CALF_News_June_July_2019

World Championship Rodeo – an organization that remains the largest western-related event held in Amarillo. Terry Rich, an Amarillo contractor, Range Rider and lifelong horse enthu- siast, and Randy Whipple, an entre- preneur who for years ran an Old West Show at his family’s Creekwood Ranch, helped ramrod the inaugural rodeo. “The early idea came from cowboy poet Waddie Mitchell,” says Rich, who was Range Riders rodeo president in the early ‘90s.“He wanted us to do something that would honor the working cowboy.” “Waddie wanted something that would provide help for cowboys and their families during hard times,” adds Whipple, noting that WRCA’s goal is still to provide a hand up, not a handout. “Terry and I put our heads together.” Rich explains how it happened during a special tourism/Old West-promoting cattle drive put on by country star Michael Martin Murphy.“It was the Col. Charles Goodnight Memorial Cattle Drive, and [it] attracted a lot of media coverage,” Rich says.“Murphy had invited Waddie, Red Steagall and other cowboy poets. We at Range Riders wanted Waddie to be part of our rodeo.” The cattle drive was from the Currie Ranch to Creekwood Ranch about 15 miles south of Amarillo. The drive required plenty of gentle horses that greenhorns could handle. Range Riders provided most of them. Rich and Whipple worked closely with Jerry Holt, then head of the Ama- rillo Convention and Visitors Council, and Chris Miller, then head of the Amarillo Civic Center (home to WRCA since 1995) to help publicize the event. The convention and visitors coun- cil also brought Texas tourist council members to Creekwood Ranch.“They wanted a big shindig and we gave them one,”Whipple says.“Along with the campfire experience, we gave them a tour. It also helped us promote our cause.” Rich and Waddie rode side by side. Rich points out that’s when Waddie uttered,“Pard, I hear your dream. Let me tell you mine.” He stated the need for a world championship ranch rodeo, one for true working cowboys.“By the time we got off our horses and walked down to the campfire, he had me hook, line and sinker,” Rich says.“I said Waddie, that needs to be in Amarillo. “We later got together with the CVC and started putting together the dream for Amarillo as a whole. We formed the WRCA Board of Directors during a meeting in Amarillo at the American Quarter Horse Association Museum.” They announced the formation of the WRCA and the planned championship rodeo. Amarillo was indeed selected over Abilene, Wichita Falls and other cities as WRCA headquarters. The job now was to solicit financial support. It was easier said than done. A lot of wrangling and arm-twisting resulted. Some friendships were pressured. Nego- tiations eventually led to an agreement that made Anheuser-Busch the major rodeo sponsor. “We even traveled to St. Louis and met with Auggie Busch III to try and secure their sponsorship, discuss pos- sibly televising the event and of course to get the Budweiser Clydesdales to appear at the rodeo,” Rich says.“That was a real experience.” The first WRCA Championship Rodeo was in November 1995, with the Clydesdales as a featured attraction.“We could have had George Strait to play the first rodeo, but he wanted to bring his ranch cowboy team,” Rich says.“That didn’t work because it was not a sanc- tioned team.” Whipple, longtimeWRCA treasurer, says the event has grown in participation over the years.“In the first rodeo, we had 13 ranches from across the nation which had won sanctioned ranch rodeos,”Whip- ple said.“Nearly 25 years later, we now have from 22-24 ranches that compete.” The event was a blue-ribbon show from the beginning, with many members of the Range Riders serving as WRCA volunteers. Sell-outs for four rodeo performances were regular, although there was one year when Mother Nature showed her dark side. Continued on page 37  OPPOSITE TOP: Clydesdales really dress up the WRCA event. OPPOSITE LEFT: The legendary Will Rogers. LEFT: Ranger Riders representatives convinced Auggie Busch III to support lending the Clydesdales for the WRCA celebration. ABOVE: From left, Ranger Riders Chad Feemsteer and Terry Rich, along with WRCA’s Randy Whipple have all played a big part in bringing and keeping WRCA in Amarillo. 35 CALF News • June | July 2019 • www.calfnews.net