By Lester "Budge" Ruffner
Prescott's Frontier Days, the oldest cowboy contest in the world, has produced some of the most legendary rodeo contestants ever to ride in an arena. Men like Ed Bowman, Arthur Beloat, Doc Pardee, George and Lawton Champie, Loge Morris and many others were not just rodeo performers but working cowboys, at home on the range or in the arena.
One of the most dynamic of these old-timers was "Yaqui" Ordunez, a native of El Paso, Texas who claimed to be half-Mexican and half-Texas Ranger, a tough combination to beat. His real name, which he took great pride in signing, was Epifanio Alvarez Ordunez.
He came to Arizona when he was 19 and went to work on the Baca Float in 1900. The name Yaqui, which everyone called him, was acquired one day where he was trying to round up some range horses and, in order to ride fast enough to turn them, rode his horse bareback.
He had been on the ranch for several weeks and his hair had grown to shoulder length. The ranch owner beheld a strange sight when he drove his buckboard onto the ranch: a dark-skinned young man, riding bareback at a full gallop through the timber and brush, his long black hair streaming behind.
"When did you hire that Yaqui Indian?" he asked his foreman. That simple question was the baptism of Yaqui Ordunez.
For the next 60 years, Yaqui worked many ranches but with the clear understanding he was to perform at the Prescott Rodeo every July. And he always dressed for the occasion. Huge hat, red shirt, silk kerchief, boots and often a pair of angora chaps dyed a golden orange.
A superb bronc rider, he often won the contest with ease. When he did not, even the winner sometimes suggested that Yaqui was denied the prize only because of race. This made little difference to Yaqui, who went along only for the ride.
When he was young and not well rooted at a ranch, he was often hired for just the spring and fall roundups. Yaqui would fill these empty periods by getting a job.
He worked on the streetcar tracks in early Tucson, helped build the rock wall around the El Tovar at Grand Canyon, and could sometime be found in the Palace Bar, cigar in mouth, glass in hand, waiting for his next assignment.
One season he took a year off and went to Mexico in search of the Lost Tayopa Mine, the treasure of the Sierra Madres first owned by the Jesuits, then hidden by jungle growth and conflicting archives.
Yaqui came home with a wealth of stories but the pockets of his Levis showed no sign of being crowded. He had come to one conclusion: Tayopa was sure as hell lost.
Yaqui road broncs at Prescott every year even when he was 40 years older than the average bronc ride. He always did well and had a style which convinced the crowd he was a winner.
In the old days every rodeo contestant had an oilcloth number pinned on his shirt. Yaqui always wore the number 13. The broncs were also numbered and the night before the ride, contestants drew the number of their horse out of a hat. If they drew well, they got a good bronc, one that was capable of giving them a real ride and placing them in the money.
When Yaqui died at age 84, a revered old man, his friend and employer, Tom Rigden, found several old number 13s carefully placed in a drawer in Yaqui's room. He valued these and saved them. Why put some foreign flower on Yaqui's casket, Tom reasoned, one of these old oilcloth numbers would be far more appropriate. It was done.
The funeral, held in late 1966, was attended by members of the cattle industry from all over the Southwest. The names of the pallbearers, Rigden, Coburn, Simon, Dunbar, Gardner, read like a registry of range and rodeo. The priest recited the prayers in Yaqui's native tongue. When the pallbearers walked away from the open grave, Bill Simon, an old friend asked: What's that number 13 on his casket?" "That's his old rodeo number," Tom replied.
Then Bill Simon dug his boot heel into the chill November earth and paid him the ultimate tribute. "I sure hope he draws well," he said, and walked away.
(This article was first published in July 3, 1981. Budge Ruffner was Prescott's storyteller, author, and historian until his death in 1996. The Rodeo begins Tuesday evening.)
Sharlot Hall Museum Photograph Call Number:(pb131f2i4). Reuse only by permission.
Fpifanio Alvarez Ordunez was known as "Yaqui." Yaqui worked many ranches but with the clear understanding he was to perform at the Prescott Rodeo every July. And he always dressed for the occasion. Huge hat, red shirt, silk kerchief, boots and often a pair of angora chaps dyed a golden orange.