ProRodeo Sports News - August 24, 2018

ProRodeo Hall of Fame rodeo clown/bullfighter Chuck Henson passed away Aug. 11 in Tucson, Ariz. He was 87. Henson was inducted into the ProRodeo Hall of Fame in Colorado Springs, Colo., in 1995. Henson was born with rodeo blood in his veins on Feb. 4, 1931, in Arcadia, Fla., where his parents – Charlie and Margie – were competing at a rodeo. Margie was one of the famous “Riding Greenoughs.” Henson competed in five events, but considered bull riding his forte. In the mid-1950s, he traded his boots and hat for baggy pants and a red wig, and his clown/bullfighter career took off, lasting into the 1980s. Henson worked the 1967 and 1971 National Finals Rodeo. He served on the PRCA’s Board of Directors as contract member director from 1974-77. He was PRCA Clown of the Year in 1977. R OUND THE SHORT Legend Passes Hall of Fame clown/bullfighter Henson dies at 87 “The big rodeos were a little bit tougher to work because you were out in the middle of this big arena,” Henson said in a 2009 article in The Ketchpen . “I like the small rodeos, where the crowd was right up next to me and I could play with them. I always like to hear the little kids giggle.” When Henson hung up his rodeo clothes, he took on Hollywood as a stuntman double. Of his rodeo career he said, “It made me feel mighty good when some kid who had drawn a bad bull would say, ‘Boy, I’m glad to see you here.’” Henson compared bullfighting to football. “You fake a bull quite a bit, use your hands to grab hold or to push off,” Henson said in the March 19, 1980, issue of ProRodeo Sports News . “You just always keep moving. If you are standing still and he hits you, it’s like breaking an egg. If you are moving, he just boosts you along a little faster or tosses you in the air a little. Sometimes a little has become a lot. I’ve been in orbit a couple of times.” Henson is survived by his wife of 59 years, Nancy; daughters Nancy Jane (Jerry) Dorenkamp and Leigh Ann (Eric) Billingsley; and granddaughters Kaylee and Rayna Billingsley. ‘Little Champions Arena’ opens at Hall of Fame The “Little Champions Arena” children’s exhibit opened at the ProRodeo Hall of Fame in Colorado Springs, Colo., Aug. 17. It features a dress-up area, bouncy animals, a bucking chute, barrels, roping dummies, kids ropes and other rodeo-related toys. “A kid’s area has been something we have been lacking here at the Hall, so it is exciting to see that we have one now,” said Kent Sturman, director of the ProRodeo Hall of Fame. The arena, in Theater II of the Hall of Fame, will be a permanent exhibit and is set up to resemble an actual rodeo arena with seating for parents and others to watch as the children act out their favorite rodeo event. Sponsors and donors who provided items for the exhibit include Priefert Rodeo and Ranch Equipment, Big Country Toys, Resistol, and Cactus Ropes. Additional items will be added to the exhibit in the coming weeks. Henson

BY THE NUMBERS

The amount of money, $13,244, earned by rookie tie-down roper Ty Harris from Aug. 13-20. The San Angelo, Texas, cowboy moved up to second in the Aug. 20 PRCA | Resistol Rookie Standings with $50,296. Cody Craig was first in the standings with $52,756. Craig was 19th in the Aug. 20 PRCA | RAM World Standings, and Harris was 20th. The amount of money, $32,773, reigning two-time PRCA World Champion Bareback Rider Tim O’Connell has won on two career rides aboard C5 Rodeo’s Virgil. He won Round 3 at the 2017 Wrangler National Finals Rodeo on Virgil and then took home the title at the Fallon County Fair & Rodeo in Baker, Mont., Aug. 19. The combined amount of money, $61,483, earned by team roping partners Derrick Begay (header) and Cory Petska (heeler) in July. Petska, the reigning team roping heeler world champion, earned $32,482, and Begay earned $29,001. Petska was 10th in the Aug. 20 world standings with $64,795, and Begay was 17th in the standings with $50,853. Petska has qualified for the Wrangler NFR 14 times, while Begay has competed in the Wrangler NFR seven times, the last coming in 2015.

532 NUMBER OF PRCA-SANCTIONED RODEOS HELD SO FAR IN 2018

ProRodeo Sports News 8/24/2018

ProRodeo.com

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