The Old Cowboy as many of us do has often looked back on my early years as a Christian and experiences as a Bible class teacher and thought “what if.” It’s not to say that my Bible education wasn’t growing because it was still in high gear, and I was taking every opportunity to expand it. Besides the teaching I did more and more down front and when the opportunity to preach was there, I never said no. However there was the draw of the world of cowboys, rodeos, and country music entertainers, to balance with being a husband, father, radio announcer, and radio salesman. Some things just were not going to get the attention they required.
South Central Oklahoma and especially the Ada area served as the home turf of several long time professional rodeo cowboys and cowgirls, and several were World Champions. The home of the then International Rodeo Association was just thirty-three miles away in Pauls Valley. Just to the South of Ada, Stonewall, Oklahooma played host to the third largest PRCA Championship Rodeo in the nation at the Ken Lance Sports Arena. Ken Lance had been a national champion calf roper in 1962 and had traveled the world as a trick roper. The Ken Lance Rodeo drew the top PRCA cowboys and cowgirls, and he hired the top country music entertainers to come and perform each year. Ken had been life long friends with entertainers like Willie Nelson, who hid out at Ken’s place often. Reba Neil McEntire’s family home was just just down the road at a wide spot in the road called Chockie. It is so small you can hardly find a map that will show it. Chockie however is a little Northeast of Stringtown in Atoka County.
Ken Lance and I became good friends, and he gave me full run of his place. I met all of the top PRCA cowboys and cowgirls and most importantly he provided full access to all of the country music entertainers. I interviewed them in their tour busses, and introduced them from the announcers stand. Many of them would come to the radio station and make an appearance on my radio show. I became friends with many of them and we swapped phone numbers and addresses. These are the entertainers that several years later would make my early days at KYNN AM/FM in Omaha, Nebraska a huge success, and put me on stage with them in places I could have never dream of in these early years. This early experience introduced me to the world of big time entertainment and that bug bit hard. It would prove to be both a blessing and a curse as the next thirty plus years unfolded. I might end this by saying along the way I did find several entertainers who were members of the church and I did enjoy sitting in the pew with them. We also talked about the dangers of the business, and I guess I could have listened a little closer to them. That’s another story for down the road, and another day.
