1993

Cindy Rocket - Animal
Inducted July 12, 1993

Cindy Rocket

Cindy Rocket, a grey mare, was foaled in 1960 on the Stampede Ranch. She was bucked actively from 1963 through 1983, when she wasn’t raising babies.

She was used primarily as a bareback bronc and was nominated for the Canadian and National Finals Rodeo. In 1969 she won the N.F.R. champion bareback title and was also named the 1970 Calgary Stampede champion bareback horse.

Cindy Rocket performed as far east as the 1967 Expo in Montreal, PQ and as far west as Vancouver, BC in 1969.

She was bred to Kesler's Tuffy in 1978 and her foal Kosmos Rocket grew to be a top bucking horse too. In 1980, she foaled Ms. Rocket. Ms. Rocket was selected to buck at the Canadian and National Finals Rodeo in 1986 and 87.

Cindy Rocket carried such champion cowboys such as Dale Trotter, Joe Alexander, Mel Hyland, Paul Mayo and Larry Mahan to the pay window over the years.

Her grandchildren show a great deal of promise and her grandson, World Rocket, was used as a herd sire in 1990.

She spent her latter years in the Stampede Ranch brood mare band, and was officially retired at the annual Hand Hills Stampede in 1988.

Cindy Rocket was laid to rest at the Stampede Ranch in November 1989.

Leo Brown - Contestant
Inducted - November 13, 1993

Leo Brown

Leo Brown is considered to be one of the greatest riding event cowboys to ever come out of this country. Born in 1936 he started his rodeo career in 1953 and went on to win ten major Canadian championships.

Brown still holds the record as the only cowboy to win championships in all three riding events. He was bull riding champion in 1960, 1961 and 1963; saddle bronc titlest in 1962; and captured the bareback event in 1958 and 1960. The High Point award also won by Leo in 1960 and 1963.

Leo shares with Gid Garstad and Wilf Girletz the most Canadian bull riding titles - each have won the event five times.

At the Winnipeg Rodeo, in 1961, Leo marked a score of 185 (on the old 200 point system) on Vold's famous bull, Tiger.

In 1961, Leo was among the top fifteen bull riders in the world and became the first Canadian to qualify for the National Finals Rodeo in this event. The following year he returned to the N.F.R. in the bull riding, and also qualified in the saddle bronc riding. In 1963, Brown set a record in the bull riding as he was the first cowboy to ride all eight bulls during the N.F.R. in Los Angeles.

During the winter rodeo at Regina in 1971, Leo became acquainted with stock contractor Roy West and together they formed the company of Brown West Rodeo which he operated for 11 years. In 1974 and 1976 his Horse High N Mighty was named Bucking Horse of the Year in Canada.

In 1988 Leo was inducted into the Alberta Sports Hall of Fame.

Up until 1989 he was still competing in the Canadian Old Timers Rodeo Association.

Serving on the C.R.C.A. Board of Directors for 11 years, Leo contributed to the sport of rodeo as a Wrangler Pro Official.

Leo has now retired completely from Rodeo but not his rodeo buddies, as he shows up at a rodeo now and then and the Rodeo Hall of Fame banquet each fall to catch up with the stories of the old days and learn from the young fellows what’s going on today in the rodeo world. Leo is a favorite to visit with as his sense of humor is very much present.

Ronnie Glass - Contestant
Inducted - June 26, 1993

Ronnie Glass

Ronnie Glass was born in Lethbridge, Alberta on December 18, 1915 and later the family moved to Bowness. He was interested in horses at an early age, as his father, Willy Glass, owned race horses.

Ronnie started driving chuckwagons at the age of 15 for a friend of his father's. In 1931, at the age of 16 years, he and his father, Willy, got a team together and Ronnie drove them at the Calgary Stampede. He continued driving for the next 46 years and was the world champion in 1950, 51, 52 and 65. He won the Calgary Stampede four times: 1942, 46, 47 and 49 and Cheyenne five times during the 1950's and 1960's.

He was well known for his ability to purchase good wagon horses and for making good teams which he drove for a couple of years and sold them. He knew when he first drove a horse if it was going to be a leader or a wheeler. Ronnie was also well known for his wild horse racing with the great Cliff Vandergrift, winning in 1947, 50, 55, 58, 59 and 1961.

He was one of the founders of the Cowboys Protective Association, which is now the Canadian Professional Rodeo Association. Ronnie was a Director of the C.P.A. in 1948, 52, 54 and 1972.

Ronnie married Iris Lauder, the daughter of Tom Lauder in 1945 and in 1960 they moved to High River. Together they raised four children: Reg, Tom, Tara and Rod.

In 1988 he was honored with the "Pioneers of Rodeo" award at the Calgary Stampede. Ronnie passed away in Calgary on September 3, 1981.

Kenny McLean - Contestant
Inducted - November 13, 1993

Kenny McLean

Kenny McLean entered his first rodeo, at age 17, in 1956. He joined the Canadian Rodeo Cowboys Association (now the C.P.R.A.) in 1959, and in his first year of professional rodeo competition, won the first of his record three consecutive Canadian saddle bronc championships.

In 1961, he was named rookie-of-the-year in the United States, and in 1962, McLean rode his way to the World saddle bronc title. He later won two more Canadian bronc riding titles in 1968 and 1969.

When Kenny McLean first began to take the rodeo world by storm with his skills as a bronc rider, he decided then that he wanted to develop a couple more rodeo skills. His diversification plan included calf roping, which he had practiced since he was a boy back in Okanagan Falls, BC, and the other was steer wrestling, which he had never tried before. He watched, listened, asked for advice and worked until he won a personal victory by becoming the Canadian champion in both timed events, one of only two men to do so.

McLean was the Canadian All-Around champion in 1967 through 1969, and again in 1972, the year he also won the calf roping and steer wrestling titles and was runner-up in the saddle bronc event. The BC cowboy also earned the High Point award in 1967 and 1968, and still holds the Canadian record for most major championships, 14.

Becoming the only cowboy ever inducted into the BC Sports Hall of Fame in 1974, McLean also received the prestigious Order of Canada in 1976 for his outstanding achievements in the sport of rodeo. Kenny resided in Princeton, BC, training horses and competing in calf roping and team roping, until he passed away from a heart attack while at a Team Roping competition. Kenny was renowned for offering advice and encouragement to young competitors.

In 2013 Kenny was inducted into the American Pro Rodeo Hall of Fame in Colorado Springs, CO.

Dirty Gertie - Animal
Inducted 1993

Dirty Gertie

#24 Tiger and #33 Dirty Gertie are the first bulls to be inducted into the Canadian Rodeo Hall of Fame. Both bulls were Scotch Highland/Brahma cross and were raised by Hall of Famer, Jerry Myers.

After some time in the Myers outfit, they were sold to another Hall of Fame contractor, Harry Void, in the fall of 1957, for the then unheard of sum of $1.000.00 each. The two were bucked for the first time under the Vold banner at Edmonton's Super Rodeo in 1958.

And what a debut it was! A matched ride was arranged between the reigning World champion Jim Shoulders, and the Canadian champ, Lawrence Hutchinson. Both competitors competed on each bull, with Shoulders emerging as the winner as he was able to ride both animals.

At the National Finals Rodeo in 1959 at Dallas, TX, Tiger and Gertie were the only Canadian bulls on the roster. Tiger threw both his riders and was selected third best bull of the N.F.R., Gertie tossed his first challenger, and then, in the last go-round, Jim Shoulders scored 181 points (on the old 200 point system) to place second in the round.

It is particularly fitting that these two four-legged superstars go into the Hall of Fame together because seldom is one mentioned without the other. Ask the cowboys and fans who remember that era and they are likely to tell you that Tiger and Dirty Gertie were two of the best there ever was.

Tiger - Animal
Inducted 1993

Tiger

1993 Inductee Contestant Orville Strandquist.jpg

Orville Stranquist - Contestant
Inducted - July 12, 1993

Orville Stranquist

Orville was born on February 20, 1920 in Stettler, Alberta. In 1937 he made his debut as a rodeo cowboy when he entered the Calgary Stampede in the bull riding event. In 1939 he entered a chuckwagon in his local Stettler rodeo and won! That same year Orville made his debut in the Calgary Stampede Chuckwagon races, then in 1940 he drove his own outfit for the first time.
Over his career in the chuckwagon business, Orville won dozens of show championships, with his biggest wins coming at some of the biggest shows of the day - 1953 Edmonton Exhibition - 1965 Cloverdale Stampede - 1975 Cheyenne Frontier Days. Orville was also one of the most sought after outriders, helping the likes of fellow legends Ronnie Glass, Hank Willard, Hally Walgenbach, Garry Dorchester & Tom Dorchester win the World and Calgary Stampede Championships. Orville was a Calgary Stampede Rangeland Derby Champion Outrider a record twelve times! He is the only man to ride for the winning chuckwagon and qualify his own wagon into the feature heat at Calgary in the same year! Orville accomplished this feat in 1947.

Outside of chuckwagon racing, Orville competed in a number of rodeo events, and was a two time Canadian & Calgary Stampede Champion Wild Horse Racer, and won the Canadian & Calgary Wild Cow Milking Championship in 1958. He won the unique Standing Roman Races at the Hand Hills Stampede so often, that they gave him permanent ownership of the Champions Shield with all the winner's names on it.

Besides his tough competitiveness in rodeo, Orville was a pioneer and top promoter who would cook pancakes, participate in parades, or DO ANYTHING that would give a show the boost. At the 1961 Calgary Stampede he was the first chuckwagon driver to wear a protective helmet in a race, and was instrumental in the start of using cardboard barrels, eliminating most of the accidents caused by steel barrels. Combined with the playing card symbols that graced his wagon box for years, Orville was one of the most recognizable drivers of all time as well as being one of the most popular.

Orville has been honored with several testimonials including the World Professional Chuckwagon Association's Special Tribute, the Calgary Stampede's Pioneer of Rodeo award, and was a founding member of the Cowboys' Protective Association. In 1985 he was the first chuckwagon driver to receive the prestigious Guy Weadick award at the Calgary Stampede, and in 1992 the Calgary Stampede created the "ORVILLE STRANDQUIST AWARD", given annually to the Top Rookie Driver at the Rangeland Derby show. In 2007 he was the FIRST Canadian chuckwagon driver to be inducted into the Cheyenne Frontier Days Hall of Fame.

Orville retired in 1994 - a career lasting over 50 years - the longest documented career on record in rodeo.

Orville passed away peacefully on January 5, 2012 at the age of 91.