Contract Personnel • Inducted 2019 Tommy Lucia’s rodeo career started at the age of 15 riding bareback horses and bulls. When a friend was injured, he filled in as the clown and bull fighter. At 20, he made the switch to fulltime bull fighting. At the urging of George Doak, Lucia...
Steer Wrestling • Inducted 2019 Dean Gorsuch eased into professional rodeo. The Nebraskan spent five years as a pipeline welder for Kinder Morgan and a weekend circuit contender before jumping into fulltime rodeo in 2005. That year, he finished sixth in the world. By the end of 2006, Gorsuch had a...
Cody, Wyoming • Inducted 2019 Cody, Wyoming, is often called the “Rodeo Capitol of the World.” The Cody Stampede Rodeo has attracted countless tourists to the small-town east of Yellowstone National Park entrance since 1919. With a population of only 10,000, Cody draws 800-900 contestants per year with a payout of over...
Bull Riding • Inducted 2019 A better nickname for Doug Brown would have been the “Comeback Kid,” but instead Shawn Davis overheard R.C. Bales ask for the “droopy-eyed” kid and “Droopy” stuck. Brown staged a phenomenal comeback in 1979, placing third in the All-Around race after having retired from the sport...
Stock Contractors • Inducted 2019 *Inducted as a pair with Elra Beutler. Elra and John Arthur “Jiggs” Beutler formed Beutler and Son Rodeo Company in 1956. Elra had previously worked with his brothers, Jake and Lynn, to form the Beutler Brothers Rodeo Company. The new company started with seven rodeos their first...
Stock Contractors • Inducted 2019 *Inducted as a pair with Jiggs Beutler. Elra and John Arthur “Jiggs” Beutler formed Beutler and Son Rodeo Company in 1956. Elra had previously worked with his brothers, Jake and Lynn, to form the Beutler Brothers Rodeo Company. The new company started with seven rodeos their first...
Team Roping • Inducted 2019 Allen Bach fell in love with roping at an early age. In order to concentrate more on roping, he moved from Washington to Arizona in high school so that he could practice longer. In 1977, he joined the PRCA and went to the National Finals Rodeo...
Team Roping • Inducted 2018 Ken “Speed” Williams was born and raised in Jacksonville, Fla. He started roping before he could walk, and by the time he was 14 he had a bank account full of winnings. Williams bought his PRCA card in 1988 and competed in the Southeastern Circuit calf...
Team Roping • Inducted 2018 Rich Skelton bought his PRCA card in 1986 and at the time of his induction, he was still competing. He made his first National Finals Rodeo appearance in 1990 heeling for Tee Woolman. When Woolman decided to slow down in late 1997, Skelton joined with header...
Barrel Racing • Inducted 2018 Kristie Peterson’s rise to stardom in the Women’s Professional Rodeo Association started in 1989, when she was working as a captain at her local sheriff’s department overseeing the jail and dispatchers but decided to try her hand at professional rodeo after earning titles in youth and...
