BABY DOLL Livestock/timed event horse • Steer Wrestling Inducted 1979
From 1953-60, Baby Doll earned more than $400,000 for her owner, the late, Willard Combs of Checotah, Okla. She carried Combs’ younger brother, the late Benny Combs, to the world steer wrestling title in 1955. In 1957 she took Willard Combs to the world championship. Sired by Oklahoma Star, Jr., the capable Doll had more fans than the men who rode her. Baby Doll’s popularity increased after she was featured in a 1958 Life magazine article. A score of contestants from across the nation attended her burial in 1960.
ELLEN BACKSTROM Contract Personnel • Inducted 1995
Known as the “First Lady” of rodeo, Ellen Backstrom, born Sept. 9, 1929, in Missoula, Mont., began her rodeo career as a young child, singing during intermissions for her father’s productions. After years spent as a bookkeeper, she decided to hit the barrel racing circuit. She filled in as a timer and rodeo secretary and found her true calling, becoming a full-time rodeo secretary in 1969. She said, “I realized I could make more in a month as a secretary than I could in a year as a contestant!” During her career, Backstrom worked for most of the big name stock contractors and at major rodeos in Denver, San Antonio, Houston, Fort Worth, Texas, San Francisco, Albuquerque, N.M., and Phoenix, as well as hundreds of small rodeos. In 1973 she was the rodeo secretary for the National High School Finals, the College National Finals and the National Finals Rodeo. She was the NFR secretary four times between 1973 and 1982. Backstrom was elected as contract personnel director in the late 1970s, making her the only woman ever to serve on the PRCA’s Board of Directors. Cowboys honored Backstrom in 1984 by presenting her with a world champion secretary buckle. She died March 22, 1988.
A love of horses and the cowboy lifestyle marked Malcolm Baldrige’s life. Born Oct. 4, 1922, in Omaha, Neb., Baldrige was a confirmed cowboy by the age of 7. At 20, he already had spent six summers working as a cowboy for a dollar a day and room and board. Education and World War II took him from the range. Mac roped in amateur competitions in the 1950s while beginning a successful business career. In 1969 he became an RCA member and went on to win team roping events in New York, Michigan and California. He was a familiar face in Denver, whether roping at the National Western or meeting with the RCA Board. Mac was known as a strong competitor who never had trouble finding a partner. As chairman of Scovill Industries from 1962-1980, he increased company sales to more than $1 billion. Business and rodeo took a back seat in 1981 when Baldrige was appointed U.S. Secretary of Commerce, a job he held from 1981-87. Baldrige’s philosophy was simple, and he lived it in his business, political and rodeo careers: “Success is finding something you really like to do and caring enough about it to do it well. Sticking your neck out if you’re sure you’re right and getting lucky.” Baldrige was the PRCA’s Rodeo Man of the Year in 1981. He died July 25, 1987.
Rodeo’s most talked-about tie-down roping horse of the 1940s was a streak-faced, badly scarred sorrel named Baldy. He was directly responsible for four world championships. Clyde Burk of Comanche, Okla., won the world tie-down roping title astride Baldy in 1942 and 1944. After a fatal accident in 1945, Clyde’s widow sold Baldy to Troy Fort of Lovington, N.M. Fort captured the world championship in 1947 and 1949. Shortly thereafter Baldy developed a heart condition and was retired. Three-time world champion steer roper Ike Rude trained Baldy. However, early in Baldy’s rodeo career, his trailer caught fire and his left foreleg was severely burned. Veterinarians were amazed the resulting scar tissue left no apparent stiffness.
BOB BARNES Stock Contractor • Inducted 1994
Bob Barnes has been called the premier rodeo producer in America’s heartland. Known as the “Colonel,” Barnes prides himself on being able to produce what he advertises – a top professional rodeo. Barnes, born April 19, 1929, in Cherokee, Iowa, started his rodeo career as a teenage amateur bareback rider. In 1950 he and his sister, Marge, decided to try their hand at producing rodeos. Their first professional rodeo was produced after the Korean War. By 1953 they hit the road with a full string of stock and the Barnes Rodeo Company was on its way. Barnes Rodeo Company is the longest running, individually owned and operated stock contracting company in the country and the major contributor to developing rodeo in the Midwest. Barnes, the 1984 Stock Contractor of the Year, says the greatest enjoyment he gets from rodeo is seeing the results when the top stock is matched against the better cowboy.
JAKE BARNES Team Roping • Inducted 1997
Jake Barnes says he was born to swing a rope, and few would disagree. After joining the PRCA in 1980, he qualified for the National Finals Rodeo his rookie season, heading for Allen Bach. He then partnered with legendary Leo Camarillo, before joining forces with Clay O’Brien Cooper. Barnes and Cooper found a formula that led to a record seven world team roping championships. Barnes and Cooper share the NFR team roping aggregate record of 59.1 seconds on 10 head, established in 1994. He was a Dodge National Circuit Finals champion in 1987, 1989 and 1995. Barnes also was the Turquoise Circuit team roping champion in 1985, 1989, 1992, 1994 and 1995. “It has been my dream since I was a little kid to be a world champion,” Barnes said. “All I ever wanted was to be a champion and wear a world buckle.” Barnes was born April 4, 1959, in Huntsville, Texas.
