Notable • Inducted 2018 Walt Garrison was two types of cowboy, a fullback with the Dallas Cowboys and a ProRodeo competitor. Garrison grew up in Lewisville, Texas, where he spent his youth riding horses and steers. He competed in high school rodeo in bareback riding, bull riding, calf roping and steer...
Contract Personnel • Inducted 2018 Luke Leon Coffee grew up around horses, rodeo, and football. He competed as a junior rodeo contestant in bull riding, bareback riding, steer wrestling, and calf roping. He joined the U.S. Army after high school and served for three years. After encouragement from friend and bullfighter Michael...
Livestock • Inducted 2018 With his big blazed face French Flash Hawk, known as Bozo, was one of the most recognized athletes in ProRodeo in his time, a champion in the arena who touched off a revolution in barrel racing bloodlines. Purchased as a 2-year-old by Kristie Peterson for $400, Bozo stormed...
Belle Fourche, South Dakota • Inducted 2018 The Black Hills Roundup started when 15,000 people gathered in a field in Belle Fourche, S. D., to raise money for World War I in 1918. At the time, the population of Belle Fourche was 1,410. The next year marked the first time the...
Livestock • Inducted 2017 Bareback horse Smith & Velvet was the definition of a late bloomer. The horse, which was honored as the PRCA’s top bareback horse four times (1977, as Mr. Smith, and then 1979-80 and 1982, as Smith & Velvet), didn’t become an award-winning bucker until he was into his 20s. When...
Saddle Bronc Riding • Inducted 2017 Enoch Walker, the 1960 Saddle Bronc Riding World Champion and National Finals Rodeo average winner, took to the skies in his ascent to ProRodeo fame – qualifying for 10 NFRs during his 20-year tenure with the Rodeo Cowboys Association. In 1960, the 28-year-old cowboy had been...
All-Around • Inducted 2017 Austin “Buck” Rutherford hailed from the small northeast Oklahoma town of Lenapah. Rutherford lived as he rode – with fearless abandon. Competing in bareback riding, bull riding, saddle bronc riding and steer wrestling as a member of the Rodeo Cowboys Association, Rutherford was described by fellow all-around cowboy Bill...
Livestock • Inducted 2017 Star Plaudit holds a very unique record in the world of professional rodeo, one that is not likely to ever be duplicated. The sorrel gelding by Oklahoma Star Jr., out of Sunshine Plaudit, won two World Championships in the sport in a single year and contributed to a...
Notable • Inducted 2017 Bob Ragsdale was an all-around Montana cowboy, competing in steer wrestling, as well as calf roping and team roping. Qualifying for the National Finals Rodeo on 22 separate occasions, Ragsdale never won a world title, though his impact on rodeo has been profound. Ragsdale, the Montana High School All-Around...
Steer Wrestling • Inducted 2017 Tommy Puryear qualified for the National Finals Rodeo nine times, eight of which were consecutive, from 1971-78, and then again in 1983. The Texas bulldogger also won the world title in 1974 and the NFR average crown in 1976. He developed his winning style of bulldogging by studying...
