East Texas

By ADAM RUSSELL
Staff Writer

GLADEWATER - The Texas Rodeo Cowboy Hall of Fame will induct the Gladewater Round-Up Rodeo Committee during a ceremony on Saturday at the Bell County Expo Center in Belton.

The Round-Up Rodeo will celebrate its 71st anniversary this June and Billy Huckaby of the TRCHF said it will be an honor for Gladewater to be inducted and for the hall to enshrine the committee for one of Texas' oldest professional rodeos. The committee will become the third rodeo entity to be inducted to the hall, joining 300 individual inductees ranging from world champions to longtime rodeo clowns. Huckaby said the rodeo's induction is a testament to the commitment of committee and community members' time and effort to make the event a consistent and successful professional rodeo.

"It's exciting because the whole purpose of the hall is to recognize and preserve the history of rodeo in Texas," he said. "This (induction) reflects on the committee for decades of success."

Committee President Hugh Bowden, a board member for 21 years, said that without the support and effort of 59 volunteer members of the committee the rodeo could not continue to thrive. He said 38 members of the committee will make the four-hour drive to Belton to attend the induction festivities Saturday.

"I would say it's a great honor for our committee," he said. "It's a once in a lifetime deal."

He said the process of putting on each year's rodeo begins as soon as the last one ends, usually with a trip to the National Finals Rodeo in Las Vegas each December to hire contractors for the event.

"It doesn't just all come together in a month before the rodeo," he said laughing. "It's a yearlong process."

He said hiring the best available rodeo producers, stock contractors, bullfighting clowns and entertainment acts helps continue the Round-Up's success.

TRCHF inductee and Round-Up committee member Don Graham said his opportunity to compete in professional rodeos and serve on the rodeo's board helped him realize what it takes to hold a four-day rodeo event. Graham said cowboys are here and gone, they perform and leave for the next rodeo and that his cowboy perspective gives him a great appreciation for what the committee does each year.

The commitment to the annual event is galvanized by tradition. He said some members were preceded by their parents and that the rodeo is steeped in both family and rodeo tradition.

Bowden, born and raised in Gladewater, said most of his 50-year life can be associated with attending or promoting the event. The historical significance of the event and its ability to draw the top cowboys and cowgirls in the nation and 20,000 visitors during the week is due to the legacy of founding members.

Bowden said he could not confidently estimate how many board members have served since the rodeo's inception, but said no members really leave the board and that longtime members who may have stepped down from posts still remain in advisory positions.

Bowden said the most important accomplishment of the event, aside from a week of family fun, is the committee's ability to award more than $20,000 in scholarships to East Texas high school seniors every year.

Graham, who also sits on the 12-member TRCHF board, and Huckaby said Gladewater received several nominations and was voted in unanimously by the induction committee. Huckaby said the process starts with a nomination and a review of the nominee's contribution to rodeo in Texas and then is voted on by members of the hall's board.

"It was a rock solid choice for Gladewater to be inducted," Graham said. "I will assure you that it means a lot to the people on the rodeo committee, it means a lot."