Louie Saggione III was born on May 15, 1982 in Chicago Illinois. He was the second of 4 children born to Louie II and Connie Saggione. With his older sister Jenine, younger sister and brother, Jennifer and Dominic, Louie grew up in Orland Park, Illinois.

Horses were a part of Louie’s life from the very beginning. It was not until 1990 when his dad, Louie Saggione II (Big Lou), started team penning that Louie really got the desire to ride and compete. Louie, along with his dad and sister Jenine, started penning at local events. It didn’t take long before they were producing their own shows. 

Louie started showing AQHA in 1995 when he went to the Youth World Show in Ft. Worth, Texas. He teamed up with two other Illinois youth, Julie King and Jamie Watkins, to take 3rd place that year. Louie returned to the AQHYA World Show consistently for the rest of his youth career. He was Reserve World Champion in 1997 with partners Joshua Bartels and Brian Danneberger. Reserve again in 1999 with Nick Lansford and Justin Cunningham. Then in 2001, he finally took the title of AQHYA World Champion with partners Kyle Crecelius and Daniel Davis. Throughout his youth career, Louie rode with many different people. Two of his main partners at the time were his sister Jenine and fellow Illinois youth and friend Justin Cunnignham.

Louie qualified and went to the AQHA Open World Show in 1998, even though he was still a youth. He won his first AQHA Open Team Penning World Title at this show. His partners on that first Open World Championship were Dennis Lansford and Jerry Stretch.

Over the next several years, AQHA was very good to Louie. He won a total of 6 Open Team Penning World Championships, and 5 Reserve Open Team Penning World Championships.

In 2007 AQHA offered Ranch Sorting as an event. Louie won the Open Ranch Sorting the first 4 years it was offered. Eventually he would end up with 7 Open Ranch Sorting World Champion­ships, and 2 Reserve Open Ranch Sorting World Championships.

In 1993, Louie started showing at USTPA Shows. This had Louie going down the road about every other weekend with his family.

As Louie got older and his skills continue to improve, he hit the road with a group of friends he had made during his days as a youth. This group of young men would change the face of USTPA forever.

Louie would get out of high school and head towards Oklahoma. It was there that he, the Lesh brothers (Jared, Joel, and Jamin), the Underwood brothers (Grady and Justin) and Travis Kaiser would create quite possibly the toughest box USTPA has ever known. This group would also go on to become leaders within the USTPA. 

Many miles were spent, during these early years, going down the road with Travis Kaiser and with one of his favorite horses, Hickory, aka “Precious” and Travis’s gelding “Kid” in tow.

Right after high school, Louie would go to work with his dad as a union carpenter in the Chicago area. During this time, he continued to travel almost every weekend to team penning’s across the United States. It was during this time he met his future wife, Niki Hemphill. They were married in 2008. In 2010 Louie laid down his hammer for good and the two moved to Pennsylvania to try and make trading horses a more full-time deal. While in Pennsylvania, Louie worked for his father-in-law Ken Hemphill as a salesman and continued to team pen and trade horses. Louie had been selling and trading horses from a very young age. Big Lou bought Louie his first horse to trade on from USTPA Hall of Famer, Gary Stanfill. During this time of his life, horses and team penning was all Louie thought about. Still to this day he says he wakes up with crazy ideas and is always thinking of ways to make team penning and the USTPA better.

In 2011, Louie and Niki had the opportunity to move to Texas and do something they always dreamed of doing. With one baby (Cali) and one on the way (Aubrey), they headed to Jacksonville, Texas. Once they landed in Texas, LS Perfor­mance Horses was born.

In 2014, with son LJ still in the crib, the young couple decided to move their growing business to a better location. So, they packed up their family, horses, cows, dogs, cats and chickens and moved closer to their Texas family, Patrick and Scarlett Bray in New Boston, TX.

Louie has won Titles at all major USTPA National Events, as well as the Denver, San Antonio, and Houston Stock Shows. Some of his greatest achievements include, winning the Calgary Stampede in Alberta, Canada with his wife Niki (Hemphill) Saggione and Dustin Johnson. Winning the USTPA Open Team Penning World Championship with his best buddies, Grady and Justin Underwood, and winning his Last AQHA Open Team Penning World Champion with wife Niki and Nick Borgia. During his career, Louie has competed in Team Penning and Ranch Sorting in 40 states as well as 2 countries.

Louie and Niki have three beautiful children, Cali (15), Aubrey (13), LJ (11). It was always Louie’s dream that his children would grow up in the equine and ranching industry and they didn’t disappoint. His children have won National Titles in Team Penning, Ranch Sorting, and Barrel Racing. They can also be found roping and dragging

calves to the branding iron in the mountains of Colorado.  There have been many people along the way who have influenced Louie. A few of his biggest influences have been childhood heroes, Joe Graham and his favorite rider, Mike Dewitt, riding his legendary mare “Bell”. Most importantly is Louie’s dad, Louis Saggione II. Big Lou taught his son the value of working hard and hustling to produce for his family. The hard work and sacrifices Louie’s parents made so their family could team pen together is a big part of what makes Louie the man and father he is today.

Louie would like to thank all the sponsors who have supported him throughout the years: Todd Jeys Custom Saddles, Cinch, JW Brooks Custom Hats, Cubit Hay, Big V Feeds, Reata Equine, Rod Patrick Boots, Apex, Wild Gold, and Zestera.

Louie and Niki continue to own and operate LS Perfor­mance Horses. They have bought and sold some of the greatest horses in our industry and continue to do so. They have customers from almost every state in US. Their latest adventure has been the introduction of Barrel Horses to their arsenal. Just like with the team penning, their barrel horses are shining bright. They have already had two ran down the alley of the Thomas and Mack at the NFR in Las Vegas.

In some instances, being inducted into the Hall of Fame, means that one’s career is almost over. But with Niki and their 3 talented children carrying on that winning tradition, Louie says the best is yet to come.

Jake Wells was born and raised in the small West Texas town of Brecken­ridge. He started riding at the age of five when his family gave him a pony for his birthday. As a family they rode in the local drill team and he spent many hours practicing, traveling, and riding in parades. As a teenager he worked in a feed mill, did day work on local ranches, and raised cattle and hogs with his dad. After high school graduation he attended Texas A&M and graduated from Vet School in 1974. 

In 1971 he married Nancy Corbett and they raised four children, two boys and two girls. They did 4H and FFA so Jake was busy with animal projects for many years. They showed turkeys, hogs, steers, heifers, rabbits and goats at shows all across Texas. All four graduated from Texas A&M and have careers as lawyers, doctors, and meat professionals but no Vets!

Since 1984 Jake has volunteered at the San Antonio Livestock Show. He served as the chairman of the Horse Show and then on the Executive Committee. He was President of the Show from 2002 to 2004 and was inducted into their Hall of Fame in 2011.

Jake was able to resume riding when the last kid graduated from high school. He started team penning at San Antonio Livestock Show functions. At the Fall Fest fundraiser he borrowed a horse and was hooked on the event. Together with Ronnie Gebauer, Larry Johnston, and Pat Ellis they established the Hill Country TPA and produced events around San Antonio for several years. Jake became a USTPA life member and served as a Director. In 2011 he became President and served until 2013.

Jake’s veterinary career spanned fifty years and covered lots of different animals but horses were his true love. His first job was in Beeville, Texas, in a mixed practice. When cattle prices took a down turn, he moved to the San Antonio area and took over a practice that had been through four vets in six months but it became his home base. He owned and operated six different practices but finally worked into a rural area with just horses. He became certified in acupuncture and chiropractic medicine which greatly benefited his patients. A member of TEVA, AAEP, AVMA, and TVMA, he served as a director and officer at several different times. In 2012 he was selected as the PRCA Veterinarian of the year.

The time I spent with the USTPA was a special part of my life. It offered me time to spend with horses and horse people. Lots of miles on the road and hours in the pen but I loved it all.  I won numerous regional, national, and world titles but the best part was the friends I made along the way. To be inducted in this Hall of Fame is a great honor and one that I greatly treasure. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for this tribute. 

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What is a pioneer? It means venturing into uncharted territory, unafraid to challenge the status quo and blaze new trails for others to follow. It’s about being a visionary— someone who not only sees what could be but also takes action to make it a reality. Pioneers possess a unique combination of courage, creativity, and determination, navigating through uncertainty and breaking new ground in their field. Pioneers leave a lasting legacy by reshaping the world around them, often laying the foundation for future generations to build upon – Tom Sparks is a pioneer.

Tom Sparks is a man of many accomplishments, yet he would tell you that his greatest achievement lies in his family. Born in Ryan, Oklahoma, and a proud graduate of the University of Oklahoma School of Pharmacy in 1967, Tom has worn many hats throughout his life. From serving as president of multiple banks and owning multiple car dealer­ships to being a master diver with countless deep dives around the world, he has excelled in every endeavor he’s taken on. But despite his impressive career and adventures, Tom’s heart is most full when he’s with his family, — whether playing cards, being at the lake, spending time at the barn, or traveling. As a devoted husband since 1967, a father of 3, and grandfather of 4, his true pride and joy come from the love and relationships he’s built over the years. And through it all, his unwavering support for all things Oklahoma athletics as a season ticket holder for 55 + years, remains a constant, just as his love for life and family does.

Toms’ dedication to his craft and his unwavering love for horses have defined his remarkable career. From the moment he first saddled up, it was clear that his connection to these majestic animals went beyond mere skill; it was a bond built on trust, respect, and passion. His tireless work ethic and commitment to excellence have earned him a reputation as one of the hardest-working individuals in the sport. Whether in the arena or behind the scenes, Tom’s life has been a testament to the deep respect he holds for horses and the profound impact they’ve had on his journey. His love for horses has been a constant throughout his life. He often says he’s had horses for as long as he can remember, and it was this deep-rooted connection that sparked his journey into the world of competitive horseback riding. This lifelong bond would eventually lead him to the sport of cutting, where the synergy between horse and rider is everything.

Tom Sparks first discovered his passion for competitive horseback riding through the sport of cutting in the late 1970’s. Raised on a farm where horses were a part of everyday life, Tom had always admired their strength and agility, but it wasn’t until he attended a local cutting event that he felt the spark to pursue the sport seriously.

Fascinated by the precision and strategy involved in working with cattle, Tom was drawn to the challenge of cutting, where horse and rider must work in perfect harmony to separate cattle from the herd. With a natural feel for the horse’s movements and a sharp instinct for the sport, Tom quickly realized that this was his true calling. Determined to master the craft, he began training rigorously, learning from seasoned professionals, and refining his skills until he made his mark in competitive cutting winning numerous medals, trophies, and ribbons.

As Tom’s children grew, they too shared his deep love for horses, with his oldest daughter, Allison, particularly drawn to competitive cutting. Together, they made a name for themselves in the industry, gaining recognition for their hard work and passion. Tom’s influence expanded beyond the arena when he began breeding horses on his farm in Marlow, Oklahoma. He was a true pioneer in the field, advancing the techniques of artificial insemination and becoming one of the first to achieve successful embryo transfers at a private residential facility. His innovative approach didn’t stop there—Tom also broke new ground with his research into how light affects hair growth in horses. After studying the phenomenon at Colorado State University, he became one of the first to introduce this groundbreaking concept to the state of Oklahoma, further cementing his status as a forward-thinking leader in the equine world.

Tom and his family were introduced to the world of team penning in the 1980s, as the sport was quickly gaining traction. Tom participated in one of the very first team penning’s, an event that was, in his words, chaotic—held in an open arena with a stock trailer and the back door tied back to serve as the pen. It wasn’t long before the event format evolved, becoming what we now recognize as organized chaos. Tom became deeply involved with the United States Team Penning Associ­ation (USTPA), dedicating much of his time to the executive team, organizing large events, and ensuring everything ran smoothly. One of Tom’s key innovations, shared with USTPA Hall of Famer Mike Vanzant, was the creation of the ranch sorting clock that is now a staple in the sport. Before this innovation, ties were common, and there wasn’t a reliable way to break them. Tom and Mike came up with the idea of using a lap timer, similar to those used in track running, and were able to prototype and refine a clock system that greatly enhanced the efficiency and excitement of ranch sorting competitions that is still used today.

Tom has earned many achievements, awards, and trophies over the years. One of the highlights was winning the 2011 USTPA #9 Penning Championship at the San Antonio Stock Show and Rodeo alongside his daughter and granddaugh­ter—a special moment featuring three generations on one team capturing a championship. He went on to achieve tremendous success in the sport, qualifying for and winning the Paint Horse World Show, capturing multiple AQHA World Championships, and earning countless accomplishments within the USTPA. He also enjoyed showing horses at the state fairs, in Christmas parades and even dappled in a team of horses pulling a wagon around his farm.

Tom thoroughly enjoys spending time with his children and grandchildren of whom are thriving in their lives, which brings him immense joy. He also finds great fulfillment working at a hospice pharmacy, where he takes calls and ensures medication is delivered to those in need—a cause that has always been close to his heart. Even after all these years, Tom continues to make a meaningful difference in the lives of others every single day. If you know Tom, you know his spirit. He’s full of life, always ready for fun, and never one to shy away from a challenge—whether it was a friendly compe­tition, a wild dare, or simply being there when someone needed advice, a laugh, or a friend. His energy and humor have been constants throughout his life, and many can attest to the positive impact he’s had.

These days, Tom still enjoys riding horses. While it may look a bit different and less competitive than it once was, he continues to share his unmatched knowledge and passion for horses—and he still makes time to ride every day.

A mother’s love is a powerful thing. It’s strong, self- sacrificing, loyal, hardworking, and unconditional. It changes in form as your children grow, but it is always there. Jan Lesh is a walking definition of “a mothers love”. Jan has dedicated her entire life to her children and her family, and a large part of that has been involved with team penning and ranch sorting.

Jan didn’t ride horses competitively when she was young, but she grew up around them. With Hoss Frank as her father, horses were just a way of life. They rode their horses back and forth from the farm to their house, three miles one way! Before her family was involved in team penning, Jan put on ropings with her brother.

Jan and Gary married in 1980 and have Jason, Jared, Jamin, Joel, Jenna, and Jordan. Hoss took Jared, Jamin, and Joel to their first team penning in 1990, and the rest is history. From there they started hauling to bigger shows and producing shows of their own. When they started team penning, Jan was pregnant with Jordan. She often says she should have just taught them all to play dominoes….. It would have been way easier and lots cheaper. As everyone knows, the Lesh’s aren’t easy to wrangle as adults, just imagine them running around as ornery kids! Jan worked a full time job, and then put in a full time workload on the weekends hauling her kids all over the country, while Gary stayed home and took care of their farming and cattle operation.

Jan has produced and been involved with some of the biggest shows in this sport. Producing shows meant being the announcer, secretary, gateman, cattle tagger, flagger……Jan’s done it all. She put on Sooner State team pennings, AQHA shows, and then USTPA shows. Jan was involved in USTPA from very early on. She started producing shows in the early 90’s and continued to do so for 10 plus years. It was definitely an uphill battle for producers at that time. She passed on her passion for producing shows to Jared and Joel and was just as involved with helping them run their shows for many more years. Another memorable show for Jan is one she produced at the Lazy E Arena in Guthrie, and she had a concert with the show. It was so long ago that Kenny Chesney was there and wasn’t even the headliner, he opened for Rick Trevino.

Jan didn’t ride or team pen very often, but she knows more about the game than just about anyone that goes in the arena. She coached, kept time, and knew which calves were good and bad on every herd. Everyone competing knew that Jan was the source for all the information needed to be successful when you went into the arena. People knew she kept a huge spreadsheet with all the valuable information needed to win.

Jan entered one ride at Springtime in CowTown with Drew and Ryan Bellinger. They asked her to ride in the #5 class, and she said no! A little while later they came back and told her there were no more#1’s left to ride with and they needed her. Turns out with some big coaching and a little threatening from Jan, they won it! Her exact words when telling this story were: “ I told those boys: I’m going to stand on the line. If you bring me any cattle, I might kill you later. And I am absolutely NOT going to the hole!”

There was also the time that she decided to ride Jared’s horses, Colonel and Popeye……while Jared flew to another show. He was sixteen and gave her pretty strict instructions to NOT ride them before he left. Jan says she still doesn’t know who, but someone told on her and she got a good lecture about using his horses when she called him that evening.

Jan went above and beyond to make sure her kids got to every team penning. To be quite honest, when Jan found out she was receiving this award she said “I think there are people more deserving of this than myself”. We sometimes overlook the support that is given in this sport from the people that never climb on a horse and go into the arena to compete. Some of the greatest support has come from the sidelines. Jan has driven endless miles, coached, kept her kids (and everyone else) well fed, cheered for us all, handed out some tough-love, and is STILL putting up with a LOT of wild escapades. Jan’s role at the team pennings have changed as her kids have grown up; from driving the rig and coaching, to wrangling her grandchildren and STILL feeding everyone at the shows, so her family can all keep participating in the sport they love. She’ll be the first one there, and the last one to leave to make sure we’re all taken care of.

Tom Bross was born on a farm in Central PA where his father owned a small business in the area. Tom’s father “Pap” has a fondness for horses but had little time to pursue this hobby. When Tom was a toddler, their family moved to a place called Round Hill for Pap to start a new business raising Turkeys. In this peaceful pastoral setting, Tom’s love for animals began. He particularly loved horses!

The Farm [which is still in the family today] had cattle, horses, ponies, pigs, and of course Turkeys.

While school was certainly a necessity, working on the farm with his father, brother, and the animals was what he loved most. Tom was quick to evade summer days at the beach, to bail hay at the farm!

Tom’s first foray into shows was at four years old with his pony Spot, debuting with his father in a Hunter Jumper Competition. He rode English in his early years, but by the time he was a teenager, Western Style was where his heart was. Tom married young, and had two sons, Tom and Jason. While raising 2 sons, Tom was building a business which left little time for riding. Tom began riding again in his early forties, and attended his first Team Penning in 1989, and has been hooked ever since that first day. The best part of the sport is all the great people you meet.

I am forever grateful for all the wonderful friendships I have made across the country.

Tom has been involved with the USTPA since the beginning of the organization. He has been honored to hold several positions, first as a director for Region 8, followed by the V.P of Finance, then becoming the USTPA President from 2007-2008. Tom has been so fortunate to have contributed to the leadership of this fine organization.

Gary was born in Rogersville, MO in 1947. He and his brother, Jerry, were raised on a dairy farm where they learned the meaning of hard work and dedication and developed a passion for cattle.  As a result of Gary’s exposure over the years, he developed a keen ability to read cattle.  He has often said his ability to read a cow surpassed his horsemanship. Gary has shown national champions and judged cattle in 5 foreign countries, many state fairs and several national shows at the World Dairy Expo. He is a member of three dairy breed associations. In 2011 he was inducted into the Dairy Hall of Honors at the University of Missouri.

Gary attended the University of Missouri at Columbia, majoring in Agriculture and Education.  Upon graduation, he moved to Alton, Missouri and taught Vocational Agriculture for six years. Over time, he became fascinated with the art of auctioneering. His interest eventually led him to change career paths.   Gary has been a successful auctioneer for the past 50 years, selling cattle nationwide.  He was also a partner at Blansets sale barn in Ozark, MO for 20 years. His deep-rooted interest in helping people and his love for the dairy cow have always been evident in his dealings from the auction block. Over the years Gary has had some very interesting experiences, those of which include an auction he sold at South Fork where all the cast of the hit show “Dallas” were in attendance, including “JR” and “Bobby”.

Gary raised 3 boys, Rusty, Ryan and Randall. Each of them graduated from college and played college football.

Gary spent several years team roping, which was his main passion until a couple of his friends invited him to a penning in Guthrie, OK. That was in the early 90’s and the start of a 32-year adventure.  In later years Gary went back to Guthrie and won Reserve Champion, which was one of his most cherished wins.

 His brother, Jerry, owned the NLA arena in Nixa, MO where many friends from the surrounding towns and nearby states would come to team pen.  Kim Hemphill frequently brought Niki and Tori to Jerry’s arena over the summer to practice. Both Estes brothers were very active in the MOTPA and USTPA.  Jerry produced several USTPA shows at his arena and Gary won several state championships and was a member of the MOTPA board.

Gary has won many buckles, saddles and various prizes in USTPA and several AQHA world titles, but his greatest joy has been watching many of the people who were just kids back when he started grow into accomplished riders. One of Gary’s most treasured memories is Hoss Frank bringing the Lesh boys to Guthrie, and watching the crowd go wild!! Team penning is a great family sport, creating a promising future for generations to come. The relationships and experiences Gary has had over the last 32 years will be long cherished and remembered.  He is very honored and humbled by being inducted into USTPA Hall of Fame, an organization for which he has great respect.

Gary has loved cattle, horses, and people from day one. Being a cowboy was just in his DNA. He got his love for animals from his mom, Olga Hill, and his business mind from his dad, Clayton Hill. Gary grew up in a large family that didn’t let grass grow under their feet. Gary rode a horse to school and spent most days dreaming about moving cattle. Cattle and horses became his life and love at a very young age. He wanted his horses to be cowy, fast, and pretty, but he owned and rode plenty of them that didn’t have all those qualities. He has owned bucking horses, a dude string, performance horses, and dabbled as much as he could in the racehorse business. Gary’s dream was always to have a large family, run cattle, and do it horseback, surrounded by the people he loved.

There was no doubt that he would make the dream come true. Gary has been blessed to have taken many paths down his road in life. He has enjoyed family and friends in the rodeo world, where he entered every rodeo event they he decided owning a stock contracting business would be fun and profitable. It has been said that he could be found cheering for his animals and cowboys (his friends) so hard he would fall off the back of the chutes.
Another business venture Gary tried his hand at was raising and selling performance horses. He would stand as many as five studs and fifty mares at any one time. Gary produced many Quarter Horse sales with his wife, Alice Hill, and kids. Gary was always willing to partner with anyone else who wanted to promote the horse business. The horses he raised and sold were good, solid, and “kid broke” (by necessity) because they were born, raised, and used on Gary’s working cattle ranch. This made for a marketable prospect, and he and his family enjoyed welcoming people from all over the country to their ranch to purchase his horses.

Once the rodeo and performance horse businesses weren’t fast enough for him, he found a few dollars to spend on a fast horse and a friend who trained racehorses. This turned into many years that saw him and his family traveling to different racetracks and watching his horses run. He once had a mare who wasn’t winning in the short races, but he knew she was a winner. So, Gary entered her in an 870-yard race, and with his luck and winning attitude, the mare Go Stacy, took off in the lead and led the whole way to the finish line. Gary didn’t quit grinning or reminding everyone he knew she was a winner from the day he bought her.

As his family grew and Gary realized his love for cattle and horses had passed onto his children, it became clear that the ranch needed to become the focus. This was an easy adjustment for Gary because it meant he could enjoy everything important to him! Once the bucking, performance, and racehorses got few and far between, the cow horses, cattle, and land grew. The work had just begun, and he, Alice, and their kids rolled up their sleeves and took care of business. In the early ’90s, Gary’s family from California brought the sport of team penning to the Colorado Hill’s. The sport fit Gary like a glove. He could ride a great horse with his family and friends and try his luck at being a winner at something they did day in and day out. The rest is history; he spent years hauling his family and horses to every team penning he heard about and loved getting the chance to invite friends from all over the country to his ranch for his USTPA-pro- duced shows. His motto was: “We will work hard and smart to enjoy time together.” Gary and his family had several prestigious wins. Gary loves a good match race, and he won more matches than anyone. He loved sharing his horses with anybody who needed a ride because that meant someone thought he had a “good one.”

When mentioning team penning and his memories of the sport, Gary can’t help but grin and laugh at the time he shared with some of his favorite people on Earth. He has memories of jumping up and down in the stands at the Will Rogers Coliseum high enough that Jodi Hill and Larry Pancost thought he might land in the arena when three of his kids came back in the 19th spot to move up into 2nd place at the Fort Worth Stock Show. Another highlight was winning the Lazy E Challenge with his son, Corey, and Jodi Hill to fill his pockets and confirm that this sport also had a business side that he loved. Another memory that always makes Gary’s eyes sparkle is when Billy and Bobby Atwood and Gary and Jodi had a cutting competition. The Hills provided the horses, and the Atwood’s rode them. Billy and Gary’s great mare, Taris, came out on top of Bobby and Jodi’s palomino gelding, Boy. All the wins aside, the times that will make his eyes sweat and build a lump in his throat, making it difficult to talk about, are the times that he spends enjoying meals, laughing at stories, and getting to know the people who continue to be his most valuable treasures. These are the things he holds the closest to his heart. And for this, he says THANK YOU to the sport and those who made all this possible; he appreciates every part of you and all that makes up this group.

George Eidsness grew up on a wheat farm in north- eastern, North Dakota with a small herd of beef cattle and a feedlot. His first experience riding horses was around age 5 when he rode draft horses while feeding cattle and cleaning the barn. He then moved up to a Shetland pony, who bucked off everyone who got on it. His first horse was a not-so broke Mustang that his dad purchased for him for $25 when he was 11 years old. George showed and judged Horned Herefords growing up in 4-H. In addition to showing steers, he had extensive practice riding steers in the feedlot using his makeshift bull rope.

A memorable riding experience came at the age of 14 when he was attempting to ride a bucking 3-year-old when his cinch broke sending him to the ground on top of a tree stump. George spent a night at a hospital after he was knocked out with a bad concussion and he received 72 stitches on the back of his head. After graduating from high school, George’s focus was on racing snowmobiles and cars rather than on riding horses. Between 18 and 45, George’s riding was limited to an occasional trail ride and annual elk hunting trips on horseback in Montana and Colorado. After graduating from the University of North Dakota with a degree in Business Administration, George worked for a dealership in Fargo, North Dakota, where he worked in various capacities for 17 years. In June 1990, George and his wife Barb purchased Transwest Trucks in Commerce City, Colorado. George, Barb, and their two children packed up to move to Colorado.

In 1996, they bought a majority interest in Steamboat Lake Outfitters, which came with 65 dude horses and 6 mules. SLO features trail rides, pack trips, and hunting on horseback. In the fall of 1998, his daughter Meredith convinced him to abandon plans to build a new home in Westminster and purchase the Flying E Ranch near Fort Lupton. The ranch came complete with an indoor riding arena. A team penning had been scheduled for New Year’s Day in what was now their arena. George agreed to allow them to put it on. At this time, George had never seen or heard of the sport of team penning. After observing penning for a couple of hours, George joined the Rocky Mountain Team Penning Association. He saddled up his daughter’s rope horse, which he had never ridden before, and entered the event. At the end of the day, George had won a third- place check at 47 years old and he was hooked on the sport. George continued to pen at local RMTPA events around the Front Range of Colorado. He participated in Chuck Pancost events and eventually took a trip to Kremmling to compete in a penning put on by the Hills, which was a much tougher competition. Team penning allowed him to compete with daughter Meredith and son-in-law Andrew Lyons as a family.

George became a lifetime member of USTPA and enjoyed the sport for many years. With his new group of friends Duane Kent, Bob, and Adam Tregemba, he traveled to events earning enough points to qualify for the USTPA finals in Amarillo, Texas. After competing on three or four different horses in his first year, his son-in-law Andrew advised him if he was going to win he had to ride better horses. George purchased his first good horse, a 14-year-old grandson of Cutter Bill for $11,000, which he thought was a crazy amount of money to pay for a horse. Over the years, George purchased 16 more good horses, but the horses didn’t get any cheaper. His best horse was CD Nurse, sired by CD Olena and out of Nurse Rey. He purchased the Quarter Horse gelding when he was just 4 years old as a talented prospect. Andrew told George that he better enjoy him because he would never own another one as good and he was right. CD was voted the Region 6 Horse of the Year multiple times. George enjoyed the sport for many years traveling with friends across the country. He traveled a lot to Texas and Oklahoma and to pennings as far as Kalispell, Montana, Reno, Nevada, and Monroe, Louisiana. George particularly enjoyed the stock shows, including Denver, Rapid City, Fort Worth, San Antonio, and Houston.

In 2000, George started putting on a winter series team penning at the Flying E Arena. He also enjoyed hosting team penning clinics and putting on several events using Mike Van Zant, Roger Braa, and 13 events with Bobby Atwood. George’s good friend and mentor Gary Fletcher would haul up for almost every show. Gary helped put on what was believed to be the first USTPA-sanctioned team sorting at the Flying E. The team penning series was a family-run event with Barb and her sister running the kitchen while Meredith and Andrew were helping put on the show. In addition to Gary Fletcher, Dick and Sharron Jarrard from Wheatland, Wyoming, Troy and Peggy Hayden from Rapid City, South Dakota, along with Henry and Cathy Herrman from Syracuse, Kansas were regular out-of-state attendees at the Flying E. It takes a lot of people to put on a good event and George always seemed to be fortunate to find good help, a great cattle supplier, announcer, and bookkeeper. The Eidsness family continued producing team pennings for the next 14 years. When the liability insurance increased to $21,000 for the three shows, George elected to end his productions.
His company, Transwest, has been a long-time sponsor of the equine industry, supporting team penning, cutting, roping, barrel racing, jumping, Little Britches, and high school rodeo. For a few years, they partnered with Hart Trailers giving away trailers at the USTPA finals, and later had a sponsorship agreement with Cimarron Trailers. George was also instrumental in bringing his friend David Dean and Cinch Jeans to USTPA as a sponsor. Over the years, Transwest has purchased hundreds of belt buckles, spurs, many saddles, and a few trailers sponsoring team penning events. George and his family continue to support the youth in rural Colorado, Wyoming, and Nebraska. They sponsor and support 4-H and FFA events and purchase animals at 10 county fairs, in addition to the National Western Stock Show.

In around 2003, George was elected to the USTPA board as a director for Region 6 until January 2016. When George attended his first official meeting he was asked if he knew how to read a financial statement. When he answered yes, he was soon appointed to be the Director of Finance, a position he held for many years. George wasn’t told that one of the position’s responsibilities was ensuring there was enough money in the bank to make payroll in the slow months. George helped other board members steer the organization through some turbulent times and some great times. It’s always been amazing for him to watch other board members step up by donating their time, money, and other resources to do what is right for the organization. One of his proudest accomplishments was leveraging his corporate sponsorship and personal relationships to help his great friend Gary Fletcher bring team penning back to the National Western Stock Show and running the finals during the PBR event. The best deal that we could negotiate was to allow us a maximum time of 15 minutes to set up the pen, bring in the cattle, run the top 10, and move out. The first year, they wouldn’t believe it could be done and only allowed us to run the top seven teams. We proved them wrong and were out in under 13 minutes. This event went on to become what was probably the best crowd-pleasing event in team penning. The contestants loved it as well, and many traveled a long way in January to compete. After many years of competing across the country, associating with many new friends, and having a lot of fun, George’s back condition forced him to quit riding competitively. His last competition was at the 2020 National Western Stock Show finals during the PBR performance. After riding over 6,000 miles through the Rocky Mountains of Colorado and Wyoming, he continues to enjoy trail riding.

Even though a back specialist told George in 1990 that if he didn’t get his lower back fused he would be in a wheelchair in less than a year. He hasn’t had to buy a wheelchair yet. George was able to ride for 30 years and he is hoping with the help of modern regenerative medicine and pilates he will be able to compete again. He has kept a couple of team penning horses around to be ready, just in case.
George is honored and humbled to be recognized by the USTPA as one of this year’s Hall of Fame inductees

John Luiz was born and raised in the Central Valley of California on a dairy/beef cattle operation that his father managed.  John always had an interest in horses.  As a youngster, around 6 or 7 years old, he would watch the workers gather the cows, tie the horses to the barn and they would milk the cows.  He would then sneak out and ride the horse while they milked.  Of course, getting in trouble for this.  As he got older, he was allowed to help on the beef operation more and more.

He decided he wanted to be a cowboy and in his middle 20’s went to work cowboying for Joaquin Medeiros.  Joaquin ran around 800 mother cows.  Wanting more adventure, he was hired on at the Gill Ranch, NE of Hollister, CA.  They were known for its’ steep, brushy, tough country and wild cattle.  They ran cattle on approximately 50,000 Acres.  That’s where John began his journey with working cow dogs, mainly using border collie/McNabb cross dogs.  John worked there for about two years as he was offered a job managing the 6B Cattle Co. consisting of approximately 500 mother cows and a feed lot.  When 6B started downsizing, John started leasing a few small pastures to run a few cows of his own.  John also worked part time for crews. John says his best memories are the comradery within Biel Cattle Co. in the mountains south of Livermore.  This is where his need and passion for working cattle dogs and tough horses grew.  John was hired to gather cattle that no one else could capture.

About this time in the mid 70’s, John started team penning with the C.C.P.A   It was a sport he fell in love with.  In the beginning, it was a two man, three cattle event.  You had to close the gate once they were penned to get a time.  Santa Ynez was the first three man penning John attended.  The first year penning in the W.C.T.P.A., John was the year-end champion.  John continued to pen with the P.T.P.A. and the W.C.T.P.A.  winning multiple championships in both associations on his trusty mount, Roanie.   John’s most memorable win was in 1992, when he won with Willie Tellam and Steve Tellam, the Justin National Team Penning in Guthre, OK out of 250 teams.  In 1990, John with his team penning partners, Mike Quick and John Smalley made, “The Penning Tape.”

Over the years, John with his partners, Mike Quick and John Smalley put on many team penning clinics throughout the U.S.  John also wrote several articles in the Team Penning USA magazine and an article in the Quarter Horse Journal and Western Horseman.  John was always trying to encourage new participants and help them whenever he could. You could always hear his voice over others giving instructions and helping everyone even if they were beating him!  John also was always on hand to help out at the pennings, loading/unloading trucks, numbering, sorting, whatever needed to be done to help the penning the sport and the many friendships made along the way.  And, of course, best memory was meeting his wife, Sandy, at a team penning.

John also was asked to be the head wrangler for a two-day cattle drive to kick off the 1985 Hemet Team Penning.  With the help of John Smalley, Steve Tellam, Mike Quick and many others, cattle were driven from mountains in Anza through downtown Hemet into the fairgrounds .  This was the beginning of many cattle drives; Los Angeles County Fair, Orange County Fair, San Diego County Fair, Alameda County Fair to name a few. John now runs approximately 300 head of mother cows of his own in the mountains of the Diablo Range, south of Livermore, CA  with the help of his wife, Sandy, and many working cattle dogs and good horses.  Since retiring from team penning, John enjoys helping neighbors gather, along with sorting and brand their cattle.

Hall of Fame Presentation for Chuck Pancost

Chuck Pancost was born to Ira Leo Pancost and Helen Celia (Hogan) Pancost and raised in Boulder Colorado. He was the youngest of 4 children. He married Jeannette in 1956 and together had 4 children Chuck, Dave, Larry, and little sister Tracey. 10 Grandchildren and 6 Great Grandchildren. Son Chuck had 2 girls Jessica and Lyndsey Pancost, Dave has 3 children LJ (Kristi) Pancost (Tyler and Kyle Pancost), Jackie (Hank) Bevan (Teagan and Tripp Bevan), Jake Pancost, Larry (Carol) Pancost has 3 girls and 3 boys (Katie (Adam) Strom- berger), Janie (Keith) Shoemaker (Kinlee Shoemaker), Angie (Tyler) Miller (Tres Miller), and Tracey has 2 children JR and Maddie Pancost.

At the young age of 17 Chuck started Boulder Valley Drywall. Chuck eventually sold the Drywall business to his brother Ed to follow his true passion of becoming a rancher. Chuck ranched on the Lowery Bombing ground south of Watkins, Co where Dave, Larry and their families also lived and worked on the ranch. This is where many family members, friends, neighbors came to enjoy all aspects of ranching and riding. The entire family spend time at the ranch, Chuck especially enjoyed having the grandkids out riding and working cows on the ranch. You could always find a large crowd in June for the annual Branding.

Chuck had passion for raising horses. Chuckalways had a horse for you to ride if you showed up without one. He gave all his grandkids a horse when they were ready. Chuck enjoyed going out to the pastures checking his mares and colts.

Chuck started Team Penning with his family in the early 90’s competing around Colorado. His fist teammates were his family, sons Dave and Larry, daughter Tracey and grandkids LJ, Jackie, Jake, and numerous friends from around Colorado. They traveled with Chuck around Colorado competing. Chuck knew they could Team Pen and Sort as it was aspects of the daily ranching life and thought whom better to do this with other than your family that you ride with every day. Chuck and family eventually traveled out of state to Oklahoma, Texas, Arizona, and California to compete. Chuck believed we needed to get as many people interested to keep the sport going. Chucks idol Casey Tibbs once said, “This is the fastest growing Equine Sport, it’s catching on like wild fire.” Chuck believed so much in the sport he got a lifetime family membership from every association he belonged too. Chuck put on many Team Pennings locally, he encouraged anyone and everyone to come and try it. He would make sure you had partners if you showed up.

Chuck had a dream of winning a big show with 3 generations on one team. This dream came true when Chuck, son Larry and grandson LJ won the Quarter Circle T match Team Penning in Kremmling, CO. Chuck also won this the next year with LJ and Mark
Hill. Producer and teammate Jodi Hill joked with Chuck that he must have told his boys lets go to that penning we need to make a ranch payment. Chuck was no stranger to anyone in the Team Penning world. You could always spot him on his black and white paint stud horse Commander. Chuck would never root against anyone, but he sure would root for the cattle. Chuck cherished all the friendships he made throughout the years of Team Penning and Sorting and always enjoyed going to the USTPA World Finals.
Chuck moved his ranching operation to Eastern Colorado in the late 2000’s where he enjoyed ranching with his family and raising cattle and horses. Chuck passed away September 20th 2010. Chuck’s son Larry, Carol, Keith, Janie, and Kinlee Shoemaker still operate the ranch and continues to pursue Chuck’s passion of ranching.

Chuck Pancost Hall of Fame Brochure

Hall of Fame Presentation for Jared Lesh

Have you ever googled the word cowboy? There are several defini- tions, here is just one of them. The iconic cowboy represents the American dream; courage, optimism, and hard work. Google goes on to say…a cowboy, by definition, is a man, typically one on horseback, who herds and tends cattle, is a little wild, always a good time and has a ton of heart. Sound like anyone you know?

The old saying goes…. “Cowboys are born, not made.” From the time Jared could walk, he wanted to be a cowboy. Riding stick horses, bouncy horses, & Shetland’s with his cowboy hat and boots on! If you asked him what he wanted to be when he grew up he’d tell you he was “gonna be a Cowboy”! Not many people grow up and make their childhood dreams come true, but Jared Lesh is living his dream!

Jared is a true cowboy, not because he can ride a horse, not because he can Team Pen & Ranch Sort with the best of them, not because he’s a little wild and always a good time, but really, it might be because of his huge heart and willingness to work hard.
Jared is kind, generous, and someone you want in your corner in all walks of life.

Cowboys are even his hero’s. His Grandpa Hoss takes the top spot, with John Wayne running a close second. Grandpa Hoss started hauling Jared and his brothers to team pennings in 1990 when Jared was 10 years old. USTPA was just being talked about at that time and nothing local was being produced yet. But, that didn’t hold he and hi sbrothers back. As team penning grew, the competition grew and Jared always worked to stay right at the top of it. He and his brothers attended every ‘big’ show they could find and were fortunate to ride with and learn from some of the best in Oklahoma. Shelley Fitzgerald, Scott Lodes, David Hall, Donnie Wynne, Mark Morris and Mike Vanzant mentored he and his brothers in those early years. After a few years and a little more traveling he started riding with Jodi Hill, Larry Pancost. Ike Rainey, Gary Stanfill and JR Attea just to mention a few that promoted and rode USTPA shows. The Underwood’s, Fields and Saggione families were right there with them in their travels.

Jared started out riding 1⁄2 broke ponies and horses. He & his brothers Jamin & Joel (baby brother Jordan was 3 at the time and not competing yet) bought a quarter horse or two and started riding the youth class at the AQHYA World Show and brought home 9 World Champion titles among several other top placings. As he got older he fine tuned his skills with some really great cowhorses, Popeye & Colonel that took him to the pay window consistently. One week, over 23 years ago, in 1999, he and his mom drove from the Ft Worth Stock Show to the Denver Stock Show winning both stock shows in the same week! He has won top honors at all of em! He has display tables full of buckles, a trailer or 2, stacks of magazines with memories and many saddles displayed that hold special memories of all the fun times he had with his brothers & grandpa.

At the young age of 17, he won his first title at the AQHA World Championship Show. This was a prestigious show to win back in the day and Jared was fortunate enough with his grit, determination and overwhelming competitive spirit to be on top several times! He started selling horses and put the JL brand on them, selling over 2500, that you can find all over the world.

Jared’s always been family oriented. Family has always come first, we could go on and on, talking about all the wins, prizes and fun he’s had over his life span of 41 years. Telling stories, and oh could we tell some stories! We’ll let y’all share those with each other and him, cuz if you know him, rode with him, played with him, hung with him….then we know you have a story……but here is the biggest story, the single MOST important accomplishment to him in his entire career or life. It’s the top honor, the most prestigious honor you can have. He says if you’ve won it, then you’ve won every- thing. He has, because he has won the World Champion title of being a father. A Dad, to his best friend Gunnar! This is the duo that he hopes will span his lifetime. They enjoy hanging out, going to movies and Gunnar has rarely ever missed a horse show that Jared has gone to. Gunnar would jump on a horse when he was young but wasn’t as horse crazy at a young age as Jared was, but rode his first AQHYA show when he was just 6 years old with his cousins and jumps in the sorting arena at USTPA events now. Gunnar loves to play football and basketball and carries that same competitive spirit as Jared onto the field and basketball court.

Jared’s love for this sport has lasted over 32 years. He has spent time bettering the sport, not just himself. He has spent countless hours on committees, years as a director and sponsor and much more. He has put on USTPA events for over 13 years, always making his shows, a fun time for everyone in attendance. Always with great prizes and added money. Most recently and one that will go down in history as the largest donation in a single USTPA Youth class, was his bold move to give away an electric scooter to every single youth that participated. Trying to help get the youth numbers up and kids excited about riding and wow did it work! The kids came out of the woodwork, making for more than 80 youth teams, bringing back old memories for Jared, when the youth classes were large, back when he was riding in them. 47 scooters were given away that weekend, over $18,000 of lil black scooters buzzing around the parking, lot all weekend looked like a ‘mini’ Sturgis bike convention.

Jared Wayne Lesh grew up with his 5 siblings, Jason, Jamin, Joel, Jenna and Jordan Lesh on a small cattle ranch outside of Perry, OK. His father Gary and mother Jan ran a small herd of momma cows and received stockers, lined them out, sometimes penning on them, sold them and turned around a did it again. Jared learned cattle skills from his father, but the speed and sometimes controlled kaos was all on Jared and his brothers to learn, as dad would NOT let them work cattle on a horse…. always on foot.
The story could go on and on (hard to tell his mother helped write this)! If you ever needed a partner Jared was there. Needed
a horse, Jared would find you one, always helping to find the right fit or just the one you were looking for. You will find him on the sidelines coaching, helping, sharing his skills and encouraging. He truly loves this family oriented sport and wants to see it continue to be as successful as ever.

When we get old and hang up our hats, we all want to be remembered for being that super top hand and we all know that Jared Wayne Lesh is just that!!!…..but Jared will also be remembered for his over the top personality, heart and how he treated his partners in and out of the arena. Because, a true cowboy isn’t remembered for the number of saddles and buckles he’s won or the miles he’s traveled, a true cowboy is remembered for the legacy he leaves behind…. “Do what you love and call it work!” ~ Jared Lesh

Jared Lesh Hall of Fame Brochure

Hall of Fame Presentation for Randy Haile

Randy Haile was sorting and working cattle long before he had any say over if it was something he wanted to do. Randy, along with his family, would regularly head out before sunup to sort and drive fat cattle from the feedlot to where they could be loaded. Randy rode “White Night” his pony (who ran much faster than Randy wanted and was the only one of the two who could read cattle). Randy would routinely fall off as White Night would turn out from under him. White Night would stop, wait for Randy to get back on, and then do it again. This set the groundwork for later in life when Randy became much better at riding horses through any circumstances. When the cattle were delivered to the corral to load, Randy and his brother Rick would be hustled home by their mom Judy to catch the bus to school.

When Randy got a little older, he would go with his dad Ron to local roping’s and help put on, and take off, the plastic horns, and push steers through the chute. During the same time frame, he started going to and helping with local brandings and eventually worked up to get his turn at roping.

In the late 70’s Randy started going with his dad to local C.C.P.A. events. The California Cattle Penning Association was founded in 1969 and was a two man, three cow, close the gate competition. Randy entered his first junior competition in 1979. In 1983 he and two other junior riders even won the open penning at the local Stanislaus County fair when he was only thirteen years old.

Randy would spend the next couple of years competing in the junior divisions and was occasionally picked up on some open teams at events here and there. In 1985 Randy got the chance to take his brother’s place competing with his dad in the open division full time. At his first sanctioned event he would come in second place for the all-around trailer. To say he loved the sport is an under-statement. He would really dig into the film sessions with the team and on his own to try and get better. His mom would video not only their runs but also the runs of the teams they considered to be the best competitors so they could look for what worked and what did not. By his senior year in high school that meant no more sports, and almost all of his spare time was spent trying to get better at team penning. Sorting cattle at the ranch even became a type of practice. To see how you could sort cattle quickly without disturbing the herd.

A lot of this work was done on foot. Riding horses to keep them in shape or train them for others was always done with the thought of howtobeonewiththehorseandbemorepreparedfor the arena. Mornings before events were always spent as a team looking at the arena and studying the groups of cattle to try and find any advantage. These habits, good partners, good horses, and luck, led to much success inside and outside of the arena. There have been many wins and year end high point awards in the P.T.P.A., W.C.T.P.A., C.C.P.A., U.S.T.P.A., along with others. Beyond those Randy was able to pay his way through college and graduate from Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo without any debt or student loans. He became the first rider under contract with “Cowboy Up”. He did a national advertising campaign for Karmen apparel and their “Roper” line and had endorsement deals with “Professional’s Choice”, “Circle Y”, and “Sundowner.” Randy has been covered in numerous magazines and papers throughout the United States including an article on strategy for the American Quarter Horse Journal.
Looking back, though Randy thinks that winning trailers, saddles, buckles, and money was great; however, the greatest thing was the time spent travelling and competing. Looking forward to that little shot of adrenaline just before you start a run in the finals, but more importantly developing lifelong friend- ships. These friendships are with partners, competitors, and even the flaggers, announcers, and timekeepers. Randy considers his luckiest accomplishments to be meeting his wife Debbie and getting to have his dad Ron as his main partner for over 25 years. He even has been lucky enough to compete with his daughter Tristan and hopes to be able to one day compete with his new grandson Samuel. Teaching others to pen was something Randy never thought he would do and definitely didn’t realize how much he would enjoy it. In the end, it really has been a thrill for Randy to be able to teach to others the “why”, and not just the “what” to do and have those students take what they have learned and be successful on their own.

Randy Haile Hall of Fame Brochure

Hall of Fame Presentation for Mike Vanzant

Mike Vanzant was born in Tulsa Oklahoma in 1943. He was raised on a Cherokee allotment by his grandfather who was a rancher himself, training horses and working cattle. It was here Mike found his love of horses and his skill for reading and working cattle.

When Mike was just 16 years old, with dreams of being cowboys on the open range, he and some of his buddies left Oklahoma, venturing out to travel to Wyoming. Soon running out of money Mike ended up in Logan, Kansas. In Logan Mike found employment at the Logan Republican weekly newspaper setting type with a line and type machine. As part of his employment, he received room and board and was able to attend and finish High School. With charisma and as a natural leader, Mike was elected class president of the student body. After graduating high school Mike went back to Oklahoma and began working colts and started a breeding program for horses and cattle.

Mike was instrumental in developing the Oklahoma Association of Limosin Cattle. Limosin cattle are the state’s most popular breed, with the Angus a close second. He served on the board and was president in the 70’s.

Mike has six children. One of Mike’s children, Michael Shane won the 1988 Des Moines, Iowa Herdsman North America Competition. It was a great celebration and important win.

Mike’s last child graduated in 1989 leaving Mike the time and energy for team penning. All of Mike’s horses were ranch/working horses. He organized the Oklahoma Team Penning Association and served on the board for 6 years.

In 1989 or 1990 Mike sat down at the Lazy E with Marie Scoval, Don Fullerton, Steve Tellham and Willie Tellham to discuss the future of team penning. It was at this meeting that the USTPA was conceived, and Mike was the ninth member. He kicked in $1000 along with his ideas and time and energy to help get the United States Team Penning Association started. Mike’s first involvement as a USTPA producer was hauling cattle for the shows.

As team penning grew and the USTPA gained momentum, California team penners came up to Oklahoma for a little competition. Mike’s teams got beat and learned quickly that the key to team penning was teamwork. In ’91 the Texans were winning all the shows, then Oklahoma became competitive as a group.

All in all, Mike won his share of checks and titles. His winnings include 18 saddles, hundreds of belt buckles, breast collars and various tack, as well as several AQHA world titles. Mike was competitive in team penning until around 2000. He has great memories of this sport and contributes his success to good partners and teamwork.

In 1993 Mike started sorting in the open arena. He enjoyed this sport but saw a need for better horsemanship and cattle savvy. He promoted skill over roughness. The sorting arena eventually shortened to half arena, then a square pen and then round pens to enable speed. Mike participated in the Oklahoma state fair competition for 19 years. Other accomplishments in the sorting arena include Southwest Sorting promotion and participation, High point horse of the year in AQHA, and reserve on a junior horse. In collaboration with Gary Fletcher, Mike was instrumental in helping get sorting included in the AQHA World Competitions around the year 2000.

Mike retired from the sorting arena in 2010. He adopted another daughter, Izzy in 2011. Mike stays busy with his involvement and work with cattle and horses 2 to 3 days a week, selling stock on Monday, bulls and cows on Tuesday, and goes to Auctions in Oklahoma national stockyards where he takes young horses and runs thousands of cattle through each week.

Mike Vanzant Hall of Fame Brochure

Hall of Fame Presentation for Larry Pancost

Larry Pancost was born in Boulder, Colorado in 1961. He has been a rancher his entire life. Larry’s father Chuck owned a drywall and cattle business. Early on Larry decided he preferred working with the cattle over the drywall business. He soon learned his passion and skill was in the field with the cattle working the ranch. Along with instilling a hard work ethic and competitive spirit in his young son, Chuck taught Larry everything he knew about cattle and ranching. Larry’s competitive spirit took him to the rodeos where he enjoyed competing in roping, preparing him for the pull of the team penning which was to come a little later.

Larry and his three beautiful daughters lived in Brush, Colorado. He worked at the Brush Sale Barn as a ring man for many years. Working cattle on foot gave Larry the ability to read cattle which would eventually help him with his Team Penning.

In the late 80’s and early 90’s Chuck discovered team penning and told Larry he needed a partner. The Rocky Mountain Team Penning Association was formed around this time. Chuck bought a lifetime family membership. Larry’s involvement and love for the sport of Team Penning led him to hold offices in the RMTPA as well as holding the director position for Region 6 in the USTPA.

Larry, Chuck, brother Dave and nephew LJ traveled across Colorado and Wyoming team penning. They then decided to venture out to Oklahoma where they competed in team penning competitions with compet¬itors from California, Oklahoma, Mississippi, Texas and beyond. It was here they found some tough compe¬tition, learned new techniques and strategies and the importance of being mounted on good horses. They quickly realized these competitors were who they wanted to watch and learn from.

As Larry continued his team penning career he teamed up with Donnie Wynne, Jodi Hall, David Hall and eventually Jared Lesh. Donnie, David and the Underwoods took care of Larry and Jodi’s horses making it possible for them to compete in Team Pennings where they had to fly to in order to compete.

This allowed them to travel across many states and win numerous titles. There was one win that eluded Larry. The Coors Challenge, formerly The Justin Challenge remained just that for Larry; a challenge that he couldn’t win. But after practice and perse¬verance Larry captured that title as well as many others.

After many years competing Larry acquired some great team penning partners. His bunch consisted of LJ (nephew), Jake (nephew), Jackie (niece), Carol Berger, Roger Lorenzi, Dick and Sharron Jarrard, Bob and Connie Carnes, the Siebert’s, Kelly’s and the Hill Family. Finally, he realized he needed a Rodeo rig. That’s when the Toter home came about, where lots of food and drinks were consumed and many more card games were played. Everyone was welcome, lots of laughs were had and great memories created. If only the Toter home could speak, the stories it could tell!

Larry gives Carol credit for him having good horses. Larry rode Carols horse “Cowboy” to top ten events on numerous occasions. The duo made the cover of team penning USA magazine when they won the Denver Stock Show.

Larry and Carol were married in 2007. Larry has three beautiful daughters: Katie, Janie and Angie. Carol has three handsome sons: Kirby, Kyle and Hadley. Larry and Carol feel fortunate to have their children marry such wonderful spouses and bless them with 9 wonderful grandchildren.

Larry and Carol live in Stoneham, Colorado where they run a cow calf operation. Larry’s daughter Janie and Keith help a lot on the ranch. Larry stays busy with cows, grandkids and roping. Larry loves what he does every day and has a good time no matter the task. The years Larry spent team penning has created wonderful memories and the best friendships.

Larry Pancost Hall of Fame Brochure

Hall of Fame Presentation for Pete Loftin

Pete B. Loftin was born in Mexico City, Mexico, on May 3, 1949. His Dad, Joe B. Loftin, had been sent down there by the U.S. government to help with the hoof-and-mouth disease epidemic that broke out in 1948 and 1949. When done, the family returned to Texas. His Dad went back to managing cattle ranches, and his mom went back as a camp cook and straw boss of four boys, later adding a sister. They moved around a lot. By the time Pete was 18, he had lived in 20 different houses! “My Dad was a nomad,” he would tell people.

Pete was brought up in a ranch family, through and through. His Dad was raised in the Big Bend country before it was a National Park.  At age 13, Pete was riding colts in New Mexico on a 75-section ranch. They moved to California in 1963, and over the next 21 years he worked in feed lots and ran cattle with his Dad and brothers.  Pete would say: “Dad retired in 1976, I ran 3000-5000 head of pasture cattle on grass and beet fields. I learned to handle livestock by working in feed lots, there’s a lot of footwork done there.  I think it really helped in making me a good penner.” To see the world, in 1967, he enlisted in the Army, and the world, well, it consisted of a tour in Vietnam, Fort Ord and Oakland CA.  After 3 years he went back to the Valley and to the cattle and hay business.

Pete was running pasture cattle in El Centro, CA when a friend said to meet up with him at an arena the next day.  It was 1983 and he was introduced to his first team penning. He had 3 goes and 2½ minutes EACH GO to pen em’.   After that one penning, he was hooked! In 1985, as a single parent, he moved his family to Escondido, CA, starting Cloverdale Stables in the San Pasqual Valley, a boarding stable and penning arena. The move worked out for him. Cloverdale was down the hill from Hall of Famers (Willie and Steve Tellam’s place), 60 miles from Don Fullerton, and 40 miles from Marie Scovel. Then later, meeting Val, his wife of 33 years (30 of them good, they both say!) at a penning.

He hauled about every weekend to events. He produced numerous pennings, gave clinics, and they were able to raise up 3 great kids in the sport. Pete traveled up and down California, and over to Nevada and Arizona for 25 years. The 90’s took him farther to the USTPA and AQHA events in Texas, Louisiana, Montana, Illinois, Oklahoma, and Canada with his California partners and friends in tow.  His partners and the penners who he rode against is its own Hall of Fame, both for penning and their contributions to the sport in its early stages.  Atwoods, Joseph, VanZant, Moses, Mitchell, Snell, DeLude, Fitzgerald, Lloyd, Rainey, Pancost and Hills. And that’s only a few!

In 2001, Pete did his first of 4 penning clinics in Italy.  He is a lifetime member of both the USTPA and AQHA. A USTPA past Vice President, WCTPA past President and for many years, and a Director in both of those Associations.  In USTPA he concentrated on sanctioning, rules, and ratings committees. He also produced the first California USPTA sanctioned penning at Cloverdale Stables in March 1994.

Since 1989, the Loftins have sold penning and sorting numbers, and are happy to say the sport is very much alive!  In 1999 they bought a small ranch in Cisco TX, then getting moved out there permanently in 2003.  Here they run some cattle, and of course, sell numbers. According to Pete, “This life has been an adventure and quite a ride with lasting friendships, so many blessings, memories and a bunch a stories. Pete won his last Open Buckle in 2008, which was 25 years after his first buckle at that El Centro penning in 1983. He thought it was “beginners luck” back then. They were the only team to pen all 9! ““It feels good to be here tonight and to be recognized.”

Pete Loftin Hall of Fame Brochure

Hall of Fame Presentation for Mike Flynn

Mike Flynn was born on January 13, 1949 to Emmett and Kathryn Flynn in Missoula, Montana. He grew up on the family ranch that his great-grandparents homesteaded in 1872. His love for horses, and the western lifestyle started at an early age when he would help his father and grandfather put up hay and feed cattle with their team of horses. Mike and his horse, Queenie, spent many hours covering the countryside around Missoula hunting and fishing.

Mike graduated in 1967 from Sentinel High School, and the day after graduation he went to work at White Pine Mill. Later, he went on to work in logging and construction along with helping his parents on the ranch. In 1970, Mike married his first wife, and in 1972, their son Mike Jr. was born in Missoula. Two years later they moved to Okanogan, Washington to ranch with his brother-in-law, and in 1975, their daughter Lisa was born. While in Washington, Mike rodeoed competing in calf roping and team roping. In 1980, Mike moved back to Missoula to work with his brother-in-law at Missoula Concrete, and to help his parents farm and raise cattle on the ranch. Four years later, he met his future wife Sue, and together they worked on his parent’s ranch. In 1986, their daughter Liz joined the family.

With the little spare time they had, Mike and Sue were introduced to team penning through their friend, Joe Benner. When they started, team penning for Western Montana was a hobby, not yet an official sport. In the early 90s, Mike, Sue, and their many penning friends, helped start the Western Montana Team Penning Association, and Mike helped produce many pennings in the area. Soon thereafter, they traveled to Spokane, Washington to the first big team penning, co-sanctioned by the Professional Team Penning Association of California. There, (thinking they were “hot shit”) they were fine tuned on how to pen correctly, thanks to their mentors the Hailes, Tellams, Hills, and numerous other people they met along the way. Mike’s motto was “you are never any better than the people you competed against” and they competed with the best!

Mike and Sue joined the Cascade Team Penning Association (CTPA) and the fun began— traveling all hours to compete in Idaho, Oregon, and Washington. In those days, there was not a novice class to start out in and be able to grow to the next level. Originally, you penned in the open only and learned as you went. They put a lot of miles on many pick-ups traveling to California, Canada, Colorado, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Texas and everywhere in the Northwest. In the mid- 90’s, Mike, Sue, and their two partners expanded their cattle business running yearlings in Idaho, Oregon, and California. This later allowed them to provide cattle for pennings in Red Bluff, California and Fort Klamath, Oregon for Paddy McAuliffe.

In the late 90’s Mike and Sue started producing pennings at their home, sanctioned by Cascade Team Penning Association, and then co-sanctioned with USTPA. Thanks to the many businesses in Missoula, their penning grew to be a great success, and they graciously welcomed penners from Canada, California, Idaho, Oklahoma, Oregon, Texas, and Washington, just to name a few.

Mike was later a director for Region 5 and spent many hours promoting and working with people at USTPA and CTPA. At this time, Mike and Roger Braa began holding clinics to share their knowledge and helped welcome many newcomers to the sport of team penning.

Mike’s greatest accomplishment in his team penning career, was winning the USTPA finals in 1998, with Dave Lewis and Roger Braa. He tips his hat to all who taught and rode with him to succeed in this accomplishment. In 2003, he won another saddle at the Region 5 finals with help from his wife Sue, his daughter Liz, and his many other great partners.
Today, while Mike may not be able to pen, he continues to help Liz and son-in-law James, on their ranch in Eastern Montana. James will help him on a tractor, and he is happy all day doing what he used to do. Mike also manages his family interests in Missoula, including several rental homes, and a trailer court. Mike and Sue have 4 grandchildren, and another one on the way in January 2021.In 2009, Mike suffered a severe stroke that limits the function of his left side, and because of this, Mike and Sue are not able to attend the induction to the Hall of Fame. Mike is truly honored to be nominated into the Hall of Fame and is grateful to all the people he has met through the years of penning, the friendships, and the memories that were made. Mike and Sue will miss seeing everyone, and they thank everyone for the opportunity at this very special achievement.

Mike Flynn Hall of Fame Brochure

Hall of Fame Presentation for Larry Kling

I was born on December 10, 1945 in Western North Dakota. I tell my friends and family that still live there that you have to be tough to stay.
My father was a pure rancher cowboy, and as a result I lived in cow camps was trained as a ranch hand. Since we were always isolated, I learned how to entertain myself riding stick horses, and exploring the hilts and coulees nearby. I had the experience of attending one-room schoolhouses and having my own mother teach me all eight years. We lived in the country, so I rode my horse or walked several miles to school. There was more than one-time we students were stranded at the school when there were blizzards. One time, we were there until rescued by the National Guard! I remember we had a big sack of potatoes, so mom had us bake them by the wood burning stove.

I lived in town so that I could attend high school graduating in 1963 and then onto college for two years. It was during that time I met Colleen, my wife of nearly 53 years. Our Dad’s both ran cattle on reservation leases, and it was because of that connection we met in 1964. We married in December three years later. We have two children. A son Shawn who lives in Franklin, Tennessee and a daughter Heather from Anaheim, CA. One grandson Carson, and three granddaughters, Moorea, Mercedes, and Madison, and two great-grandchildren Cash and Emerson. The Bible tells us a man is blessed with his children’s children. I am indeed!

I began a career in trucking. First hauling livestock, then transitioning to hauling mobile homes. Colleen encouraged me to get into management, so soon I began what turned out to be years as a dispatcher, regional manager and eventually became president of a nationwide company. We longed for Idaho, so in 1983 we started our own company which eventually became a nationwide company. We got bought out in 1996 and I couldn’t have been happier, because now we were free to basically retire.
Both Colleen and I came from Ranch and rodeo families, and we always had horses around and at the urging of my brother-in-law Hal Johnsrud. We tried the new sport called team penning. We were pretty well hooked right off. We tried our luck locally then started traveling on a national level. We had every kind of traveling rig from living quarter horse trailers, buses, motorhomes, and over the road tractors. We were pretty serious about it as we hit the circuit from Illinois to Mississippi and all points west. It was during those times we forged many relationships that we hold dear to this day.

I always believed in putting back into the sport, so I was always involved in boards locally and then on a national basis. It wasn’t long before we got into producing penning, sorting, as well as other cow horse events. Old smooth-talking Dick Rosell talked me into running for president of USTPA in 1997. Prior to this time, I served as VP and west coast director for three years I was instrumental in starting the contestant number rating system, which was quite a task in and of itself. We also worked really hard on the regional finals as well as the national finals, and I always enjoyed promoting it. To me, it was more rewarding to put on a good show than it was to win it as a contestant. I tell people every buckle I won cost me at least $10,000 and every saddle $30,000. A couple of highlights were when Hal Johnsrud, Ed Machado, and I won the 1995 ATPC open finals at Guthrie. As amateurs, Colleen and I teamed up with Hal winning Mediflight, which was a great win because we competed with the greats of the game. You get lucky once in a while. We continued going up and down the road competing on a national level. We quit and went cutting for a few years until sorting came into its own and are competing in as many shows as we can.

I know I can speak for Colleen to say we count ourselves blessed to have been associated with USTPA and I want to thank you for the honor of being recognized by you all. It has been a privilege to have known you and worked with you to improve our sport. The fact that you recognize us old duffers is very, very special. Thank you.

Larry Kling Hall of Fame Brochure

Hall of Fame Presentation for Hoss Frank

Reba…Vince….Garth….Blake…Super Stars! Just say their first names…one word…and we know who you are talking about. Say Hoss and if you are from Morrison, Oklahoma, or the Team Penning world you know who we are talking about! You might find him still out swathing or baling hay or maybe delivering a load of rock, 87 years young and still going at it.

Loyal Dean “Hoss” Frank was born during the worst year of the Great Depression, 1933. Horse & Mule teams were still used for much of the farming. The majority of Hoss’s childhood days were spent on the back of a horse. He was better known in his early years as “Horsey” and it was apparent at an early age that he loved horses. On nice days, he would ride his horse to the one-room schoolhouse that he attended about a mile down the road. He would tie old ‘Star’ up to the hitching post under the shade tree. The story has it, that Horsey got his nickname from the kids at school. Star would “knicker” when he heard Loyal’s voice through the window of the schoolhouse, the kids would laugh and giggle and soon started calling him Horsey…the name stuck!

In 1953, shortly after graduation he was drafted into the Army, spending 2 years of active duty during the Korean War. On his return to Oklahoma, he spent one year in the Army Reserves and another five years in the National Guard. His college career then began at Stillwater, Oklahoma, A&M becoming an Aggie. Oklahoma A&M soon became Oklahoma State University and so evolved the Cowboys and his love for Cowboy football! He graduated in 1960 with a bachelor’s degree in Ag Education. He loves to tell people he started at a college as an Aggie, and graduated from a University as a Cowboy.

While attending OSU he met a young city gal from Tulsa, OK, the love of his life, Carolyn Duke who he married in 1958. ‘Hoss and Duke’ as they affectionately became known, have 4 children. Jeff, Jan Lesh, Joe & Becky Jo. All of his children rode horses growing up, but 1 son, Jeff became extremely active in team roping. An oilfield injury to the right shoulder prevented Hoss from throwing a loop anymore. Despite the injury, Hoss remained an avid horseman. He was the one that all the Ranchers in the community called to gather cattle, sort, and work them, taking his grandchildren along to help.

Fast forward a few years…… about 1988, Hoss learned of Team Penning from a local Rodeo Clown who had seen it in California, they found a Western Horseman magazine with rules and after roping numbered the steers and put on the first local Team Penning, he was hooked!!!! He could do with a busted-up shoulder, his horse, and his grandkids! Jeff had 2 and Jan had 5 at the time (Jordan hadn’t made his appearance yet!).

Hoss put on a few practices and then a few shows and got several local horse people and relatives interested. A few guys near OKC started the Oklahoma Team Penning Association about 1991, not long after Sooner State TPA appeared. Members of both he and his daughter Jan hauled kids all over the state of Oklahoma every weekend, they also produced shows once a month. He was blessed to be in the Great State of Oklahoma, where at the time, some of the greats of Team Penning came from: Shelley Fitzgerald, David Hall Mike Vanzant, Mark Morris, and Donnie Wynne.

He may have started with some of the great names in the sport, but he definitely feels like he has ended with some of the greatest names in the sport. He is also ever so proud of all his grandkids, and feeling extremely honored to be called Grandpa by Jared, Jamin, Joel, and Jordan Lesh who are or have been top riders in this great sport along with their spouses: Megan, Colette, and Katie Lesh. And now a whole new generation, the 3rd generation, great grandkids: McKenzie, Jackson, and Preston. Several year USPTA members, and now Carson Lesh, Jenna’s son have joined and have already put a few wins under his new belt buckles! 3-year-old, Jake Lesh, son of Jamin and Megan, just made his sorting debut in September.

Always an avid supporter of the USTPA, Hoss rode and helped produce along with daughter Jan the first shows held in Oklahoma. Now, his grandchildren produce those same shows to the present day. AQHA has also been a big part of Hoss’s Team Penning history, riding and qualifying for the World show for 21 years, accumulating over 1,900-lifetime points, and riding in over 680 AQHA shows. Bringing home 4 Bronze Globes, 3 top 5 wins, 7 top 10 wins and making it to the finals 25 more times! Many of those world show trips were alongside his son Jeff. He also participated at the Palomino World Show where he took home the coveted GOLD globe and placing in the top 3 for many years.

Huge prestigious shows were popping up everywhere! He and his favorite partners, the Lesh Brothers, traveled all over the United States more making memories that will last a lifetime. He has been Team Penning and Ranch Sorting for than 31 years, and has accumulated too many buckles, prizes, ribbons, jackets and awards to recall. If there were ever an award given for “loving the sport more than anyone else” it would have been awarded to Hoss Frank! There wasn’t a person attending that he wouldn’t ride with. Promoting this great family sport by sharing with so many friends and relatives and developing friendships that have lasted his lifetime.

Hoss debuted one last time at the famous Lazy E Arena last year, 2019, where his favorite ‘greats’ of the sport rode with him: Jared, Jordan, and wife Katie. Jamin, Megan, and other grandchildren were there to help him on his horse and to cheer him on!

Just say oe bae, Hoss, in this Team Penning World and if you’ve been around awhile you know who we are talking about. What a ride this Cowboy has had! One fantastic wife, four children, eight and children, fifteen great grandchildren, a slew of relatives that have loved the sport, and a whole USTPA Family. What more does a man need!

Hoss Frank Hall of Fame Brochure

Hall of Fame Presentation for Don Fullerton

Don Fullerton was born in Stuart, Nebraska on June 5, 1936. He grew up on a cattle ranch in Amelia, Nebraska, and rode a Shetland pony to school in his elementary school years. Don then owned a Quarter Horse and his sister took over riding the Shetland. He used the Shetland pony to pull his hay wagon he built from scratch. The pony was Don’s main source of transportation to the local fishing hole, which was about a ¼ mile from the family ranch. One afternoon, the pony was tied to a fence post and rubbed his bridle right off, and he just took off, leaving Don stranded at the fishing hole with his worms and cane pole, and no transportation to get home.

Beginning in the 7th grade, Don drove a Model A Ford with his brother and sister until the 10th grade. He also learned to drive an old Farmall tractor with direct gear steering. Luckily, Don didn’t break his wrist driving the tractor. He had to hold on tight – just in case he hit a frozen cow turd – the steering wheel could spin right out of his hand!

Don’s first job was a water boy in a “Blue Grass” yard, serving water where the bigger kids were turning the grass seeds. He was paid handsomely at 10 cents an hour. Graduating from High School at age 16, Don continued on to summer school at Wayne State Teachers College where he taught in rural schools for 3 years. In 956 Don moved to his Aunt and Uncle’s home in Lancaster, CA where he worked in the aircraft industry for a couple of years. In 1958 Don re-enrolled in college and graduated three years later with a B.S. in Engineering. Following his graduation Don spent the next 4 years in engineering and sales engineering.

Don married Carolyn in 1960 and had three wonderful children, Dale, Randy and Shari. In 1964, Don started working for State Farm Insurance until he retired in 1992. The family moved to Tustin, CA in 1971 where Don again became involved with horses. This time Don had to learn to ride with a saddle, because when he was in grade school, he rode bare back and couldn’t afford a saddle.

In 1973 the family moved to Corona, CA where Don became more involved in cattle and then switched to Quarter Horses. In 1982, Don attended his first World Team Penning in Hemet, CA, and a year later brother-in-law, Gene Skalo and Don started Team Penning practices at Riverside Ranchero Roping Club. They held practices every Tuesday and Thursday evening for many years. Don entered his first World Team Penning in 1983. From then on, he traveled all over California attending Team Pennings at least 1-2 times per month.

In 1985 Don went to the Cow Palace and won 3rd Place. In 1988 he won a World Penning in Las Vegas, and then in 1991 won the World Year-In Team Penning competition, which was held in Rancho Mission Viejo, CA. Don competed in the Pennings at the Lazy E. Guthrie, OK that were usually won by the Tellhams, David Hall, Donnie Winn, Shelly Fitzgerald, Johnnie Joseph, Larry Pencost, Jodi Hill, Bobby Atwood, and many other great Team Penners. Don won the Celebrity Challenge in 1993 at the Lazy E., and competed at Calgary, Canada in the early 90’s where he won 3rd place overall.

Don became the President of the World Championship Team Penning Association and was the United States Team Penning Western Regional Director for several years. In 1995, he won the Fort Worth Stock Show, and attended the Johnny Joseph Team Penning in Louisiana. Unfortunately, due to “adult beverages” and great food, Don failed to win anything significant at the Johnny Joseph event. Don now lives on his Apple Valley, California ranch and does his best to stay out of trouble. His last significant event was winning the 2015 San Bernardino County Team Sorting with 97 teams competing. Don still enjoys the cattle business, which is just enough to keep him out of the “pool hall”.  Don stated “It has been a great ride, and the most important are the great friendships I have made over the years. Getting installed into the Hall of Fame makes it all just perfect. I am a very lucky guy”.

Don Fullerton Hall of Fame Brochure

Hall of Fame Presentation for Jodi Hill

Jodi Clay Hill was born and raised in Kremmling, Colorado. His family is a 5th generation of ranchers. All his life he “cowboyed” on the ranch and team roped. In 1985 he married Sandy, who is also a 5th generation rancher from Kremmling. They have 4 kids and now 10 grand kids. Jodi and Sandy together run Troublesome Creek Ranch (a cow/calf operation), do wildlife habitat and custom haying.

In the 80’s, his mom became interested in “team penning” and did some investigating.We all know where that led! She organized an event in Kremmling and Jodi was soon traveling around the United States with family and friends from all over. Those were some great memories that he will always cherish. Family, from Grandpas and grandmas to grand kids, Uncles and Aunts, brothers and sisters, sons and daughters, cousins all traveling and riding together. In the 90’s Jodi formed a box with David Hall, Larry Pancost and Donnie Wynne. Many lifetime friendships were made.

Jodi and Sandy also produced team pennings in Colorado. They drew people from all over the United States. Jodi was great at putting on events with great prizes and big added money. He participated in many

AQHA events and world shows with many titles under his belt.He won the AQHA World Grand Champion from 1997-2002 every year except 1998 and he was also Reserve Champion in 2000. Jodi and his family belonged to several team penning association over the years and competed successfully in all of them. They ran the local team roping for over 20 years. Jodi and Sandy were also superintendents of the team penning for several years at the Denver National Western Stock Show. In 2001 Jodi had High Money and High Point National Champion Futurity horses in team penning.

Their kids were active in 4-H and school events and in junior high they took up rodeo more seriously and Jodi slowed down traveling and penning to haul the kids to their events.Now that the kids are grown and have kids of their own (10 as of now + his sister’s 3 who call him “papa”, too), Jodi is back to team roping and traveling mostly to the World Series Team Ropings in Colorado and Vegas. He has recently started going to Arizona in the winter to rope. The grand kids are active in 4-H, school sports and rodeo. He loves roping and riding with them and going to their games. They are becoming the best help on the ranch.

One of Jodi’s highlights every year is the spring branding. He goes to his Uncle Gary’s to help several times as well as our own and neighbors. He loves the roping and dragging calves to the fire.

Jodi has switched horses from penning to roping, as most of the penning horses have gone to greener pastures. He teases Sandy that he’s thinking of adding some penning horses back into the herd and who knows! He certainly loved his traveling days and maybe he will do it again with the younger generation of family. They are becoming great little cowboys and cowgirls and read cattle pretty good! Sandy says Jodi is a magnet for kids and people in general. He has a big heart and fun to be around. Over the years, we have been blessed with many friends we have met along the way.

It has been mentioned several times “family” and “lifelong friends”.  Sorry to be repetitive, but that is one of the best things about the team penning and rodeo world. No matter where you find yourself there is a friend and place to stay over with your horses. The invitation is two way.

Jodi Hill Hall of Fame Brochure

Hall of Fame Presentation for John May

John May was born on August 14, 1961 to Howard and Elaine May in Erie, PA on the family dairy farm milking cows and doing farm chores. At the age of five he became interested in horses and begged his parents for a pony. His great aunt sold ponies to put her kids through school and that’s where he purchased his first two ponies for ten dollars. Neither pony was broke, and as a five-year-old that was a fun challenge. Teaching himself and the ponies along the way is where it all began.

Throughout high school John had different horses and was quite the lady’s man so they say. During his school’s football games he’d ride to the school to give pony rides. John also pulled buggies and carriages with his team of horses and was a 4-H member showing everything from gaming to English.

Finishing high school at age 17, John left for the Oklahoma farrier college to become a blacksmith. When he returned home, he got in his old Hot Shot truck and started shoeing horses. John continued to help the family with the beef farm and traveled on the weekends to team pennings. A year later the Great Lakes Team Penning Association started, and John bought a 4-horse living quarters trailer. The person in his traveling group that had the nicest truck at the time would hook onto it, stuff five horses and ten people in it and hit the road.

John began training and giving riding lessons at age 21. At age 28 he found Team Penning. John was fortunate to know JR Attea from trail riding. One day JR called John and said, “We’re going team penning out west”. Little did John know how many miles, trucks and trailers he would eventually wear out. JR and John were the last two charter members of USTPA and got to ride with the best of the best like Bobby and Billy Atwood, Mike Varsant, Shelly Fitzgerald, David Hall, Jodi Hill, Larry Pancost, and many more. They even rode with the Lesh boys as early as when Jared was only 14.

In 1997 John married followed by two great kids Casey and Kristine. John has promoted USTPA shows in Pennsylvania, Ohio, New York, and several local associations shows as well. Casey plays soccer and the saxophone and is an Eagle Scout. Kristine grew up doing gymnastics and cheer and softball, but what she really loves are the horses. As a family the Mays have competed in USTPA and AQHA shows in almost every region, seen many beautiful places and made some lifelong friends.

John suffered a severe back injury in a Team Penning accident on May 7, 2018 that was life-changing. He is very thankful for all the support from his many friends and of course his family. John plans to be back Team Penning by 2020. Both of his kids will be graduating from college, and he hopes to get back riding with them and his many other great partners.

John has attended all but one USTPA Finals which was 2018 when he broke his back. He has served under all but one USTPA president and has been on the board of Executive Committee for 20+ years. USTPA has given John the opportunity to be an AQHA specialty judge along with the opportunity to go to Venezuela and Italy to give judging tests, clinics, and help others learn to promote shows.

In the 5th grade John wrote “ The Life Time of Cowboy John” with his goal of showing horses all over the United States. After showing in 3 foreign countries, John has won AQHA and USTPA World titles and numerous prizes, but the best part remains the memories and the friendships made along the way.

John May Hall of Fame Brochure

Hall of Fame Presentation for Donnie Wynne

Donnie Wynne owns and operates a Feed Store in Newcastle, OK where he was born. His parents farmed and had a Dairy and Beef Cattle Operation.

Donnie’s main job from a very early age was to gather the milk cows, pen them for milking and then ride through the beef cattle to check for problems. As soon as he would get out of school he would saddle up and ride, some say (his brothers) to get out of farming or milking. But his passion for riding and checking cattle continued to grow over the years.

He married his High School sweetheart Darline. She was by his side in all his endeavors, whether it was buying another load of cattle, training a race horse, and even team penning. She was actually the one who encouraged him to get started team penning. Donnie and some other men started a local club to promote and produce some Team Pennings.

As the sport continued to grow Darline is the one who encouraged him to travel and try it on a larger scale. So like a good husband he obeyed. He enjoyed penning no matter the size of the penning or where it was held. Donnie stated, “I was blessed to pen with the best”. Two of the top shows he won were the National Challenge and the AQHA World Championship. He won the Challenge 4 times, but it took longer to finally get the AQHA under his belt. He penned at the first AQHA World Championship Team Penning and qualified every year until he finally took the elusive Title in 2002.

After taking the world he started slowing down to spend more time at home with his family, and just like everything else he and Darline enjoyed that too. Now Donnie loves to spend time with his 4 grand- children and 7 great-grandchildren, while still running Wynne’s Feed and Seed, taking care of his horses, and checking his grandchildren’s herd.

Throughout all of his team penning adventures, horses, pickups, places, shows, wins or losses, the greatest of all was the camaraderie and friendships made along the way. Donnie would like to thank the USTPA for not only their recognition, but also their work for continuing a sport that has brought so much joy to so many.

Donnie Wynne Hall of Fame Brochure

Hall of Fame Presentation for Richard Dick Rosell

“Dick” Rosell Richard Arnold Rosell was born on October 5th, 1937 to parents Richard Julian and Viola Mae Rosell in Salamanca, NY.Dick grew up in Cattaraugus, NY on a dairy farm. He attended a 1 room school house and started driving a team of horses in 3rd grade. With the team, he hauled field crops and manure and logged timber with his father. As a teenager, Dick worked for neighbors farming and collecting syrup from the maple trees for $1 per day plus all he could eat.

At the age of 17 Dick joined the US Air force. He served in Korea, Okinawa and the United States. After being honorably discharged in 1958, Dick began working as an X-ray technician for Indus- trial X-ray Engineers in Woodbridge, NJ and Dallas, TX.

In 1960, work took him to Chester, PA, where he met the love of his life, Suzanne Waters. Dick and Sue dated for 3 months before they married. Dick began welding on the pipeline in New York City in 1964. Dick and Sue had their hands full raising 4 children which they did in Denville, NJ. Dick worked in New York City all week, played country music in various bands for over 17 years and drove the boys to hockey practice in the middle of the night on weekends.

The Rosell family underwent a huge change in lifestyle when Dick and Sue decided to buy their oldest daughter a horse for her 8th Grade graduation present. Dick saw the horse in the classified ads, and immediately bought her after she came running when he whistled for her. “Honey” came with a saddle and tack all for $800.

When Dick was 53 years old he showed a horse for the first time in AQHA Novice Amateur Western Pleasure. It was a catch ride and he won the class. The judge said his run was so smooth, he was Cadillac’n. Not long after, Dick came home with a horse that had more brands and barbwire scars than any horse the family had ever seen. Dick started team penning and his love of horses grew. Before long the girls had totally different horses and dad and the girls were all team penning together.

Dick helped organize the USTPA in 1993, served on the Board of Directors for many years and was the USTPA’s 3rd President. Dick was the promoter of the Virginia Team Penning Extravaganza and created the East Coast Team Penning Series. Dick notes that the best part of the USTPA has always been the people. He is thankful for the lifelong friendships that were created along the way.

Nowadays, Dick competes in the National Reined Cow Horse Association, along with his daughters. He was the oldest non-pro rider to compete at the Snaffle Bit Futurity in Reno, Nevada on a 3-year-old that he bred and raised at home. At 81 years old, Dick is one of the oldest Non-Pro competitors in the sport. But that doesn’t slow him down and he is looking forward to competing once again in Team Penning events.

Dick Rosell Hall of Fame Brochure

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Byron Underwood

Gary Stanfill

Willie Tellam

Bobby Atwood

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