Submitted by the CPRA
A Ponoka steer decorating champion in the post-war years of rodeo is one of this year’s inductees to the Canadian Professional Rodeo Hall of Fame (CPRHF).
The Canadian Rodeo Historical Association (CRHA) has announced seven new inductees will join the roster of honoured rodeo contestants, builders and animal athletes that already grace the walls of the Hall of Fame: Everett Vold, Floyd Peters, Phil Doan, Gordon Doan, Clayton Hines, Edith Malesh, and Harvey Northcott’s Canadian champion saddle bronc horse Wyatt Earp.
Hailing originally from Ponoka, Everett Vold was a bareback rider and the 1949 Canadian steer decorating champion. Although he never won a championship in the bareback riding, he was a strong contender in that event as well, appearing in the top three of the Canadian standings no less than five times between 1946 and 1950.
Steer decorating requires a two-person team. One member stands 10 feet from the chute gate holding the end of a 25-foot rope, which is looped around the steer's horns. The other team member stands 40 feet from the chute and has a 24-inch long ribbon. When the chute gate opens, the team must bring the steer out and across the 10-foot line. One team member tries to tie the ribbon on the steer's tail while the other team member tries to remove the rope from the steer's horns. When the ribbon is on the tail and the loop is off the horns, the ribbon-tier must tag the timer.
Peters was a tie-down roper and steer decorator from Cardston. He won the Canadian steer decorating championship in 1945, and three consecutive Canadian tie-down roping championships from 1945 to 1947. He is only one of two cowboys to win a Canadian championship in both of those timed events. The other cowboy is 1993 CPRHF inductee Kenny McLean.
Gordon Doan competed alongside his brothers Melvin and Urban Doan, and was well known as a bareback rider, though he competed in all the roughstock events. He picked up his first Canadian bareback championship in 1945 and again in 1946. That same year, he placed fourth overall in the saddle bronc, fourth in the steer riding, and won the bareback championship for the second year running. No surprise, he was also named the 1946 Canadian All-Around champion.
Doan’s nephew Phil, from Consort, carried on the family tradition of success in the rodeo arena. The bareback rider and steer wrestler, who also occasionally competed in the bull riding, served as bareback director for the Canadian Rodeo Cowboys Association (before it was the CPRA) from 1964 to 1967, and again in 1969. He then served as All-Around director from 1970 to 1973. Phil was named Cowboy of the Year in 1971, and was the second recipient to ever receive the award. But the awards didn’t stop there, as he won the Canadian steer wrestling championship in 1973, and the Canadian All-Around championship in 1974.
Clayton Hines of Drayton Valley was a familiar face at the Canadian Finals Rodeo (CFR) starting at his first CFR appearance in 1980 and into the early 1990s. Hines, known as Low Tone by his peers, secured the Canadian saddle bronc champion in 1981, after a memorable tie-breaking ride-off against Mel Hyland, and again in 1985.
Edith Malesh was named Committee Person of the Year in 1991 for all her hard work as director of the Assiniboia, Sask., South Country Roundup committee. At that time, she had already served the rodeo committee for 18 years. She was secretary for the Alberta/Saskatchewan Southern Rodeo Circuit, and started the Saskatchewan Pro Rodeo Circuit after the Alberta circuit split into its own. She also served as Saskatchewan’s representative on the CPRA board from 1988 to 1995.
Owned by Harvey Northcott Rodeo, and ranch-raised out near Caroline, Wyatt Earp was one of the most formidable broncs a cowboy could draw. During his career, the bald-faced bay made five consecutive appearances at CFR. The 1,600-pound stallion won a number of awards, including the Canadian Saddle Bronc Horse of the Year award in 1997 and 1998. He was named Saddle Bronc Horse of the Calgary Stampede twice, and was voted both Saddle Bronc Horse of the CFR and Saddle Bronc Horse of the NFR in 1996 and 1997.
The CRHA first formed in 1979 to award those who have made a significant contribution to the sport of rodeo in Canada. It was established as an association in 1980. Since then, more than 150 rodeo contestants, builders and animal athletes have been honoured with induction into the hall of fame.