This weekend I went with my daughter to Hamilton Sports Arena in Vian, Okla. I’ve been going to it since I was 12 or 13 years old. Needless to say, I’ve got a bunch of memories from it. As I waited on my daughter to compete I thought about the good ole days of long ago.
The first time I entered a rodeo at an indoor arena was at Hamilton’s arena. My roping horse tried to jump the barrier, but I still caught my calf. I won second that day and was on cloud nine. It was that day I met Chip Hamilton and we became friends, that was almost 40 years ago.
A few years later they had a series of junior rodeos and I won a couple of breast collars in the series. I was in the 13– 15 age group, but at the last rodeo I won the 1619 calf roping and won a breast collar for that. I was really proud of that particular breast collar, because I beat the older kids.
When I went to Oklahoma State University I found out that Chip went as well. We were both education majors, he wanted to be an Ag teacher and I wanted to be a science teacher. We college rodeoed together and went to most of the jackpot team ropings around Stillwater. One night I’d just got home from the college rodeo at Alva and Chip called me. The clutch went out in his pickup, he was stranded on Interstate 35. He had to saddle a horse and ride back up the interstate a couple of miles to a truck stop to use the phone. Cell phones didn’t exist back then. He called me about midnight, so I had to drive up there and get him and his horses.
One time on the way to a college rodeo Chip was laying on the bed in the camper and he discovered my pistol I kept in the shelf. Without thinking he pointed it straight up and pulled the trigger, thankfully it wasn’t loaded. He laughed and laughed about almost blowing a hole in the roof of my camper.
Brett Boatright used to have team ropings on Tuesday nights at his house at Muhall, Okla. Chip and I went over there every now and then. The entry fee was cheap and Brett didn’t limit how many times you could enter. One time Chip entered with every heeler there. He won 1st, 2nd and 4th and lost $10 after it was all said and done.
Another time Chip called me one evening. His horse had cut itself on its shoulder. All the vet clinics were closed and he didn’t have the money to take it to the vet school at the college, so he called me because I had worked for a vet in junior college. We went to Walmart and got a big carpet needle and some fishing line. I sewed the horse up for him. I couldn’t believe it, but that danged horse healed up and didn’t even have a much of a scar.
Chip used to buy the big jumbo hotdogs and cut them in half to save money in the concession stand at their indoor arena. He would add onion soup mix to the crockpot and put the hot dog weenies in the onion soup mix. I still think those are the best tasting hot dogs I’ve ever eaten.
As I sat watching the barrel race I couldn’t help but giggle every now and then. There’s so many memories I could have filled an entire newspaper with them. Maybe one day I write down some more.
James Lockhart lives near the Kiamichi mountains in southeast Oklahoma. He writes cowboy stories and fools with cows and horses.
