Tradition and Broncos Bucked at Black Rodeo

Black riders, a mere footnote to the local rodeo scene in years past, made up for lost time Sunday at the Coors Bill Pickett Invitational Rodeo in Los Angeles--an event open only to black cowboys and cowgirls.

About 150 competitors from 20 states gathered at the Los Angeles Equestrian Center in Griffith Park for the rodeo. The event is named after black rodeo performer Bill Pickett, who died in 1932 and was famous for being able to wrestle a steer to the ground and then bite its upper lip.

The Coors Pickett rodeos started in 1984 and have been held in Georgia, Texas and Oklahoma, according to the event’s producer, Lu Vason. This weekend marked its first visit to California.

Sunday’s event featured riders seasoned to the rodeo circuit, among them Charles Sampson, a seven-year professional who, in 1982, became the first black to win the world rodeo bull-riding championship. Ironically he did not grow up on a ranch, but in the Watts area of Los Angeles, and learned to ride while working as a stable hand in Gardena.

Only Lasted Two Seconds

Newer to the scene was amateur Roderick Page, 21, of Los Angeles, who “just heard” the rodeo was in town and decided to compete at bull-riding. To win the event, riders must stay on the bucking bull’s back at least eight seconds. But Page said he lasted only “about two seconds.”

It took years to find a sponsor and bring his dream of a black rodeo to fruition, said Vason, a former entertainment manager. He added that he had gotten the idea from watching a rodeo in Wyoming in 1977, “and I kept wondering how come I didn’t see any black cowboys.”

Now, he said, he is never lacking for competitors or audiences, both black and white.