All-Around • Inducted 2009 One of the best all-around hands from the first half of the 20th century, Leonard Ward had his greatest year in 1934 when he won the saddle bronc riding, bareback riding and all-around world championships, becoming the first cowboy to achieve a Triple Crown by winning three...
Bull Riding • Inducted 2009 The PRCA Rookie of the Year in 1980, when just a year out of Manteca (Calif.) High School, Ted Nuce competed in his first National Finals Rodeo at 21 and was as consistent as any bull rider of his era. Nuce won the world championship in...
Saddle Bronc Riding • Inducted 2009 Dan Mortensen was born December 16, 1968 in Billings, Montana. His six saddle bronc riding world championships (1993-95, 1997-98 and 2003) tied the legendary Casey Tibbs for the event record. He also won the all-around world championship in 1997, edging fellow Hall of Fame inductee...
Stock Contractor • Inducted 2009 After a decade of producing amateur rodeos, Erv Korkow joined the PRCA in 1958 and formed Korkow-Sutton Rodeo Company with fellow South Dakota stock contractor James Sutton Sr. They had stock in every National Finals Rodeo from its inception in 1959 through the dissolution of their...
Lifetime Achievement • Inducted 2009 Just 15 years, 11 months old when he qualified for the National Finals Rodeo the first time in 1962 – the second-youngest competitor in NFR history – Ace Berry remained a fixture there into the mid-1970s, competing at both ends of the arena. The Oakdale, Calif.,...
Steer Roping • Inducted 2009 A rancher all of his life, Walt Arnold didn’t compete full time until he was 25 years old, yet he qualified for the National Finals Steer Roping 19 times (1965-67, 1969-72, 1974-82, 1984-86), a number surpassed only by Guy Allen and Arnold Felts in steer roping...
