Cathy A. Langemo

North Dakota rodeo and Wild West Show performer Scott Gore was born on this date in 1880 in Deadwood, South Dakota. His family moved to North Dakota in the 1890s where his parents worked for the Pierre Wibaux W Bar Ranch.

12/27/2013: North Dakota rodeo star John “Buzz” Fredericks Jr. died on this date in 2006. He was a lifetime rancher and a well-known rodeo cowboy, winning titles in bareback, saddle bronc and steer wrestling.

12/25/2013: A cowboy’s cowboy, Jack Chase died on December 26, 2001. He was a four-time state champion steer wrestler during the 1960s and traveled the rodeo circuit as often as his work allowed from the late 1940s until 1980, when he retired from active competition. Jack was a top rodeo cowboy and a person who did a great deal during his lifetime to promote and keep the cowboy way of life and our western heritage alive.

12/4/2013: Melvin Griffin was born into ranching life at Stacey, Montana on this date in 1908 to Rose Anna and Lewis Griffin. Melvin only attended school through the eighth grade, but he started trailing cattle with his dad when he was only ten, and after trailing cattle into North Dakota in June 1926, 18-year-old Melvin saw there was ranch work available. He began breaking horses at Alex LaSotta’s Triple V Ranch, where he became known for having a good eye for telling if a horse was sound or not.

12/2/2013: Pete Pelissier, known as the “Buffalo Bill of the Missouri Slopes,” created a Wild West Show in the 1890s that performed around North Dakota. The show also traveled along the route of the Northern Pacific Railroad, appearing as far east as Boston, Massachusetts.

10/17/2013: North Dakota champion barrel racer Maude (Kirk) Gullickson was born on this date in 1911 in Washburn. Maude was the youngest daughter of Grant and Maude Kirk. She started riding horse as a toddler and rode nearly every day of her life until she was 73 years old. Maude trained and rode barrel-racing horses for most of her life, winning both the North Dakota State Cloverleaf title and the first North Dakota Rodeo Association State Champion Barrel Racer Title in 1955.

9/25/2013: North Dakota rodeo star Newton Burr was born September 25, 1929, in Elbowoods to Oscar and Mary (Wounded Face) Burr. He was a member of Hidatsa Prairie Chicken Clan. He was raised near Mandaree and educated in Elbowoods.

9/17/2013: On this date in 2010, the North Dakota Cowboy Hall of Fame in Medora was officially recognized as the “American Cowboy Museum of the Year.” The award, presented at the 22nd annual American Cowboy Culture Awards banquet in Lubbock, Texas, put the North Dakota Cowboy Hall of Fame in the ranks of other award winners like the National Cowboy Hall of Fame in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma; the Buffalo Bill Cody Heritage Center in Cody, Wyoming; and the Autry Museum in Los Angeles, California.

9/10/2013: On this date in 1953 Frank Whitecalfe was all of two days old. He was born to Oscar and Greta Whitecalfe in Garrison, North Dakota. Little did they realized they had a future rodeo star on their hands. Frank attended White Shield School in Garrison, graduating in 1971. He worked on the family ranch while growing up and started his own cattle herd at age 16.

8/27/2013: Fred Kist Jr. was born in 1939 of this month to Fred Sr. and Laura (Fallgren) Kist of Mandan. Fred attended Mandan schools, graduating from Mandan High and going on to Dickinson State College.