The Arena

Courtesy the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association

Call it the year of the roughstock cowboy.

Bareback rider Paul Mayo, who won two world championships and qualified for the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo 11 times, leads the five-member ProRodeo Hall of Fame induction class for 2010 along with 1974 World Champion Saddle Bronc Rider John McBeth and bull rider Denny Flynn, a three-time winner of the NFR average title.

The ProRodeo Hall of Fame Selection Committee voted them all in during meetings at the Hall of Fame April 13, along with third-generation stock contractor Bennie Beutler of Elk City, Oklahoma, and Rex Dunn of Hastings, Oklahoma, the bullfighter dubbed “Mr. Smooth” by announcer Clem McSpadden.

The ProRodeo Hall of Fame induction week, July 14-19, will include a Special Kids Rodeo, a golf tournament, the Commissioner’s Classic Team Roping and the Cowboy Ball in addition to the 10 a.m.-noon induction ceremonies in the garden area of the Hall on July 17.

Mayo, along with his brothers, Don and Bob, and Jim Houston, is credited with altering the style of bareback riding in the 1960s, taking a position farther back on the horse, and being “a little more wild.” Mayo, of Sutherland Springs, Texas, became so expert at the technique that he won gold buckles in 1966 and 1970 and was the reserve world champion three times (1965, 1967 and 1971), losing the ’65 title to Houston by just $641.

A talented all-around hand, Mayo, 68, also qualified twice for the NFR in bull riding, rode saddle broncs and occasionally roped steers. He twice finished among the top three in the world all-around standings and won the Linderman Award for all-around excellence at both ends of the arena in 1968.

“It’s been a long time coming,” Mayo said. “I had kind of given up hope. I thought it might never happen – that I’d been bypassed. I’m sure glad I got in. I always felt I was good enough to be considered, that my career measured up.”

McBeth, of Andover, Kansas, was also an 11-time NFR qualifier (1965-74, 1978), all in saddle bronc riding. In his world championship season of 1974, he took the lead on March 15, was assured of the title before the NFR, and finished second in the average at Oklahoma City to break the event’s single-season earnings record by more than $10,000.

McBeth, 69, served as Prairie Circuit Manager for 10 years (1975-85) while still a competitor and won the year-end Prairie Circuit championship six times (1975-78, 1984-85). The second-generation PRCA cowboy also worked as a judge at the National Finals Rodeo, College National Finals Rodeo and National High School Finals Rodeo.

“Getting the call was a surprise and very humbling,” McBeth said. “There are some people who know me in this business who will be shocked to know that I can be humble. This is the ultimate honor: to be recognized with selection to the Hall of Fame. I am tickled to death that I lived long enough to see it.”

Often identified as the most talented bull rider never to win a world title, Flynn, of Charleston, Arkansas, qualified for the National Finals Rodeo 10 times (1974-82, 1985) and set a record for most bull riding average titles won at the NFR (1975, 1981-82), later equaled by Jim Sharp. Flynn, 59, finished second in the PRCA season standings three times, losing the 1980 title to Don Gay by a mere $188.

His 98-point ride on Tommy Steiner’s Red Lightning at Palestine, Illinois, in 1979 was a world record for a dozen years and remains the second-highest score in ProRodeo history in any roughstock event. Flynn’s 92-point score on a bull named Ed Pivik at Cheyenne (Wyoming) Frontier Days in 1974 stood as the arena record for more than three decades. Flynn is being inducted in the newly merged notables/lifetime achievement category.

“I’m not sure who nominated me,” Flynn said, “but I’m going to have to hug their neck. I was in shock when they called me. It’s an honor to even be nominated. I thought you had to win the world to be nominated. It’s a great birthday present, since my birthday is on the 21st. I was on cloud nine all night. I haven’t been able to sleep.”

The Beutler name has been synonymous with stock contracting since 1929, when brothers Elra, Jake and Lynn Beutler began providing stock to Oklahoma and Texas rodeos. Jake and Lynn – a member of the inaugural ProRodeo Hall of Fame induction class of 1979 – kept the sibling business running in similar form, while Elra eventually teamed with son Jiggs to form the original Beutler & Son marquee.

Bennie Beutler, 61, worked with his father, Jiggs, and grandfather in the family business, and after his elders’ deaths in the 1980s, Bennie joined forces with E.K. Gaylord II to form Beutler & Gaylord Rodeo. That partnership endured for a dozen years, with Beutler being named PRCA Stock Contractor of the Year in 1997. In 2001, Bennie and son Rhett began a partnership that reclaimed the firm’s original name, Beutler & Son.

Since 1982, Beutler has served as assistant general manager at the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo after stints as NFR chute boss and the stock contractor representative on the NFR Committee. He served on the PRCA Board of Directors from 1989 through 2005.

“(PRCA Commissioner) Karl Stressman called me to tell me, and it kind of shocked me,” Beutler said. “I guess I’m getting old – I thought you had to be old to get into the Hall of Fame. It’s a very distinguished honor. I didn’t think I’d be involved in it, but I am very proud to be selected.”

On following his great-uncle Lynn into the Hall, Beutler said: “I’m not as good as they were, but maybe I’m getting there. Lynn was probably the best showman that’s ever been in the rodeo business.”

Dunn, 54, was selected to work three NFRs (1983, 1985-86), two Canadian Finals Rodeo and 13 circuit finals over a 16-year professional bullfighting career in which his deceptively effortless style earned him the nickname “Mr. Smooth.” He twice finished second in the Wrangler Bullfighting standings – making six appearances – and was voted PRCA Clown of the Year in 1985.

Once he stepped out of the arena, Dunn began putting on bullfighting schools and became a fighting-bull stock contractor, creating Coyote Hills Rodeo. He had 138 bulls selected for the NFR bullfighting competition from 1986-2000. The Professional Bullfighters organization has named an award in his honor, in tribute to his excellence.

“I thought I’d had it all, with all the awards I’ve won and this and that,” Dunn said. “This was just something I would have never thought possible, especially with the guys that I’m going in with, particularly Bennie. I’m so happy to be getting picked with Bennie, because the Beutler family really helped me along from the beginning. They’re responsible for a lot of the success I’ve had in my career.”