CALF_News_June_July_2019

N amed after an American icon who once swayed both Hollywood and Washington, D.C., with his downhome, dry Oklahoma wit and charm, the Will Rogers Range Riders riding club will celebrate its 81st year with its July 4th weekend rodeo in Amarillo. Range Riders is the nation’s oldest continuously operating riding club. The rodeo, still one of the country’s larg- est ranch rodeos, will draw some 300 ropers, riders and barrel racers to the Range Riders Arena. This year’s event is scheduled for July 4-6. The arena and stables, located just south of Amarillo, serve as a year-round place where men and women of all ages can gather and enjoy their common interests, namely horses. That was the roundup club’s intent when it was formed in 1938, the year U.S. Route 66 opened across Amarillo. The celebrated route was named the Will Rogers Memorial Highway to honor the popular movie star/politician/ philosopher, who died in a 1935 plane crash. That also sounded like the perfect name for Range Riders. Will’s skills as a horseman were legend- ary. And he could handle a rope with the best cowboys on the JA, Frying Pan or other ranches. He’d have made a perfect Range Rider. He loved horses, knew ranching and rural life, and more than once said,“I never met a man I didn’t like.” Support for ‘real’ cowboys True cowboys were already a dying breed in that era. Working cattle on horseback wasn’t for the drugstore type. The work was too hot, too cold, too dirty and too long. If cowboying wasn’t in your blood, in your soul, you were better off working in town. Of course, the nation’s larger ranches still require men and women who live in the saddle. Four-wheelers help with some of the chores, but it’s often those on horseback who make ranches and feedyards work. Since the pay normally doesn’t approach many easier jobs in town, it’s the love of the life that keeps them on the payroll. The Range Riders realized that. And in the early 1990s, the riding club’s members were at the heart of creating an event and, ultimately, a foundation that recognized, honored and helped ranch cowboys and their families. They helped spawn the Working Ranch Cowboy’s Association (WRCA) and WRCA By Larry Stalcup Contributing Editor AMARILLO'S WILL ROGERS Range Riders 34 CALF News • June | July 2019 • www.calfnews.net