Veteran rodeo voice fond of Days of '47

Longtime Days of '47 Rodeo announcer and former politician Clem McSpadden says rodeo and politics have a lot in common.

"There's two arenas: the political arena and the rodeo arena. There's an amazing similarity—there's bull in both of them and the bull in the rodeo arena is a darn sight more genuine," he said.

McSpadden knows a little something about both. The 78-year-old from Chelsea, Okla., announced his first rodeo at the age of 21, just home from three years serving in World War II. He served in the Oklahoma state senate for 18 years, a term in Congress, then "lost his head" and ran for governor there, winning the primary but losing the election.

"They don't pay much for second," McSpadden said.

McSpadden announced the Days of '47 Rodeo for the first time in 1952 or '53, did it probably a dozen times in the fifties and sixties, and has announced it every consecutive year since the Salt Palace opened.

Forty-three or 45 times, he figures, though he hasn't taken the time to get an exact count.

That's a lot of rodeo, but it isn't his longest stretch at one rodeo — that's in Vinita, Oklahoma where he's announced for 52 years. Half a century, eight seconds at a time.

But the Days of '47 ranks high on his list in a lot of ways.

"It's one of my favorite places to be ... ever," he says.

McSpadden says the Delta Center is the best rodeo venue in the United States. The event draws top contestants every year and he has high praise for the rodeo committee as well.

"Each of these people are so darn dedicated. They're just one big family. I just feel like I'm coming home when I spend a week with my all my friends in Salt Lake."

McSpadden's favorite Days of '47 Rodeo memory spans both his political and rodeo interests.

President Nixon came to the Salt Palace in 1972 with his wife Pat to the rodeo. They sat by the announcer's stand and "he didn't pay much attention to the rodeo but she did," McSpadden said. That same year, McSpadden was invited to a White House reception for first-year Congressman. Shaking hands with the first lady, McSpadden said Pat Nixon remembered an incident in a "wild horse race" at the Salt Palace.

"She said, 'How did that man get that was run over by the horse at the Salt Lake City rodeo?"