It is always with sadness when I have to write an obit for someone in our industry that has passed on. This past month was not a good one for us here at Ropers Sports News as we lost Arlene MacKerracher and Broc Cresta.
Arlene started with Ropers Sports News in 1968, the year I started the paper. The first issue was just four pages – and it was never that small again. Each month I would make the trip from the Santa Rosa area to Arlene and Buzz’s (Arlene’s husband) house on Kennefick Rd. in Galt, Calif. We would lay out the paper on their kitchen table and decide what was going to be on what page. Buzz would always try to take part with his two cents worth until Arlene would send him back out to his blacksmith shop to leave us alone to get the paper laid out. Arlene was always helpful in doing the right thing by advertisers and special stories. She knew what the reader wanted to read because she had been around a roping every week in either the production stage or going to watch Buzz compete.
I was working with Ron Hognestad in the Santa Rosa area in the underground construction business and would make the trip over once a month to Galt to put the paper together. It was printed by The Galt Herald newspaper and my folks had a ranch in the Lodi area so it was handy for me to come over once a month. I always knew when Buzz had gotten to Arlene and had his own ideas on what should be on the front page for the upcoming issue. After I had been there awhile, Arlene and I would do it our way, much to the dissatisfaction of Buzz.
Anyone who knew Buzz knew that Arlene was either very much in love or very tough to put up with him over the years. They were a great couple and endured many hardships and good times together. The small house that they lived in was heated by a woodstove that was in the kitchen by the dining table. Arlene would go down to Stockton to a box and pallet making business and pick up the scrap wood from their waste pile for firewood. The little stove would keep us warm as we would get a rough draft of the paper together to go to The Galt Herald for the final touches of headlines and photos. Many times that dining room table would be cleared off and we would eat a great meal that Arlene had fixed and then that same table would be cleared off so we could get back to work. Sometimes the night went on until the wee hours to meet the deadline.
As we grew, Arlene spent more time at The Galt Herald and we would do most of our work there, using their help and equipment. No computers in the early days to do all of the fancy things we do today. As the years went on, Roy Herburger of The Galt Herald asked Arlene to join their staff. She learned much about the newspaper business and as we grew her knowledge was passed on to make us a better product. Even though Arlene worked for The Galt Herald, come time for Ropers Sports News she joined our team and helped get the paper out.
Arlene worked very hard on the many projects that Buzz had going on – some good and then there were the others! Arlene worked for me for many years and was with us part time up until almost two years ago. She would come and bring her big smile to the office and catch the other girls up on the latest gossip in and out of the roping world.
It was hard to go to the hospital and see her so weak after all the years she had been so strong in enduring her many challenges. It was always good to see her come driving in the yard with her big Lincoln Town Car. She loved to travel, and for a while worked as a travel agent. She was always so thankful if you did something special for her and her family. I always enjoyed Christmas, as she always came up with some different kind of gift for me and many of those I still cherish today. She was a sweetheart and we are all going to miss her.
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When I first heard of Broc Cresta’s passing I was shocked as the rest of the rodeo and roping world, but I felt a little closer tie to Broc because he was raised in the same area that I was, Santa Rosa, Calif. I used to go up to his great-grandparents’ place in Mark West Springs when I was just a kid. I have known his family for many years and saw Broc, brother Brent, and cousins grow up around the roping world. It has been said in every article written about how well-liked this young man was and how his big smile would bring out the best in everyone else. He did have a way in expressing himself through his smile.
This past year I was very proud of Broc when he entered the Timed Event Championship at the Lazy E Arena in Oklahoma. He had been injured in the practice pen preparing for the event and after about two go rounds of the tough competition he had to withdraw due to injuries, but you knew he would be back the next year and would be a contender. I don’t think he had displayed all of his talents yet in the rodeo arena and was just getting to have the confidence to go on with it.
Whenever someone young is taken from us, it is hard to understand why. It is a question that someday may be answered for us in another world or life. We ask is this part of God’s plan and did He call him for a reason, and all we can do is believe that He did and that Broc and the others that we have lost are serving in another arena. Every time I hear of a younger person going before their time, I become more thankful of the life that I have had and am reminded of the many things I have been able to do that they will never get a chance to do.
Broc was just 25 years old and had a lot of life ahead of him and was making a plan for that life when it all ended. He was a talent and had been exposed to many things in his short time on earth. He had lived with different people other than his family the past years and had traveled and learned by the ways of others the many different avenues of life.
Thank you, Broc Cresta, for what you meant and for what you gave all of us to remember you by. You will long be remembered in our rodeo world.
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The time is coming for many of the Finals for the year from September to the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo. It is a time that one hopes that all of the hard work in getting there is going to pay off for peace of mind and hopefully a big paycheck. The money and prizes that are offered today in the roping and rodeo world far exceed what they used to be and make it far more interesting. Best of luck to all of you competing and to those of you who are still trying to make the top 15 for a trip to Las Vegas.