Lifetime Achievement • Inducted 1999 Charles Wilken, known to everyone as Lefty, was born in 1920 in Valentine, Texas, to a family of pioneers who made their living with mules and wagons. At a very early age, Wilken was riding horseback and packing a rope. He was an outstanding athlete competing...
Livestock • Inducted 1990 Red Rock, owned by Growney Brothers Rodeo Company, started bucking in PRCA rodeos in 1983. He retired from the arena after the 1987 National Finals Rodeo, unridden in 309 attempts. His retirement was brief. In 1988, John Growney created the “Challenge of the Champions.” This seven-ride match...
Livestock • Inducted 1990 Crooked Nose may be the most famous fighting bull in rodeo. Rodeo fans loved him and bull fighters dreaded him. He was born in 1977 on the Harry Vold Rodeo Ranch in Fowler, Colorado. His mother was a Mexican crossbred fighting cow and his sire was the...
All-Around • Inducted 1990 His rodeo career began when Gerald Roberts was 13. He ran away to join a wild west show and was hooked. Four years later, Roberts was riding bucking horses and bulls in the Cowboys Turtle Association. Roberts competed in all three roughstock events. Saddle bronc riding was his...
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...
