The World of Rodeo Reunion and Gold Card Gathering held their 15th Annual gathering of the “Who’s Who of the Who” of the rodeo and ranching world. This get together is the LARGEST REUNION held during the National Finals Rodeo in Las Vegas, NV, and boasts people from all walks of the western way of life. There are past world champions and their families, current PRCA contestants, horse racing elite, VIP’s from television, musicians, horse trainers and many, many more “We Are The West” folks that have lived and help preserve our western heritage.
This year’s event was held again at The Orleans Hotel and Casino from 10am – 2pm. Over 450 attendees enjoyed an afternoon of food and fellowship. There were several awards presented during the event including the 1st Annual presentation of the “Cotton Rosser Legacy Award”. The 2022 Cotton Rosser Legacy Award was presented to Randy Bernard. The Tres Rios buckle was presented to Randy Bernard by Karin Rosser on behalf of the Rosser Family. Tres Rios created and donated this beautiful buckle as a tribute to the “King of the Cowboys” in Cotton Rosser’s memory. VIP’s such as Moe Bandy, Forrie Smith, Karl Stressman, Red Steagall, John Scott, Patrick Gottsch, Jimmie Munroe, Chuck Sylvester, Billie L. Smith and Bobby Steiner and several others were present and presented with embroidered Wrangler George Strait shirts. Also presented at the reunion were Montana Silversmith silver and gold medallions to our “Ladies of the West”. Our ladies were also presented with Wrangler George Strait embroidered World of Rodeo Reunion Shirts. A few of the ladies that were in attendance this year were Sherrie Mell, Kay Ellen Martinelli, Kelly Brock Pickens, Pam Ross and Anita LaCava Swift, At this year’s event, Circuit Secretaries were honored with embroidered shirts as well.
All attendee’s were presented with Pendleton Round-Up back numbers, American Hat and/or Las Vegas Events lanyards and Y-Tex ear tags (used for name tags). An additional highlight during this year’s event was having Jim Bothum present. Jim was the last man to ride War Paint, the Christensen Bros. great paint bucking horse that was the first horse to be presented “bucking horse of the year”. Not only was Jim present, but a group of bronc riders also came on stage to reminisce about War Paint. There is a bigger than life size bronze of War Paint being created by artist, Edd Hayes. The bronze will be installed at the Pendleton Round-Up and War Paint will overlook the Round-Up arena.
There were live and silent auctions with wonderful items such as a trip to John Carr’s trip to Belize, American Hat Gift Certificates, Gold Card Buckles, Gold Buckle NFR Tickets donated by Wrangler, Skiver Boots, Justin Boots, Resistol Hats, Pendleton Whiskey Firepit and Whiskey, leather covered long horn skull, buffalo shoulder mount and many more unique items!
“Priefert Chutegates” were on display to memorialize cowboys and cowgirls that are no longer with us. These chutegates are 3’x4’ in size and are in the vivid blue colors of Priefert with each honorees name. There were 14 new chutegates at this years event and 34 total on display at the reunion. These Chutegates can be purchased to honor your loved ones. The sign will be on display at the event for three years and then will be presented to the family for museum or personal use.
This year’s reunion was featured on RFD-TV’s Western Sports Round-Up in September, October and November with Steve Kenyon. We thank RFD-TV for allowing us time to spread the word about our event! We were also excited to have “Wild Rides” filming during our event! Over the last 15 years The World of Rodeo Reunion and Gold Card Gathering has been blessed with some amazing sponsors and have been able to present over 1100 Wrangler George Strait shirts, 300 Montana Silversmith medallions, 300 Boyd Gaming wood plaques and numerous Gold Card Gold Buckles. We have had over 8,000 attendees! We hope to have many, many more in the coming years!
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