Winners crowned at rodeo

The Days of '47 Rodeo wrapped up Saturday night with a lot of bucks.

Bucks, as in bucking bulls and horses.

And bucks, as in prize money.

Saturday's events determined the overall winners of the weeklong Days of '47 Rodeo by adding their scores from previous performances together.

Jason McClain made the most of the last bull ride of the night, scoring a 92 on Bar T Rodeo's Black Out, a bull that threw him last week. This time he was ready, and he knew he had something special.

"You can always tell when the crowd's going wild you've done something good," he said. The ride made him the top bull rider of the rodeo as well as the short round.

The high scores of the night counted toward the standings of the Wrangler Pro Rodeo Tour.

Cimmaron Gerke won the overall bareback riding event, but Darren Clarke's 84 was the best ride Saturday. Cody Martin took both the rodeo title and the go-round with 81 points in the saddle bronc riding.

Texas cowgirl Denise Adams Fea's 12.73-second time in the barrel racing was the fastest time of the week and catapulted her to the top.

Todd Suhn and K.C. Jones tied for Saturday's quickest time in steer wrestling at 4.2 seconds, but it wasn't fast enough to push them past overall top bulldogger Stockton Graves.

Same for team ropers J.D. Yates and Caleb Twisselman. They won Saturday at 5.3 seconds but Speed Williams and Rich Skelton were the fastest through the week.

Jerome Schneeberger was the best calf roper in the Days of '47, but Fred Whitfield won Saturday's tie down roping.

Immediately following the rodeo, volunteers from the rodeo committee began breaking down the fences and chutes that have transformed the Delta Center from a basketball arena to a rodeo arena.

Anyone looking to dig up dirt on Brad Harmon, chairman of the Days of '47 Rodeo, need look no further than the floor of the Delta Center during the event.

The 10 to 18 inches of dirt that covers the arena and the warm-up area out the back door has been in Brad Harmon's family since 1970, the year the Days of '47 Rodeo moved indoors to the old Salt Palace.

Brad remembers being a young boy when his father Flip was chairman of the rodeo and made the decision to purchase the dirt.

"People laugh, but I take pride in my dirt," Brad Harmon says.