OklahomaHorses Magazine July 2023

22 OklahomaHorses • July / August 2023 The Road to Championships Checotah Is Steer Wrestling Capital of the World by Leigh Ann Matthews T he road to championships in steer wrestling runs through a small town in northeastern Oklahoma. Known as the Steer Wrestling Capital of the World, Checotah has produced more champions than any other spot on the planet. The sport dates to the 1890s, and accord- ing to Wikipedia, began with an Oklahoma cowboy performer named Bill Pickett who caught a runaway steer by wrestling it to the ground. Some versions of the story claim that he had developed the idea after observing how cattle dogs worked with unruly animals. Today, steer wrestling, also known as bulldogging, is a rodeo timed event, involving the mounted steer wrestler, who starts behind the left side of the steer, and a mounted hazer, who starts behind the right side. When the steer wrestler nods the OK signal, a horned steer is released from a chute. The team chases the animal, posi- tioning it so that the wrestler can dismount his horse and throw the steer to the ground in seconds. This sport, often called the big man’s rodeo event, is one of the most exciting to watch because it involves a lot of practice, highly trained horses, and the use of tech- niques to avoid injuring the steer, the horse, and the cowboy. Often when a cowboy isn’t on the wrestling side, he might haze for other contestants, resulting in an exception- al level of camaraderie in the steer-wrestling community. The Checotah Connection The Checotah legacy dates back to 1955, when Benny Combs won his Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association (PRCA) world title at the National Finals Rodeo (NFR), closely followed by his brother, Willard Combs, who won the world title in 1957. Both were inducted into the National Rodeo Hall of Fame in 2002. Roy Duvall, also from Checotah, quali- fied for the NFR for 24 years, of which 21 were consecutive, and earned the champi- onship in 1967, 1969, and 1972. He was inducted into the National Rodeo Hall of Fame in 1978 and the PRCA Hall of Fame in 1979. His brother, Bill Duvall, was his number-one hazer. Although Bill and his sons, Spud and Sam Duvall, never won a world championship on the dogging side, they helped many cowboys make it to the pay window, serving for many years as some of the best hazers in the business. The Duvalls’ cousin Tom also qualified for the NFR in 1996 and 1997. Billy Hale, who moved to Checotah from Colorado Springs, Colorado, in 1957 Ote Berry competes in the 1998 National Finals Rodeo in Las Vegas, Nevada. Photo by Mike Copeman. Courtesy of the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association.