12/13/2005:
Sparkie is just one nickname given to Lyndon Earl Marshall. The eighth of nine children, Lyndon was born to Albert and Maude Marshall on the family’s Hereford ranch near Forbes, ND, on this date in 1914.
Marshall gained strong traits from his parents, including a lifelong love of learning, self-respect, how to be a good worker, and how to stretch a dollar. But his childhood hero was a neighbor named Frank Stevens. W
hen he started mimicking Stevens’ mannerisms and favorite cuss words, his older brothers started calling Lyndon “Frank.” The name stuck, and he was known as Frank Marshall from that time on.
Marshall got his first horse before he went to school. Martin Bodie, a sheepshearer, gave the five-year-old a pony named Spotted Boy. Young Frank spent hours and hours with the horse and taught it, among other things, how to climb the steps and let himself into the kitchen by opening the latch. Inspired by things he saw at local rodeos, Marshall was soon standing up in the saddle when Spotted Boy did his tricks.
As you might expect, Marshall became a well-known horse trainer while still young. After graduating from high school in 1932, he worked on the farm for a short time and then headed to Montana and Washington to work construction.
Six years later Marshall was attending an Independence Day rodeo in Bozeman, when somebody dared him to ride a bull. Marshall agreed. Not only did he ride it, he won a cash prize. The next day he came back for more and won again. For good measure, he tried bareback bronc riding again he won. He later said, “That ruined a good ranch hand.”
Hitting the rodeo circuit, Marshall sometimes added saddle bronc riding and bull dogging to his competition schedule. Then came the day he competed in his first pro-rodeo. He was about to leave when somebody yelled, “Hey, kid, you’ve got a check in the office – and don’t forget to pay your dues!” He had just become a member of the Cowboy’s Turtle Association.
Marshall competed regionally in Deadwood, Aberdeen, Belle Fourche, Pierre, Rapid City and Mandan. He also competed nationally in places like New York City, Calgary, Denver, Boston, Chicago, Fort Worth and Houston.
While in New York, he made the news for staying on his bareback bronc when it fell to the ground. A newspaper story reported Marshall “went to the mat with his mount. The cowhand didn’t even try to wriggle loose, calmly held his rein, kept his hand in the air. The horse regained its feet, Marshall resumed his spurring and stayed with him until the whistle blew.”
Frank Marshall was judged the fourth best bull rider in the world in 1942. One of his more memorable rides that year was in Fort Smith, Arkansas, on the back of a bull with the misleading name of Deer Face.
Alas, the U.S. military interrupted Marshall’s rodeo career that same year. He entered the army as a private, fought in Tunisia, Sicily and Italy, and was honorably discharged as a staff sergeant three years later.
When he got back home, the effects of his time at war left him unable to ride as well as he wanted. So, he went to the North Dakota Agricultural College and became a civil engineer.
Lyndon “Sparkie” “Frank” Marshall was inducted into the North Dakota Cowboy Hall of Fame in 2003.
Source:
2003 NDCHF Hall of Honorees Induction. The Cowboy Chronicle, Extra. Special edition, 2003: p 4-5.
Dakota Datebook written by Merry Helm