned around and it was him. I said, ‘Yeah, Clem, what’s the matter?’ He said, ‘I just want to tell you something. Son, don’t you take a back seat to nobody as far as being behind that microphone. You’ve done a heck of a job.’ “I never got over that.” In a career that has spanned six decades and 50 years, that was one of the first memories that popped into Cleveland’s mind when asked to look back on his career, and rightfully so. Cleveland, who has been the rodeo announcer for 35 consecutive years at the Cowtown Rodeo, called his final rodeo Sept. 29.

“It was a privilege,” Cleveland said. “When you work for Cowtown you’re working in the high echelon for the rodeo industry as far as stock contractors are concerned.” HITTING HIS GOAL Betsy Harris has been the owner and producer of the Cowtown Rodeo for 40 years. She and her husband, Grant, handed over announcing duties for good to Cleveland. He had announced at the Cowtown Rodeo before, but this time they were bringing him in for good. Now, several words come to Betsy’s mind when thinking of Cleveland. “Another word that comes to mind when I think of Dusty is pure loyalty,” Betsy Harris said. “He was pure Cowtown for us for 35 years.” Cleveland never left. He never missed a perf over the next 34 years until last year when bad news hit. Cleveland was diagnosed with multiple myeloma, a type of cancer. He still called more than half of the 2017 performances – there are 19 per summer at Cowtown. Eventually, the illness forced him out the rest of 2017. No one was sure just what would happen when the summer of 2018 rolled around. But on May 26, 2018, the first day of this season’s Cowtown Rodeo, there was Cleveland, up in the announcer’s box, or as those in the

ProRodeo Sports News 10/5/2018

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