The Trevor Brazile Watch

Trevor Brazile’s late-season hot streak figured to cool off at some point and it finally happened on a fairly light work week in the Great Northwest.

Brazile won a round and the average in the steer roping at the Lewiston (Idaho) Roundup for $2,234 and added another $2,459 from the early rounds of team roping and tie-down roping at the Justin Boots Playoffs in Puyallup, Wash.

His combined earnings for the Sept. 11-13 weekend still brought Brazile’s season total to $222,959, which is $10,441 ahead of his pace in 2007, when he set the single-season earnings record of $425,115.

Brazile is first in the tie-down roping standings, fourth in team roping (heading) and fifth in steer roping as he takes aim at winning a record-tying seventh all-around world championship.

All-star cast squares off in Announcer of the Year balloting

Reigning two-time PRCA Announcer of the Year Boyd Polhamus heads the list of nominees for the award this year, knowing that he has some serious competition standing between him and No. 3.

Apart from Polhamus, of Brenham, Texas, the PRCA Year-End Awards ballot released today includes three other previous winners who have 19 PRCA Announcer of the Year awards among them – Wayne Brooks, Bob Tallman and Randy Corley – plus Andy Stewart.

The nominees in each of the 11 categories will be voted on by all contestants, participating contract personnel and dues paying rodeo committees. Ballots will be mailed out no later than Sept. 15.

The winners in all categories will be announced Wed., Dec. 2, during the PRCA Awards Banquet at the South Point Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas.

Announcer
Wayne Brooks
Andy Stewart
Randy Corley
Bob Tallman
Boyd Polhamus

Secretary
Linda Alsbaugh
Edie Longfellow
Sunni Deb Backstrom
Haley Schneeberger
Mildred Farris

Stock Contracting Firm of the Year
Andrews Rodeo Co
Growney Bros Rodeo Co.
Beutler & Son Rodeo Co.
Stace Smith Pro Rodeos
Classic Pro Rodeo

Dress Act of the Year
Niki Cammaert
Melissa Navarre
Jason Goodman
John Payne
Tommy Lucia

Comedy Act of the Year
Rudy Burns
Keith Isley
Lecile Harris
Mark Swingler
John Harrison

Clown of the Year
Rudy Burns
Keith Isley
Lecile Harris
Troy Lerwill
John Harrison

Bullfighter of the Year
Travis Adams
Dusty Tuckness
Kenny Bergeron
Cory Wall
Al Sandvold

Small Rodeo of the Year
Bandera, Texas Goliad, Texas
Clear Lake, S.D. Mesquite, Texas
Estes Park, Colo.

Medium Rodeo of the Year
Abilene, Texas Ogden, Utah
Amarillo, Texas Phillipsburg, Kan.
Deadwood, S.D.

Large Outdoor Rodeo of the Year
Cheyenne, Wyo. Salinas, Calif.
Pendleton, Ore. Springdale, Ark.
Reno, Nev.

Large Indoor Rodeo of the Year
Denver Jackson, Miss.
Fort Worth, Texas San Antonio, Texas
Houston

Pendleton hires Griggs to fill in for injured bullfighter Ketchum

With five-time Wrangler NFR bullfighter Loyd Ketchum sidelined with a severe a mid-back injury – suffered Sept. 5 at the Ellensburg (Wash.) Rodeo – the rodeo committee at the Pendleton (Ore.) Round-Up has hired Don Griggs of Hermiston, Ore., to take his place for the Sept. 16-19 rodeo.

Ketchum, who had worked every Pendleton Round-Up from 1991 through 2008, along with the Greeley Independence Stampede, Dodge National Circuit Finals and many other top rodeos, underwent successful surgery in Seattle on Sept. 6 and is expected to return to his Montana home shortly and begin a rehabilitation program.

Oliver, Barrett inducted into Cheyenne Frontier Days Hall of Fame

Eleven-time world champion Dean Oliver and Hadley Barrett, a four-time PRCA Announcer of the Year, were among nine people inducted into the Cheyenne Frontier Days Hall of Fame in ceremonies Sept. 11 at the CFD Old West Museum.

Oliver, who won eight calf roping world championships and three more in the all-around, was a five-time winner at Cheyenne between 1963 and 1974. Barrett took over as the announcer at Cheyenne after Chuck Parkison’s death in 1989 and stayed on through 2000 as the voice of the CFD.

They were joined in the induction class by chuck wagon driving champion Buddy Bensmiller, CFD volunteers Floyd and Diane Humphrey, the late saddle bronc rider Charles "Sharkey" Irwin, former Miss Rodeo Wyoming Shirley Holmes Churchill and committeemen Ned Murray and Phil Van Horn.

PRCA cowboys help build Habitat House

PRCA cowboys found a way to give back to Northwest ProRodeo fans during the Justin Boots Playoffs by volunteering to work on a Habitat for Humanity house being built on the Western Washington Fairgrounds in Puyallup.

The home will be constructed during the 17-day run of the fair, Sept. 11-27, and then moved to its permanent location in Tacoma, Wash.

Bareback riders Jessy Davis, Kaycee Feild and Tilden Hooper, along with 2006 World Champion Steer Wrestler Dean Gorsuch, helped construct the home between the afternoon and evening rodeo performances on Sept. 11. The cowboys also helped heighten awareness about Habitat for Humanity’s efforts by doing TV and radio interviews at the building site.

A total of about 300 volunteers are working to build the house for the Patterson family, which includes father and son, Greg and 5-year-old Emmanuel, and Greg’s brother, Mike.