By Danny Freeman
The word rodeo in Spanish means to surround or round up. In reality there have been "rodeos" or round ups in America since the Spanish people brought cattle and horses to the New World in the 1500's. Today, however, "rodeo" to Americans means organized events of cowboy contests. In most parts of the United States and Canada rodeo is pronounced with the accent on the first syllable but in Mexico, and sometimes in California, the accent can be found on the second syllable.
In the beginning and for several years the word "rodeo" was not used for these cowboy events. These events were called tournaments, fiestas, cowboy contests and stampedes. "Rodeo" for cowboy contests was not used in Prescott until 1924.
The first formalized rodeo was held in Prescott, Arizona Territory during the 4th of July celebration in l888 and has been going ever since. That first rodeo was called a "Cowboy Tournament". It was added to the 4th of July program to entice more people to come to town to enjoy the festivities and to spend money with the merchants. There was a planning committee of merchants and professional people to organize and stage the events including the cowboy contests. Admission was charged to help pay for prizes and other expenses. That first rodeo was a success; contestants and spectators were thrilled. With that kind of encouragement the contests continued.
In l888, cowboys came from ranches throughout the country. The cowboy contests of the celebration were bronco riding, steer roping and cow horse racing. In the bronco-riding contest, the contestants were required to bring their own horses and then before the event started the judge had the cowboys change horses. Local and well-known men were the judges. The l888, bronco riding resulted in a tie between Juan Leivas from the Date Creek Ranch southwest of Prescott and Charlie Meadows, a drifting cowboy from Gila County. The next year, l889, Juan Leivas came back and won the saddle bronco-riding contest. That first year Mose Bryan of Prescott won the cow horse race.
The first steer-roping contest in l888 was won by Juan Leivas. The steer received a 100-yard head start. Juan caught and tied him in one minute and 17 seconds. For winning the steer-roping and tying and first in bronco-riding, the committee awarded Juan Leivas an inscribed silver trophy as the Citizens Award for "Best Cowboy" of the Tournament. This beautiful trophy, now 112 years old, is displayed in Prescott's Sharlot Hall Museum for all to see.
That first rodeo was held in Forbing Park in Miller Valley in the northwest part of Prescott. The contests were then held at different locations, including the City Park (now Ken Lindley Field) on East Gurley Street and at other places. Beginning in 1913 it was held at the present rodeo grounds located just west of Miller Valley Road, and has been there every year since.
But how do we know that our rodeo is the "World's Oldest"? In determining which rodeo was the oldest in the country, members of Prescott Frontier Days Committee did a lot of research. Their research concluded that in order to have a formalized rodeo certain criteria must be met. These were:
1. a committee to plan and stage the rodeo;
2. invite cowboys to compete;
3. charge admission;
4. give prizes and trophies;
5. have the contests documented.
The first Cowboy Tournament in Prescott in l888 met all five points mentioned above. With this information the committee applied to the U.S. Patent Office to have "World's Oldest Rodeo" registered. The application was approved. "World's Oldest Rodeo" and Service Mark No.l,353,477 was issued on August 6, l985.
There have been protests over the years, though. In l985 the Trivial Pursuit parlor game people came out with this on one card: "What rough-and-tumble Western sport was first formalized in Prescott, Arizona? Answer: rodeo". This brought a protest and discussion from Pecos, Texas. Newspapers at Prescott and Pecos played with the idea for a while. Pecos claimed the town on the card should have read Pecos, not Prescott. Pecos claimed that they had an earlier contest, but even some Texans agree that that contest only happened once and was not repeated again until the late 1920s before becoming a yearly event. Pecos threatened to sue if the card was not changed to benefit Pecos and Prescott threatened to sue if the card were changed.
The Trivial Pursuit people were surprised by the controversy and promised to check it out and see what could be done. After checking around, Trivial Pursuit sent Pecos and Prescott a letter stating, in effect, that after reviewing the matter, the card is correct and will remain as written. This ruling by Trivial Pursuit pleased the people of Prescott because they knew all along the Prescott's rodeo was the oldest in the country. No further word was ever received from Pecos.
Payson, Arizona, also claimed to have the oldest rodeo, beginning in 1884. But reliable sources pointed out that those early contests in Payson were some local cowboys competing in roping. They were not organized - the cowboys just came together and roped against each other. Probably something like present-day jackpot roping. In addition, Payson has no documentation saying when its rodeo really started.
Payson also claims to be the oldest "continuous" rodeo. That might be true, but again the proof is difficult to round up for either Prescott or Payson. For two years in the 1890s nothing is found in the Prescott papers about our rodeo, but all of the "old-timers" such as Sharlot Hall, Levi Jones and H.D. Aitken were quoted in the 1930s as saying that the show was held every year - beginning in 1888. We know from local papers and records that Prescott did not close down the rodeo because of war or depression. According to the local paper, the show was held during the Spanish American War (only a few days after our hometown hero "Bucky" O'Neill had been killed in Cuba!), World War I, World War II, Korea, and Vietnam.
So, it all boils down to this: Prescott can prove when its rodeo started and the others have trouble coming up with any solid proof. They go on what was passed down by word of mouth, but we can document ours.
(Danny Freeman is author of the book, "World's Oldest Rodeo 100-Year History 1888-1988")
Our readers' thoughts... My name is David Leivas Chavez and the greatnephew of Juan Leivas. I was raised by my grandfather Perfecto Leivas Sr. brother of Juan. I remember when Tony and Barney Leivas took the rawhide quirt and gave it to the Museum. I also was remembering that I worked at the Date Creek ranch when I was fifteeen years old. I wrote a short story about it and how I never had known that my uncle Juan had worked on that ranch. My grandfather always told me that they were full blood Opata Indians and his mother and father were from a Opata village in Mexico. I have found documentation from a Catholic mission confirming it. INTERESTING! David Leivas Chavez June 20, 2008
Sharlot Hall Museum Photograph Call Number:(rod103pk)
Reuse only by permission.
In 1888, a cowboy contest was held in Prescott and it was the first. The World's Oldest Rodeo may have recognized its place in history by the 1930s, but was not officially acknowledged, and registered as a Service Mark, until 1985.
Sharlot Hall Museum Photograph Call Number:(po1845p)
Reuse only by permission.
Juan Leivas, the winner of "Best Cowboy" award at Prescott's first rodeo in 1888.