ProRodeo Sports News - Dec. 21, 2018

PRORODEO HALL OF FAME

A Perfect 10 ProRodeo Hall of Fame inducts 10 in 2018

BY PRCA STAFF T en more names were added to the list of ProRodeo Hall of Fame inductees on Aug. 4. Headlining the 2018 class were team roping stars Speed Williams and Rich Skelton, who won eight consecutive PRCA world championships together from 1997-2004. Williams and Skelton were joined by gold buckle-winner Deb Greenough (bareback riding, 1993), contract personnel recipient Leon Coffee, stock contractor Billy Minick, rodeo notable Walt Garrison and the committee for the Black Hills Roundup in Belle Fourche, S.D., as the PRCA inductees. For the second time in ProRodeo Hall of Fame history (2017 being the first) barrel racers from the Women’s Professional Rodeo Association (WPRA) were among the class of inductees – Kristie Peterson, Billie McBride and French Flash Hawk (Bozo), a WPRA equine inductee. In addition to the 10 inductees, former PRCA Chief Operating Officer Kay Bleakly received the Ken Stemler Pioneer Award, which honors individuals in recognition of their groundbreaking, innovative ideas and forward thinking. Williams and Skelton were the pinnacle of team roping for nearly a decade, and in August they were basking in their rodeo immortality.

“This puts an exclamation point on my career,” Skelton said. “I won the world championships, the NFR average and won the circuits and did everything I wanted to, and now this finishes off my career, even though I’m still going.” Williams qualified for the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo 15 times (1988, 1994, 1996-2008). Skelton has 22 NFR qualifications on his résumé (1990-2006, 2009-10, 2013-15). “I was one of the first guys that could get it on them fast and handle the steers,” Williams said. “Changing the game and developing a new way to do things, I take a lot of pride in being able to foresee some of the things we could do to improve.” Greenough qualified for the NFR 13 consecutive years (1988- 2000) and tied with Joe Alexander for the fifth-most bareback riding NFR qualifications in PRCA history. Greenough won a bareback riding world title in 1993 and an NFR average title in 1992. “This is something you never even expected or dreamed about,” Greenough said. “Ever since I was a kid all I ever wanted to do was rodeo, and I was fortunate enough to be able to do that. I had a good time and I still miss it (competing). This came along (being inducted) and I was choked up again. Hearing people clapping, you miss that sound. “There are no other jobs out there in the workforce that I can think of where you get that kind of treatment. I never really looked at it as a job, I

ProRodeo Sports News 12/21/2018

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