Red River County has been home to several rodeo personalities,
cowboys, and one famous bull.
Among these: B.D. “Burr” Andrews, rodeo producer and
founder of the Andrews Rodeo Company; Clifton Kay, competitor and
rider of Trumpet (a quarter horse that once outran a Cadillac); Bud
Kemp, champion bull rider, saddle bronc rider, calf roper; John
“Buttons” Yonnick Segleski, Connecticut transplant and
champion bull rider, bareback and wild horse racer for 22 years;
Leonard Stroud, Cowboy Hall of Fame member best known for Roman
riding, bareback, saddle bronc and bull riding; Hub Whiteman,
30-year rodeo circuit veteran and saddle bronc competitor; Jim
Whiteman, former county sheriff, bull rider and bull dogger, once
clocked at 2.8 seconds in 1948, one of the best times ever for bull
dogging; Sammy Andrews, owner of the Wing Rodeo Company in Bogata,
TX and Bodacious; and, perhaps most well known, Bodacious, a 1,900
pound Charbray bull inducted into the Pro Rodeo Hall of Fame in
1999, PRCA Bucking Bull of the Year in 1994 and 1995, named
“The Bucking Bull” at the National Finals Rodeo in
1992, 1994, and 1995, and known as the ‘World’s Most
Dangerous Bull’.
Bodacious injured some of the most talented championship bull
riders in the history of the sport. Among them Tuff Hedeman, whose
face collided with the back of the bull’s head—breaking
every bone in his face between his upper lip and his eyebrows.
Bodacious was boarded 135 times during his four year career, and
fewer than 10 men managed to hang on for the necessary eight
seconds. He was retired in 1995; and died in 2000, at the age of
12.
Clarksville Volunteer Fire Department hosts a two night event
each June at the Clarksville Rodeo Arena, otherwise it is seldom
used. This cache is located near said arena and is dedicated to the
brave men and women who make this sport enjoyable and to the
animals that make it exciting.
Congrats to Texagander FTF!