Contract Personnel • Inducted 1990 In 1946, Wilbur Plaugher was the all-around champion at the Madison Square Garden rodeo in New York. His clowning career was born later that year when he was asked to fill in as a bullfighter. He was the PRCA Clown of the Year in 1982. Plaugher...
Rodeo Notable • Inducted 1990 No one in the history of the National Finals Steer Roping has announced the event more times than Clem McSpadden. McSpadden of Chelsea, Okla., has announced the NFSR 27 times, starting in 1963 with his last coming in 2000. Born Nov. 9, 1925, in Busyhead, Okla.,...
Contract Personnel • Inducted 1990 Mel Lambert took to the microphone after trying every event in rodeo. Born June 6, 1920, he started competing when he was 16 and announced his first rodeo in Bend, Ore., in 1938. Lambert announced the National Finals Rodeo in 1969 and 1972, and during his...
Bull Riding • Inducted 1990 Lane Frost was as well-known for his friendly smile and magnetic personality as for his bull riding excellence. Frost credited his father, Clyde, and his friend and mentor, the late Freckles Brown, with teaching him to ride bulls and encouraging him to be a champion. Frost’s...
Stock Contractor • Inducted 1990 Verne Elliott started his rodeo career as a contestant. The Platteville, Colo., native competed in his first rodeo at the 1907 Cheyenne (Wyo.) Frontier Days, doing so in both the timed and roughstock events. A 1910 injury forced his retirement from competition, and he turned to...
Saddle Bronc Riding • Inducted 1990 Bobby Berger’s first world championship in 1979 was won by a margin of $5 over Tom Miller of Faith, S.D. Born June 22, 1945, in Halstead, Kan., Berger competed successfully in all three roughstock events. He qualified 13 times for the National Finals Rodeo, winning...
Stock Contractor • Inducted 1990 Rodeo was Walt Alsbaugh’s life for more than 60 years. He won the tie-down roping title in Monte Vista, Colo., when he was 13, and again 22 years later. During those years he competed in every event except bareback riding. Walt Alsbaugh Rodeo began with the...
All-Around • Inducted 1989 Many consider Gene Rambo the most versatile cowboy ever. Born in San Miguel, Calif., in 1929, Rambo competed in all three roughstock events (bareback riding, saddle bronc riding and bull riding) and all four timed events (steer wrestling, team roping, tie-down roping and steer roping). More importantly...
Steer Wrestling • Inducted 1989 Bill Pickett, born in 1870, is credited with founding bulldogging or steer wrestling, as it is known today. Legend has it that Pickett resorted to biting the lip of a recalcitrant steer to wrestle it to the dirt to get it into the corral. Pickett moved...
Contract Personnel • Inducted 1989 Known as the voice of Cheyenne Frontier Days for 26 years, Chuck Parkison started his rodeo career as a bareback rider, bull rider and sometime chute boss. Born Dec. 30, 1918, in Rapid City, S.D., his announcing career began in Los Angeles in 1947 when the...
