The last time Tucson straightened the hat, tossed on the Levi’s and hiked up the boots, a legend was walking these here parts, one-half rodeo encyclopedia, one-half mustache, all cowboy.
It has been more than 700 days since La Fiesta De Los Vaqueros Tucson Rodeo took the town back a century or two for eight days, eight seconds at a time. Nearly two years since the rankest of bulls snorted their way to infamy, since the barrel racers chased each other and the clock.
Much has changed. Gone is Gary Williams, the only general manager the rodeo has ever known, taking with him more than a quarter-century of institutional knowledge. In is Stacy Madigan, the new operations manager for the nearly century-old rodeo.
This is unfamiliar territory for Madigan. It, too, is unchartered territory for Tucson, which saw the rodeo cancelled last year for just the second time in its long history.
On the job less than a year, Madigan knows one thing for sure: The rodeo was missed.
Saddle bronc rider Leo Fountain begins his performance on Red Hills during the final day of the 2020 Tucson Rodeo. Competition returns Saturday for the first time in nearly two full years.
“I’d have my shirt on around town the last few months, and everyone is asking, ‘Is this going to happen?’” she said. “It’s a part of people’s lives, almost like a family. Like when you miss a loved one. The Tucson Rodeo is family in Southern Arizona. Some people take family for granted when it’s always there.
“When something prohibits you from visiting, you take a step back and reflect.”
A bit of reflection is what landed Madigan the job in the first place.
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When Madigan was hired last June, chosen by a select five-person subcommittee of the Tucson Rodeo Committee, she was just excited to get back in the saddle.
She was born in Mesa, the daughter of a dairy farmer, the kind of girl to get her hands dirty. By the time she was in middle school, she was full-on rough-and-tumble.
“I was helping get the cows in the barn, helping with the calves, helping my dad, just becoming more involved,” she said. “It’s in my blood, it’s what I love. I didn’t want to go to college; I worked on the farm throughout high school. Ran the scale, ran the trucks, harvested the feed, feeding babies, birthing calves.”
Her father, though, insisted she get her degree. He’d lived the ranching life. It ain’t easy.
But he couldn’t keep her away. For more than a dozen years – including her time as a student first at Arizona State, then at Northern Arizona — she worked on the farm. For a while, Madigan taught junior high school in Casa Grande.
For the last four years, she was Director of Operations for Chic Boutique, a clothing store and full-service spa in Downtown Tucson.
It was that resume – one-part agriculture, one-part operations – that caught the eye of the rodeo hiring committee.
“We all sat down and put our heads together and said, ‘Do we look for a rodeo guy or someone on the business side and teach them the rodeo business? To really take us to the next level and get us moving in the right direction, we wanted to get someone on the business end of it.”
With plenty of time to prepare, the committee was able to go back to the drawing board. They’d gotten away with having a one-stop shop in Williams for more than two decades. Plucking Madigan from outside of the rodeo game gave the committee the chance to think outside of the box.
The mentality for years, Baird said, was simple: “It if ain’t broke don’t fix it.”
“We have, for many years, gotten complacent and were doing things the same way,” Baird said. “Gary did a lot of things for us and we said we can probably take on some of those responsibilities. It shouldn’t be the general manager’s job to deal with some of that. We kind of reinvented ourselves in our committee format and accepted responsibility without trying to dump that responsibility on people.
“This is our event and we need to run it. I’ve talked to some people in other parts of the country, and the year hiatus gave them a chance to look at the way they’re doing business and kind of reinvent themselves a little bit. We need to take some of this burden upon ourselves.”
Besides, Baird says, you can’t exactly fill Williams’ boots.
“With someone with the depth of knowledge and passion he has for this sport and this event, that’s not something you replace,” he said. “You find someone to fill a position, but to find people who have that kind of dedication is extremely rare. A guy like him comes around once in a lifetime for a lot of folk.
“I know in traveling with Gary, we get to finals in Vegas, and you couldn’t walk across the lobby of the hotel without stopping. A five-minute walk turned into 45 minutes. Everyone wanted a piece of his time.”
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For her part, Madigan is not trying to fill Williams’ shoes.
“Gary was phenomenal and what he did with the rodeo and where he took it,” she said. “Because of COVID-19, it gave the rodeo a chance to sit back with Gary retiring to decide how they wanted the direction to go, whether they wanted to keep it in the family or branch out and have a fresh perspective. I’ve been lucky that several people have been ready for change, to push this rodeo forward.
“But you come in, fresh blood, and you’re getting a water hose at you. And it’s at full blast.”
On the job for more than a half-year, Madigan is just now settling into the routine, though she knows the task ahead is daunting.
“I was lucky to come in during the offseason, and it wasn’t game on,” she said. “I had time to get situated, to learn some things. I came into a bunch of unknowns. Coming in with all these new ideas, the sky is the limit, my brain is ticking 24/7. I asked how fast do you want me to go — I can go autobahn or bicycle lane. I’m a lot to handle. I can be overwhelming in a good way. I’ve had to harness my energy a little bit.”
One of Madigan’s big pushes for her first go-round is an enhanced VIP experience, which includes unprecedented access to the rodeo and grounds.
“My perspective is to look at this as a business, and we’re in the business of putting on a great show,” she said. “I want to continue the heritage and culture, but I’d love to elevate it to the next level. It’s important to keep some aspects of the rodeo to our roots, but it’s also important to build forward and expand upon those roots.”
