ProRodeo Sports News - Sept. 4, 2020

choice of participating nonprofit organizations. Rookie saddle bronc rider Riggin Smith sidelined Rookie saddle bronc rider Riggin Smith will miss the rest of the 2020 season after tearing the PCL, MCL and meniscus in his right leg at the Northwest Montana Fair and Rodeo in Kalispell, Aug. 22. Smith posted an 83.5-point ride on The Cervi Brothers’ Wyatt Earp, but things went south during his dismount. “It was a freak deal,” said Smith, 22. “I got off, and she ducked away from me as I was getting off. I guess my leg was hanging out there, and her butt hit my knee, and the outside of my ankle felt like it hit my hip.” The pain was familiar to Smith, having torn the ACL on his left leg before. “They were saying it’ll be six months before I can compete again, and that’s just not going to work for me,” said Smith, who added that he was going to call Dr. Tandy Freeman, the Medical Director of Justin Sportsmedicine. “… I will probably have surgery, but I’d rather it be him since he knows what we do.” With a month left in his rookie year, Smith was 22nd in the PRCA | RAM World As her children grew older, Charlot became active in the Outlook School PTA, 4-H and church programs. Employing her artistic talents, she tinted photographs and became an accomplished tool leather worker. In 1977, Frank and Charlot purchased a ranch near Ellensburg. With Frank, she managed Beard Rodeos, which provided bucking horses and bulls at rodeos across the West. Charlot managed the books, made travel arrangements, and washed and ironed a seemingly endless stream of Wrangler jeans. A trip to the National Finals Rodeo in Las Vegas capped each year, where many of their horses and bulls were selected for the rodeo. The Beard family was inducted into the Ellensburg Rodeo Hall of Fame and recognized as a foundation rodeo family at the World of Rodeo Reunion. In retirement, Charlot enjoyed her beloved home surrounded by friends, family, and a collection of Native American beadwork, Western art and cowboy memorabilia. At her request, there will be a private,

Standings with $27,164 and No. 1 in the PRCA | Resistol Rookie Standings by about $10,000. He was also 11th in the ProRodeo Tour Standings. Hay back from injury Saddle bronc rider Dawson Hay returned to action at the Golden Spike PRCA Bronc Riding Classic, Aug. 26 in Tremonton, Utah. Hay, who made his debut at the 2019 Wrangler National Finals Rodeo, finishing seventh in the world standings, had been out of action after suffering a skull fracture in Belle Fourche, S.D., July 3. “I saw a specialist in Los Angeles (Aug. 25), and he said it would be OK for me to get on and see how it goes,” said Hay, 22. Hay suffered a subdural hematoma and a fractured skull at the Black Hills Roundup after getting bucked off Powder River Rodeo’s Glass Heart. On July 7, Hay was eighth in the PRCA | RAM World Standings with $35,331. Hay was 14th in the world standings with $36,831 on Sept. 1. “I want to just get on, do my thing and ride the best I can,” Hay said. “I don’t like to pay too much attention to the standings too much anyway. I will just play it by ear and hopefully I end up at the NFR.” A girl, born Aug. 15, to team roping heeler Brady Minor and his wife, Ashley, of Ellensburg, Wash. Mesa weighed 3 pounds, 13.3 ounces and was 16.18 inches long. Mesa was welcomed home by her older brother, Maverick, 5. graveside service with a celebration of her life scheduled in the future. Beard asked that a contribution be made to the Union Gospel Mission in Yakima. Beard was preceded in death by son Kelly (Patti), her parents, sister Betty, and brothers John and Jim. She is survived by her husband, Frank; sons Casey (Anne), Tim (Val), Pat (Stephanie); and daughter, Shannon (Don) Stewart; brother Charles; and sister Ellen; 12 grandchildren; numerous great-grandchildren; nieces and nephews. MESA JEANNE MINOR ARRIVALS

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CHARLOT BEARD

BRIEFS RAM NCFR fundraiser will fill seats with cutouts With COVID-19 restrictions on outdoor events, the Island Grove arena in Greeley, Colo., will look a little emptier during the RAM National Circuit Finals Rodeo, Sept. 10-13. Instead of leaving the seats vacant, the Greeley Stampede is selling those seats as a fundraiser. “We are always looking for fun ways to give back to the community,” said Justin Watada, Greeley Stampede General Manager. “Selling the seats will not only help make the arena look fuller, it gives us an opportunity to give back.” When you purchase an empty seat, the Greeley Stampede will create a cutout to fill the seat that will remain for all five performances of the rodeo series which will be televised on The Cowboy Channel and the PRCA on Cowboy Channel Plus app. Each cutout will be custom made with the purchaser’s provided photo. The cutouts will be placed around the bucking chutes, one of the most visible locations in the arena. A portion of each seat cutout sold, $100 per location, will benefit the Friends of Island Grove and the purchaser’s at the family ranch on Sept. 3, 1947. In true rodeo fashion, they honeymooned at the Moses Lake, Wash., rodeo. They settled on a ranch near Outlook, Wash., welcoming their five children. Most weekends found the young family at a rodeo where Frank competed and served as a pickup man. Charlot Beard, wife of PRCA stock contractor Frank Beard, passed away Aug. 17. She was 92. Beard was born to John and Alta Van Belle in Mabton, Wash., on Jan. 25, 1928. Charlot attended Seattle Pacific University to study art. An accomplished horsewoman, she was the Toppenish PowWow Rodeo Queen in 1946. Charlot met her future husband, Frank, who was working for her father, rodeo stock contractor Johnny Van Belle. After a brief courtship, the couple married

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ProRodeo Sports News 9/4/2020

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