Celebrated rodeo clown joins Sanders, Hilton as award-winners working rodeo ESTES PARK, Colo. – Justin Rumford is just naturally funny, and that’s a good thing. He’s a comedian by nature, something he picked up years ago on his family’s Kansas ranch. Now he is the preeminent funnyman in professional rodeo, having been named the Clown[...]

CLAREMORE, Okla. – The dirt on their faces said something about Conner and Sterling Pharr. They’re having fun on the rodeo trail with their daddy, Tim. So is he, for that matter. He has set up his rodeo schedule around his sons’ education; not that school’s out for the summer, the boys jumped in the[...]

CLAREMORE, Okla. – Matt Reeves just missed his seventh qualification to the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo a season ago. He doesn’t want to do that again. On Saturday night during the second performance of the Will Rogers Stampede PRCA Rodeo, Reeves wrestled his steer to the ground in 4.3 seconds to move into second place[...]

CLAREMORE, Okla. – Louie Brunson has been ever so close to qualifying for ProRodeo’s grand finale, the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo. If he keeps riding like he did Friday night at the Will Rogers Stampede PRCA Rodeo, he might make it there yet. Brunson matched moves with Pete Carr Pro Rodeo’s Django for 85 points[...]

CLAREMORE, Okla. – The opening night of the Will Rogers Stampede PRCA Rodeo was the perfect time to celebrate all that Clem McSpadden was. “We’re here to pay tribute to a man who gave us a lifetime of public service to his community, to his rodeo and to his country,” Claremore City Manager Jim Thomas[...]

I’m not sure why, but today hit me hard. It’s been 18 years since my mom died. Maybe it was my aunt’s post about missing her sissy. Maybe it was the comments that revealed a certain specialness about my mom. Nonetheless, there have been a wide range of tears shed over the last 12 or[...]

CLAREMORE, Okla. – The word about the Will Rogers Stampede is spreading across ProRodeo. This year’s Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association event is set for 7:30 p.m. Friday, May 25-Sunday, May 27, at Will Rogers Stampede Arena, and it will feature more than 550 entrants for the competition. That says something about Claremore’s rodeo. “We’re just[...]

GUNNISON, Colo. – “Tuffy” has been a godsend for many breast cancer patients in the Gunnison valley. The RAM 1500 pickup was purchased a couple years ago by Cattlemen’s Days Tough Enough to Wear Pink to serve as transportation for those families that receive treatment outside Gunnison County. In addition to that, the vehicle is[...]

CLAREMORE, Okla. – It’s no coincidence that the Will Rogers Stampede PRCA Rodeo began winning awards soon after teaming with Pete Carr Pro Rodeo. The Dallas-based firm began producing the annual Memorial Day weekend rodeo in 2013, and Claremore’s rodeo earned the first of four straight Small Rodeo of the Year honors a year later.[...]

Rookie scores 91 points to upend BFO’s greatest stars KENNEWICK, Wash. – It didn’t take long for Justin Ward to find his comfort zone in freestyle bullfighting. Just two months ago, he was part of the Bullfighters Only Development Camp in San Bernardino, Calif., learning the tricks of the trade. On Saturday night, he put[...]