ND Cowboy Hall of Fame - Archived Articles

18 NOMINEES SELECTED FOR 2002 COWBOY HALL OF FAME BALLOT---

Fourteen individuals, two ranches, a rodeo bull and a saddle bronc horse have been nominated for the North Dakota Cowboy Hall of Fame (NDCHF) Hall of Honorees for 2002. The 18 nominees were selected from 80 suggested by Hall of Fame Trustees. Ballots will be mailed to the Hall of Fame’s 190 Trustees in May and, in July, the names of the nine new inductees to the Hall of Fame Honorees will be announced.

NDCHF Executive Director Darrell Dorgan says, “This is the fifth round of inductions for the Hall of Fame, which will be built in Medora. Last year, there were 15 inductions bringing to 45 the number selected for inclusion in the Hall of Honorees, the centerpiece of the Hall of Fame.”

In the Rodeo Division, there are six nominees for three openings. Two of the three openings are reserved for rodeo cowboys whose careers ended prior to 1940. The four nominees for the two pre-1940 positions include famed early 1900’s bronc rider George Bruington of Mandan. Bruington who died last year, was involved with rodeo for more than 70 years as a competitor, pick-up man, clown and rodeo producer. George Gardner of Medora was a world-class saddle bronc rider who also appeared in Buffalo Bill Cody’s Wild West Show. He later ranched in the badlands and toured the country with his own Wild West Show. Famed bronc rider Scott Gore of Grassy Butte was known throughout the U.S. and Europe as a saddle bronc champion. During his prime years in the early 1900’s, Gore rode both Tipperary and Bad Lands Charley. Gore died in 1955 and is buried in the ‘Poker Jim’ Cemetery near his former ranch. Alex LaSotta of Golden Valley County was known as a great bronc rider who later became one of rodeo’s top pick-up men and calf ropers. LaSotta died at his ranch along the Little Missouri River in 1937. Two of the four nominees in the pre-1940 division will be selected for the Hall of Honorees.

In the Modern-Era Rodeo Division, either Watford City or Gladstone area ranchers Tex Appledoorn or Dale Jorgenson will be selected for the Hall of Honorees. Jorgenson began competing in high school rodeos in the 1950’s and then in the college division. Jorgenson won 13 North Dakota Rodeo Association All-Around and event championships in three decades in bareback, steer wrestling, and saddle bronc. Appledoorn won the state’s amateur calf roping championship four years in a row in the 1950’s. In the 1960’s, he joined the RCA and won nine consecutive State calf roping titles, two steer wrestling championships and three All-Around titles.

In the Rodeo Livestock Division, famed bucking horse Figure Four and the incredible rodeo bull Yellow Jacket will be on the ballot. One of the two will be selected. Figure Four was one of the country’s top bucking horses in the 1950s and 60s. He appeared at the National Finals and twice was named the NFR Saddle Bronc Horse of the year and once as the NFR Bareback bronc. Figure Four was part of the famed Fettig Brothers Rodeo Company of Killdeer. He died in the late 1960s. Yellow Jacket was brought to North Dakota from Florida in the 1950s by J.C. Stevenson of Carson and was one of the first rodeo Brahmas in the state. He was seldom ridden. Yellow Jacket was the foundation of the Stevenson bull-breeding program and sired a long line of exceptional bucking bulls. The bloodline is still prevalent today in the PRCA and PBR. Yellow Jacket offspring are now the foundation of the famed Joe Berger rodeo string of Mandan. In 1999, Berger’s Little Yellow Jacket was voted Bucking Bull of the year by the PRCA.

In the Leaders of Ranching and Rodeo category, Trustees will select between Pearl Cullen of Hensler in Oliver County and former rancher Andy Moore of Blaisdell. Moore, who died in 1983, raised Scotch Highlander cattle and later became one of the first ranchers to raise Appaloosa horses. He was also active in forming the Blaisdell Rodeo Club and served on the NDRA Board of Directors for several years. Pearl Cullen was the Founding Secretary of the NDRA 50 years ago. She is considered the encyclopedia of North Dakota rodeo. She kept the records, wrote the newsletter and tabulated the standings for 11 years. Pearl’s husband Clair, a noted roper, died last year, and she now calls Bismarck her home. Until 1994, she was widely known for her appearances riding sidesaddle.

Four candidates were selected in the pre-1940 Ranching Division. Theodore (Ted) Albers arrived in what is now Oliver County with his family in 1884. He raised Hereford cattle, ran stage lines and often worked as a rodeo judge. Ted also served as Sheriff of Oliver County and his great-great grandson is operating the ranch Ted started near Hannover. Bill Taylor of Dunn Center was one of the original Texas trail drivers. He came north from Texas with a herd of 3,000 cattle in 1896 and made the trip three more times. He worked on many ranches, eventually starting his own. He also served as Sheriff of Dunn County and ran a hotel in Dunn Center before dying in Dickinson in 1961. Jack McCrory was one of the first ranchers in Emmons County. McCrory was a civil war veteran who came into Dakota Territory in the 1870’s. He raised both cattle and sheep and also established ranches along the Cannonball River and in McKenzie County. He was also a businessman. McCrory died in 1933 in Linton. Frieda Bohnsack graduated from NDSU in the 1930’s. She inherited her father’s struggling 2,000-acre ranch in Ransom County south of Valley City in the Sheyenne River Valley. She brought the first Blue Brahma cattle to North Dakota in the back of her car in the 1940’s and was soon raising Brangus cattle. She was a single parent, an entrepreneur and excellent shot. Her daughter, Bonita Bohnsack Laske, now operates her ranch. Two of the four will be selected for the Hall of Honorees.

In the Modern-Era Ranching Division, Trustees selected Alick Dvirnak of the Diamond C Ranch near Killdeer and Harris Goldsberry of the Trotters area along the North Dakota/Montana border. Goldsberry was born in 1915 just half a mile from where he still ranches 50 miles north of Beach. Harris raises registered quarter horses and Hereford cattle. Dvirnak was born near Killdeer in 1919 and moved with his family to the Diamond C in 1929. Eventually, he purchased the ranch from his father. At its peak, the ranch had 350 head of cattle, a feedlot and irrigated areas for hay and corn. Dvirnak has received numerous awards for conservation and from tribal members for his efforts to preserve the site of the Battle of the Killdeer Mountains, which was fought on his ranch site. He and his wife now live in Dickinson and a son now runs the Diamond C. One of the two will be selected.

In the Ranches Division, Trustees nominated the Patterson Ranch of Burleigh County and Birdhead Ranch of McKenzie County. The Patterson Ranch, which at one time encompassed thousands of acres, was known nationally for its purebred Hereford cattle. Approximately 8,000 acres of the ranch still exist north of Sterling in Burleigh County. The Birdhead Ranch was one of the largest ranches in McKenzie County when established in 1891. At one point, the Birdhead had 800 cattle and 75 horses. Most of the ranch land was inundated by waters from the Garrison Dam, but nearly 3,000 acres still are part of a ranching operation that will be assumed this year by the great-great grandson of the Birdfeed’s original founder.

A full-scale corporate and individual fundraising plan is now underway for the Hall of Fame. It’s hoped final financial commitments will be obtained by late 2002. Plans then call for bid letting for the Medora project with construction beginning in February of 2003. The opening for the 14,000-square-foot facility in downtown Medora would be in 2004. So far, more than $1.4 million dollars has been raised for the project.

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