Philadelphia articles for 1998, 2000, and 2002

     Philadelphia played host to its first rodeo in 20 years this past week;  in the process of turning the spectrum into a posh feed lot.  The three day  event demanded 100 head of livestock, imported from Osage City, Kansas: about 400 tons of dirt packed into the Spectrum floor and 256 cowboys, all members of the International Pro Rodeo Association.  The cowboys each paid $100.00 per event for an entry fee for a chance at prize money that topped out at about $200.00 of the winning bull rider.

    The math was simple with only the top three places paying, at least 15 of the 18 bareback riders there Saturday would leave empty handed.

    As rodeos  go the size of the prize money was alluring.  The cowboys some a  little thunderstruck by the glitzy of the big city come in drives.  Attendance, which numbered about 8,000 Saturday night, was great.

    A thousand miles is a long way to come , and $400.00 is a lot to spend, for the eight second shot of pure adrenaline to come, for a beast to toss you on your head.  Milburn Outhier, the cowboy from  Weatherford, OKLA.  Who at 38 has seen enough rodeos for two or three cowboys will admit that.  "I guess  some folks think we're crazy,"  said Outhier whose black cowboy hat, leather chaps, boots and spurs would have looked wacky and out of place at the Core-States Spectrum just about any time but over the week-end.  "My dad would say, think of all the hay you could store in this building" said Cody Sosebee a former world champion bareback rider from Charleston Ark.  "I'll tell you, this is about one of the nicest place we've came to."

        Rodeo with its emphasis on the roping and riding skills learned by cowboys who  pushed great herds of  cattle  to western markets in the late 1800s is a purely American sport

        But for all the flag-waving by pretty, blond haired cowgirl and the country ballads, sung from horseback.

    "Yeah you can get back home after the  weekend's over and have nothing to show for it but a stove-up back and hole in your wallet."  Said Outhier, who started radioin when he was 9.   

    Last week the cowboys came from all over,  Cove Springs, GA to Harrisburg but most were from west of the Mississippi River where rodeo is a traditions run deepest.

    Full time rodeo cowboys travel as many as 150 rodeos a year, often working for a week during the summer, the height if the season.

    They can log 150,00 miles annually to show up at events where there is no guaranteed  appearance money, and there are no exemption and no sponsors. ride and rope well and you might win money.  Do poorly and you win nothing.

    "We've all been there, where you're up some where in North Dakota and you've got $5.00 in your pocket to get home on." Said one cowboy.  "You got to figure out a way to get $300.00 to get home so you can get some money together that week so you can come back to the same place next weekend."

    "You have to love it," Outhier said,  "You could probably stay home and get a pretty good job making as much money, you do good and you can go home with $ 2,000.00 maybe $4,000.00 if your a bull rider this weekend.(1998)

DeLayne Long of Osage City, Kan.,  leads horses and bulls down Broad Street yesterday for the rodeo in Philadelphia this weekend.  Friday January 21 2000

    Tree hundred cowboys and cowgirl showed up for the three day competition that began on Friday and ends Sunday, Saturday afternoon, 6,500 people showed up to watch them too.  For the competitors, this rodeo sanctioned by the International Pro Rodeo Association of Oklahoma City OK is serious business.  Rules are specific and the points awarded count toward a yea's accumulation.  There is prize money, too Yippee-eye-oh!

Cowboys, cowgirls patriotism and pageantry return this weekend as the International Championship Rodeo rides into the First Union Spectrum. 

        In the chute: bareback bronc riding steer wrestling (not like that WWF stuff), saddle bronc riding, cowgirls barrel racing NASCAR (that's the national associating of speedy horses at the rodeo, so don't expect Jeff Gordon in a colorful Chevy,) .  Calf roping, bull riding, clowns and the flag waving songs of the Sons of Tennessee.  It's fun, exciting and corny all at the same time.2000

I n brief

    A herd of rodeo bulls run up Broad Street on Thursday in Philadelphia.  The International Championship rodeo will be at the First Union Spectrum for the weekend, and the bulls were being taken to the rodeo site by cowboys.  At one point, however, the bulls took the wrong turn, forcing the cowboys to hustle to get them back on course.

    The match up between the Birds and the Bears in Chicago is the weekend's high profile attraction, but at the South Philadelphia sports complex yesterday the streets belonged to bulls, horses and steers.  The International Championship rodeo, featuring bareback riding, bull riding and more, will be at the First Union Spectrum today through Sunday.  Yesterday, about 70 animals, including bulls, steers and horses were lead form their pens under Interstate 95 in the the Spectrum.

    After the roundup, rodeo produce George Runquist (left) and colleagues settle around a comp fire in the Spectrum

    The Broad Street Bovines and assorted rodeo animals make their way to the Spectrum.  Keeping an eye on things is DeLayne Long.

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Last modified: 09/07/09