Bob Feist had one of the first living quarters horse trailers that he pulled all over the Western states, team roping and promoting Ropers Sports News.
I write this article with some sadness, some great memories, many thanks and some sense of pride as I turn over the reins of Ropers Sports News to the new owner, Dee Yates of Valley Springs, California.
First off, I would like to thank all of the loyal subscribers over the years who have been such faithful supporters. Many of you have been with us since the first issue in 1968. Second of all, I would like to thank the advertisers who have supported this publication over the years, many of whom have been with us for most of our 56 years of existence. Third, I would like to thank those thousands of readers who read the paper and never subscribed. They either read their parents, roommates, friends, online or maybe even the one at the local barber shops or tack stores. And finally, I would like to thank all of the dedicated employees that I have had over the years under the supervision of my General Manager Stephanie Reynolds Anderson. Steph has kept this paper together for most of the years. She wasn’t here at the beginning, but has been here 50-plus years as I hired her right out of college, Cal Poly. I will be mentioning the other key people who have worked for me over the years later in this article.
Ropers Sports News all started when a bunch of us traveled to a roping in Elko, Nevada, that ended up not happening. I questioned the other ropers, including young Bob Tallman, how they even knew what was going on in the roping world, and they stated it was all word of mouth or postcards sent out by the producers. In Arizona you would buy a local paper and go to the classified ads and look up ropings to find out where and when a roping was happening. At the time, I was working part-time for Jack Parnell and the California Cattleman’s magazine. I mentioned the lack of a publication for roping events and Jack said to start one up and see if there is a market. So I looked into it and decided a magazine would cost too much to produce and mail and chose to go with a newspaper instead.
Next I borrowed $300 from my mother to start my adventure. I met with Roy Herburger of The Galt Herald in Galt, Calif., who was the owner and editor of two local papers. He offered to help me put out an issue. Next, I went to ropings around the area and collected names of ropers who would be interested in receiving a free copy of the first edition. After I collected about 150 names, I decided to go on with the first issue. It was hard to convince big ropings that had been in existence for years and always mailed out their entries, to take ads at first, but later they came around and supported us strong. The Riverside Rancheros, under the direction of Louis Tavaglione, had faith in the new idea and took an ad for their big roping. That helped convince the other established big ropings to also advertise. Dr. Lane Falk held a big roping each year at his ranch in the central part of California and was a great supporter of the paper from the start. Hoke Evetts, father of H.P., was another great supporter. The first issue was only four pages and was free (see cover of first issue of RSN on page 7). After that, if you wanted a subscription, it was $3 per year for 12 issues.
Bill Duncan of the Riverside area was another believer in the paper and took an ad in the first issue along with the Oakdale Saddle Club, Windsor Roping Club, Dick Hemsted, Cal-Nevada Land and Cattle Company and Perry’s Western Shop. Perry was the main source of ropes in those early days and he carried a bunch of ropes around in the trunk of his car. I nicknamed him the “Rope Can on Wheels.” We had a section of the paper that was called the Arena Directory in which any arena could list their hours of operation for $10 in a small ad.
In 1968, California was the team roping capital of the world. No other state had as many team ropers as California. Dally Team Roping was pretty much non-existent in Oklahoma and Texas at the time. Arizona was mixed team tying and dally team roping, as was New Mexico. Colorado was coming on strong in dally team roping as instructors like E.V. Dorsey introduced the new wave of team roping to the area. So it was only natural that California was a good place to start up a roping paper.
After seeing the good response to the paper, I realized that team roping could be the newest equestrian event in the horse world and could attract many people outside of the ranching and rodeo world. At the time, team roping was not a major event in Pro Rodeo and I felt with the right promotion of the sport it could soon be a household name in the rodeo world. Pushing for it to be a major and standard event would reward the RCA (the precursor to PRCA) with long-lasting memberships, which in turn helped the rodeo world. It was not an easy sell to the association or the rodeos that had been in existence for a long time. Many directors worked very hard for many years to get it a standard event.
As the years went on, team roping grew and at that time all ropings were for the most part, open ropings. Meaning if you entered you would rope against whoever else was entered and in those days there were no handicaps. So you either looked for ropings that wouldn’t attract the tough ropers or go against them and have bragging rights if you beat them or at least you had a good excuse if you didn’t win cause the toughs were there.
As time went on, roping saw limited ropings that were invitationals by the producer who invited by roping skill or close friendship. Tommy Norton of Oregon had some of the first invited ropings and Buzz MacKerracher had Non-Winner Ropings. One could not have won any major ropings over a certain time period to be able to compete. Then came many versions of handicap systems to try and attract more people to the sport. There were Century Ropings, One Over a certain age ropings, Mixed Ropings, All Girl Ropings and even ropings for different cultures. This eventually led to the refined handicap systems we see today that have taken team roping to a new level of participation. My Resistol is off to all the organizations that have contributed over the years.
Ropers Sports News started out as a black and white newspaper and in the later years went to color. It never went to a fancy magazine as I felt the little advertisers could not afford to advertise in such a publication. Over the years, some awesome publications have come along to do an outstanding job of promoting our sport and industry. I never viewed any of them as competitors, but more as promoters of the industry which was my initial intention from the start.
Over the years, there have been many contributing to the success of Ropes Sports News. My first employee was Arlene MacKerracher, who was the wife of roping producer Buzz MacKerracher. My mother Alberta Feist helped with the paper handling and the mailing list while I dug ditches with Ron Hognestad and family who were in the underground construction business. I would get my check from work and bring it over to my printer and endorse it over to pay down my print bill. It was tough times and I would try to go to as many ropings as I could to promote the paper. I even sold caps, sweatshirts and rope bags that my mother made. Anything to keep the paper going. I would travel the western states when I could and promote team roping and the paper. I even learned how to take photos and develop the film for pictures we would use. I even sold pictures to help with expenses.
As things progressed I needed more help when I was on the road and eventually hired Stephanie Reynolds Anderson as my office manager. We didn’t even have a computer at the time and not long after Steph came on board we transitioned into the computer world. We had a lady who chainsmoked come help train us in the use of computers. That was an experience in itself, as our office was only 10×10. As time went on, the idea of the BFI came into play and more people were needed. Mary Robertson and Mary Stephenson Minor joined the team for the roping.
Julie Sell became a mainstay in the office and later Jenny Vasquez. Arlene and Julie have both passed and will always be remembered for their contributions. Scott Kesl became a mainstay in overseeing the BFI and brought many of his friends from the rodeo world to help out.
In the early days we had representatives out in the field who sold subscriptions and ads. The two most notable ones were Butch Morgan and his wife Charlene of Colorado, plus Emitt Mundy of New Mexico. Butch and Charlene are still going strong today and live in Texas. Emitt has since passed.
Along the way, Kendra Santos came on board writing articles while still in college at Cal Poly and continues to contribute her wonderful articles today. She has been a fantastic asset to the paper as well as the BFI over the years. Kendra and Steph still work as sisters along with Jenny in our office to make sure to keep hard-headed me in line and good copy coming to you readers.
Others that have contributed are Rayanne Engel Currin who is now with Western Horseman, Shirl Woodson, and the Krantz sisters, Taryn and Erica.
And then there was the “Rona Barrier from DallyWood” column. For many of you who are too young to remember, Rona Barrett was a gossip columnist in the movie industry and would try to make sure any unusual happenings didn’t go untold. The Rona column would attempt to treat the break-ups and joining of new roping partners public knowledge. Many times, Rona’s comments covered items that proved of great interest to the readers. For many years it was the first and best column read when someone received their monthly copy of RSN.
Today the column would probably be under fire for not being politically correct. Times have changed but it was a lot of fun each month to see what was going to surface in RONA! She would even get requests for autographs.
I could go on for pages about the experiences that this paper has allowed me to enjoy, but it is time to pass the torch. Dee Yates will do a fine job as she is an experienced writer and photographer, plus her son Rowdy is into rodeo big time. Please give her the same support that you have given me and my staff over the years. I hope to be writing articles from time to time for the paper. Thanks again for all the great years and travel safe and best of luck to you and your love ones.
Again, thank you for the many great memories over the years through Ropers Sports News.
Bob Feist added another accolade to his resumé as he was recently awarded the Ken Stemler Pioneer Award at the ProRodeo Hall of Fame ceremonies at PRCA headquarters in Colorado Springs. – Photo courtesy of PRCA
{jcomments on}
