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Alumni Hospitality Room in Las Vegas
You are all invited to a get
together in Las Vegas during the
Wrangler National Finals Rodeo. The
National Intercollegiate Rodeo
Association Alumni want you to drop
by the Monterey Bay Room at the
South Point Hotel and Casino on
Thursday, December 13th and get
acquainted.
Were you a college cowboy or cowgirl
back in the day? Are you a current
contestant and want to meet some of
those who blazed the way for you?
Are you the parent of a youngster
who loves rodeo? Do you want your
children or grandchildren to get
that all important college
education? Did the opportunity to
compete lure you into college and
then you found out that college
rodeo is fun, you met great people,
had a great time, learned a few
things and want those experiences
for your kids and grandkids? Or
maybe you would just like to hang
out in Vegas with some folks you
know will share your interests and
enjoy your stories? Want to let your
Visa card cool down for a while?
If you answered yes to any of the
above, plan to come to the NIRAA
Hospitality Room on Thursday
afternoon, December 13, from 1 until
5. We would like to meet you. We
think you share our love of college
rodeo and we would like to let you
know who we are and what we do. And
what we do is support college rodeo,
preserve college rodeo history and
have a good time.
SOUTH POINT HOTEL AND CASINO:
9777 Las Vegas Blvd. South
THURSDAY, DECEMBER 13, 2012 FROM 1PM
UNTIL 5 PM
A PLACE TO SIT AND VISIT
REFRESHMENTS, NO HOST BAR
NO RESERVATIONS, NO COST, JUST COME
AND HANG OUT
Of course we would love for you to
join our organization but mostly we
just want to get the word out that
this organization exists. We need
your help to make sure that the
tradition of college rodeo endures.
SEE YOU AT THE SOUTH POINT
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ALUMNI NEWS
Student and Faculty Presidents took
the forefront during the Twenty
First Annual Alumni Reunion during
the College Finals Rodeo in Casper
in June. Mel Griffeth, Faculty
President of the NIRA in 1970 and
Harlan Schott, Student President
that same year, worked together with
the regional faculty and student
directors and Sonny Sikes, then
Executive Secretary of the NIRA, to
take the College National Finals
Rodeo to Bozeman, Montana. With the
move to an indoor arena, the College
Finals was on its way to bringing in
the kinds of crowds that would make
money from ticket sales and grow a
following of rodeo fans.
Merrill Adams-Ellis, the first woman
faculty president in 1984, and Marty
Campbell, student president in 1998,
told of the importance that their
service to the NIRA meant to them at
the time and the ways those
experiences paid off in the future.
All faculty and student presidents
and directors face the same
challenges-learn to produce a top
quality rodeo, work with committees,
do all the planning, make the
decisions involved in putting on a
complex event and balance all that
with their “day jobs”. Adams-Ellis,
who was inducted into the Texas
Cowboy Hall of Fame in April of this
year, was a journalism instructor
and rodeo coach at Southwest Texas
Junior College in 1984 and Campbell
had to keep up his grades at Eastern
Oregon University while recovering
from a career ending bronc riding
injury. His work as Student
President in 1998 led directly to a
place on the production end of the
Wrangler National Finals.
A couple of National Championship
Teams were also represented at the
reunion. Dr. Don Mitchell coached at
Southwestern Oklahoma State
University for over thirty years.
His teams won Championship Team
titles six time and second place
titles six more times. Don brought a
group from SWOKSU to celebrate the
Men’s Championship Team from 1992.
Gathering in Casper were the
President of the University, Randy
Beutler, Athletic Director Todd
Thurman, former assistant coaches
George Howard and Phil Haugen and
team member J.D. Crouse.
In 1961, the University of Wyoming
sent a team to the College National
Finals. They took the championship
and have been inducted into the
University of Wyoming Hall of Fame.
All were from Wyoming and all still
live in Wyoming! Al Smith, Fred
Wilson, Frank Shepperson and Jim
Moore were members of that team and
were introduced in the arena on
Friday night.
ALUMNI SCHOLARSHIP AWARDS
The NIRAA and the Weary Foundation
presented the Fourth Place Men’s
Scholarship, in a tie, to MIssouri
Valley Community College and Utah
Valley University. The Fourth Place
Women’s Team is Mesalands Community
College and Macy Fuller of Mesalands
received the Woman Rookie of the
Year scholarship. We had a tie in
the Men’s Rookie of the Year
Scholarship also. The recipients are
Lane Santos-Karney of CalPoly, San
Luis Obispo, Lucas Screws from Frank
Phillips College and Will Woodin of
Weatherford College.
COLLEGE RODEO’S ALUMNUS OF THE YEAR
In 2012, the NIRA and the Alumni
presented the coveted title Alumnus
of the Year and the beautiful silver
Maynard buckle to Bill Laycock of
Laramie, Wyoming. Bill has devoted a
life time of service to college
rodeo. He has served on the NIRA
Board of Directors, is one of the
charter members of the Alumni,
served as Secretary-Treasurer for
the Alumni, worked with an attorney
to attain tax exempt status for the
Alumni organization, announced
numerous high school and regional
rodeos, coached the Wyoming team in
the ‘90s and with the assistance of
his wife Charlotte, tirelessly
supported college rodeo at every
turn. Bill Laycock joins a stellar
list of former Alumni of the Year:
Bob Clore, Sonny Sikes, Charlie
Rankin, Sylvia Mahoney, Evelyn Bruce
Kingsbery, Walt Garrison, and John
Smith.
DISTINGUISHED CONTRIBUTOR TO COLLEGE
RODEO
Each year the Alumni present a
trophy to a person who has been a
‘distinguished contributor” to the
success of our favorite sport. This
year the award went to Sarah Neely.
Sarah is the Dircctor of Public
Relations and Administration for the
NIRA. Sarah and her merry band,
Claudia Kelly, Kelli Gaines, and
Judy Kittle are the heart and soul
of the N IRA. They work hard and do
it gracefully. Not only do they have
to deal with heedless adolescents
but, where the alumni are concerned,
clueless oldsters. Seriously, Sarah
and the staff of the NIRA are
efficient, know their stuff, and are
a pleasure to work with. Sarah
belongs in the company of previous
“outstanding contributors”: Bill
Laycock, Joanne Sikes, Jerry Beagley,
and Charlie Chambers.
CHANGES ON THE ALUMNI BOARD OF
DIRECTORS
Three long serving members of the
alumni board have retired this year.
Bob Clore of BCR Awards, Sylvia
Mahoney, founder of the Alumni, and
Charles Chambers, former coach at
Eastern New Mexico University and
“Gateman” for many years at the CNFR
have all left the board and they
will be very much missed. We want to
thank them for their outstanding
service over many years and hope
they will continue to be available
for wise counsel.
Two of the new board members are
familiar faces in college rodeo: Del
Nose, rodeo coach at Northwest
College, Powell, Wyoming and Tom
Parker, coach at Casper College,
Casper, Wyoming. Mary Fuller, who
won the College National
Championship in Goat Tying in 1968,
has also joined the board. Fuller
competed for Southwest Texas State
University when she won her
championship. She completed her
education at Texas Tech in Lubbock
with a Master’s Degree in Animal
Nutrition. She has recently retired
from Nestle PURINA PetCare Company
where she was Senior Nutritionist.
She worked on performance dog
nutrition with Susan Butcher of
Iditarod Race fame as well as many
law enforcement agencies Fuller was
the Texas High School Barrel Racing
Champion in 1964 and competed in
barrel racing and team penning
competitions over the years. She
currently has a team of border
collies that she has bred and
trained to compete in “Flydog”
competitions in the U.S. and Canada.
ALUMNI REUNION FOR 2013
The Twenty Second Annual NIRA
Reunion will take place June 14 and
15 during the College National
Finals in Casper, Wyoming. We will
be looking for contestants,
champions, directors, atnatstudent
and faculty from all the years
ending with three, 1953, 1963, 1973,
1983, 1993, and 2003. Make your
plans now to attend. Want to see the
list of champions, top finishers,
top teams, and where those long ago
college finals were held? Go to the
NIRA website and click on
“downloads,” scroll down to
“previous national champions” to
find the lists from those years.
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