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News and notes from the rodeo trail

Stat Of The Week: 1,541, The number of injuries Justin Sportsmedicine treated during the 2018 season. Of that total, 657 were during the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo in Las Vegas, Dec. 6-15.

What to Watch For: ProRodeo Live with Steve Kenyon, RAM Columbia River Circuit Finals Rodeo, Yakima, Wash., Jan. 11-13. The livestream begins at 7 p.m. (PT) Jan. 11-12 and at 1 p.m., Jan. 13.

News & Notes From The Rodeo Trail



• Mike Dudley was recently elected as the president of the Red Bluff (Calif.) Round-Up. Dudley, a resident of Red Bluff, has been helping with the Round-Up since 1991. That year, his dad, Harry, a long-time director on the Round-Up board, asked Mike to stop by the Tehama District Fairgrounds with a tractor to help with a job. Mike did, enjoyed it and returned for the next few years, doing “odds and ends and chores,” he said.

A few years later, he began helping prepare the arena for competition. Frank Moore directed arena work, and one morning in 2001, Moore didn’t show up to oversee Dudley as he worked. “Frank didn’t show up at Oh-Dark-Thirty,” Dudley said in a press release. “and I thought, if he trusts me to do it myself, I’ve made the grade.”



Before Dudley became a director in 2001, he won the Top Hand Award, given annually to a volunteer at the Round-Up who goes above and beyond the call of duty.

Being president of this rodeo is an honor, he said. John Trede served as president before Dudley; before Trede, Dave Ramelli was president, and before Ramelli, it was Frank Moore. Dudley knows he has big shoes to fill, or, in his words, “I’ve got big Justin (Boots) to fill.” At elections, Trede was elected as first vice-president; Mike Growney was elected as second vice-president, and Paul Wood was re-elected as secretary/treasurer. The 98th annual Red Bluff Round-Up will run April 19-21. Tickets are on sale at http://www.RedBluffRoundup.com.

For more information, visit the website or call the office at 530.527.1000.

• James Owen Aplan, a former PRCA rodeo clown from Piedmont, S.D., passed away Dec. 26. He was 87. Aplan also was inducted into the South Dakota Hall of Fame in 1998. Aplan retired from banking in 1986 to devote time to his hobby of collecting and merchandising. Among his accolades, he was named to the board of directors of the National Cowboy Hall of Fame in Oklahoma City, Okla.; in 1981 was given the Preservation of South Dakota History award; 1982 the Outstanding Service to Dakota Artists award in 1986 and again in 2011, the Founders Award of the Dakota Territory Gun Collectors; 1998 Inductee into the South Dakota Hall of Fame; 2001 Distinguished Alumnus of Sul Ross University award; 2006 the Casey Tibbs Foundation award; 2009 Dedication of the Match of Champions Rodeo at Ft. Pierre. Aplan and his wife, Peggy, have donated their time, money and materials to several museums and historical organizations and have received many awards for historical displays of their collections, loans and gifts. These may be seen at the National Cowboy Hall of Fame; the Gene Autry Museum; the Pro Rodeo Hall of Fame; the Verendrye Museum; the Center for Western Studies; the Rushmore Borglum Story, The High Plains Heritage Museum; the Rock Pile Museum; Friends of the Middle Border Museum; the Red Cloud Heritage Center; the Robinson Museum; the Akta Lakota Museum; the Wall Drug Store; the Pipestone County Museum; the Nine Pipes Museum; the 1880 Town; the Old Fort Meade Museum; the Pioneer Auto Museum; the Casey Tibbs Rodeo Center; the South Dakota Cowboy Hall of Fame; the Journey Museum; the Days of ‘76 Museum; the Fort Sisseton. Contributions to the James O. Aplan Memorial may be sent to 21424 Clover Place, Piedmont, S.D., 57769.

• There’s a PRCA Rodeo Camp in Fort Worth, Texas, Jan. 27. The camp takes place from 8 am. – 1 p.m. (CT). All abilities welcome – ages 8-plus.

Registration Required — https://www.eventbrite.com/e/prca-roughstock-rodeo-camp-ft-worth-tx-tickets-54311374784

• The Cowboy Downhill, which benefits the Justin Cowboy Crisis Fund, takes place Jan. 21 in Steamboat Springs, Colo. Direct questions go to Amber Jacobs with JCCF at 719.528.4726 or ajacobs@prorodeo.com

• Fort Worth (Texas)-based Williamson-Dickie Manufacturing Co. won the naming rights for the multipurpose arena under construction at the Will Rogers Memorial Center that is expected to be one of the region’s top tourist draws for a wide range of events. The new $540 million facility, in one of the city’s signature areas, is now known as Dickies Arena. Philip Williamson, chairman and CEO, whose great-grandfather and grandfather helped found the company in 1922, said in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram it was a natural fit to gain the naming rights. Dickies Arena is expected to open in November 2019. In 2020, the arena, which has 14,000 seats, will become home to the Fort Worth Stock Show and Rodeo, the event that led city, business and civic leaders more than 25 years ago to start working on a more modern and larger facility. The 2019 Fort Worth Stock Show and Rodeo is scheduled for Jan. 25-Feb. 9 at the Will Rogers Coliseum.

• The Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo and Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association (PRCA) officials announced in October, a new, multi-year partnership that focuses on growing the sport of rodeo for the benefit of fans and the contestants, with earnings from the RODEOHOUSTON® Super Series counting toward qualification for the 2019 Wrangler National Finals Rodeo, the season-ending championship event for the PRCA. The 2019 rodeo is scheduled for Feb. 25 – March 17. The concert lineup for the rodeo, which will take place at NRG Stadium, is as follows: Feb. 25 Kacey Musgraves; Feb. 26 Prince Royce; Feb. 27 Brooks and Dunn; Feb. 28 Luke Bryan; March 1 Cardi B; March 2 Turnpike Troubadours; March 3 Panic! At The Disco; March 4 Old Dominion; March 5 Camila Cabello; March 6 Luke Combs; March 7 Tim McGraw; March 8 Zedd; March 9 Kane Brown; March 10 Los Tigres del Norte; March 11 Zac Brown Band; March 12 Kings of Leon; March 13 Santana; March 14 Chris Stapleton; March 15 Cody Johnson; March 16 Brad Paisley and March 17 George Strait featuring Lyle Lovett and Robert Earl Keen. For more information, visit http://www.rodeohouston.com/Visit-the-Rodeo/Music-Concerts/Concert-Lineup

–PRCA