Last Sunday, John Harrison left the San Angelo, Texas, rodeo to head home to Oklahoma. The 40-year-old rodeo clown received news he knew would one day come, but was still hoping he wouldn’t hear for a while: His mother passed away.
After spending a few days with family, Harrison returned to the San Angelo rodeo to finish up Wednesday and Thursday’s events before coming to Tucson for the 94th annual La Fiesta de los Vaqueros.
The three-time winner of the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association Comedy Act of the Year will fly back to Oklahoma after Sunday’s second performance to attend the funeral services. He’ll return to Tucson on Wednesday.
Harrison’s mother had been dealing with late stages of Alzheimer’s disease. And while Harrison was heartbroken, he never thought about missing the Tucson Rodeo.
Clown John Harrison performs his trick riding act during the opening day Saturday at his Tucson Rodeo debut. Harrison joined the PRCA in 1999 as a trick rider.
“It was one of those deals that we knew we had to be here,” Harrison said. “When you leave a rodeo committee high and dry at the last second, it’s very hard on them. So I decided to go ahead and come. It’s better for me, and my dad’s home with family and stuff.”
Harrison had another reason to return to Tucson: It’s one of America’s best rodeos, and he’s never competed here before. Before this week, Harrison had never been to the Old Pueblo. He heard about the Tucson Rodeo from other cowboys; his grandfather, the late ProRodeo World Champion Freckles Brown, had competed here in the 1960s.
“It’s one of the rodeos you hear about from all the cowboys, how good it is, so I’m glad to be here,” Harrison said.
On Saturday, Harrison made his debut at the Tucson Rodeo and provided a different show than most rodeo clowns.
Harrison first joined the PRCA in 1999 as a trick rider, roman rider and trick roper, but eventually became a rodeo clown and barrelman.
A cowboy get his boots on near his saddle as the riders prepare for the opening day of the La Fiesta de los Vaqueros. The event continues at 2 p.m. Sunday.
Instead of starting over completely, Harrison merged his trick background into his performance as a rodeo clown.
Harrison plays off a bumbling clown who needs to step in for a trick rider. What plays out is a sequence of spins and tricks while riding around the arena.
While Harrison will most likely perform some of the same tricks while at the Tucson Rodeo, he likes to stay unscripted and play off the announcer. And, he says, it helps to have a great horse to work with.
“They say God gives you one good horse, one good dog and one good woman — and that was definitely my horse,” Harrison said. “He’s trained so good, he makes my act fun.”
Some days it’s harder to take on the rodeo clown persona than others, but Harrison said he still wants to give the best show possible, even as he mourns his mother.
Kyle Eaton gets pinned by his ride Muley Madness after getting tossed in the bull riding competition on the opening day of the 94th Annual Fiesta de los Vaqueros.
“It doesn’t matter, everyone in the stands is battling something,” Harrison said. “It doesn’t matter who you are, somebody’s having a bad day at work or a relationship, whatever it is, and rodeo’s one of those deals, you come to a rodeo for two hours, get away from everything and it’s my job to make it fun for everyone — help everybody get away from the real world for a little while.
“I enjoy it whenever people’s laughing and having fun. It throws gas on my fire and kind of get away from it.”
Notable
- Tolman Moore came out of the shoot on Nutrena’s Black Fury for the first ride of the day and finished with the top bareback riding score of the day, 73.50.
- A Hawaiian competitor, Cody Cabral, finished the first performance of steer wrestling with the best time of 7.0. Cabral’s time was more than a second faster than the second-fastest competitor.
- Arizonans Jake Barnes and Bucky Campbell, from Scottsdale and Morristown, respectively, finished with the best time (7.9 seconds) in the team roping event.
- In the saddle bronc riding competition, three riders turned out and five cowboys were bucked off, leaving only four riders with qualifying rides. Allen Moore rode Double Barrel and took Saturday’s top spot with a score of 83.00.
- Trent Creager, from Stillwater, Oklahoma, posted a 10.0 in the tie-down roping event for the best time of the day.
- Immediately after Illyssa Glass posted a 17.78-second run in the women’s barrel racing event, Darby Fox finished her run just 100th of a second faster — 17.77 — to take first place in the first performance.
- The bull riding event only had three scores awarded. Eight riders were bucked off before the 8-second mark, which left Dalton McMurtrie to take the top spot with a score of 77.5.
