Throughout the year we see several Native Americans on the Pro Rodeo circuit, but what is it that has rodeo so ingrained in the culture?
“It's more of an agricultural lifestyle," Pryor native Bode Scott said. "The leases and the pasture, the cattle and the horses are a big part of the culture. It's one of the main incomes on reservations in the agricultural side."
We often see Native American basketball and other sports as fairly run-and-gun, but that just seems to be a mindset and way of life.
“The culture they have, they go for broke. They're some of the most aggressive people. They work really well with rodeo, When it works, it works. It's really fun to watch," said Hardin native Trevin Baumann.
Baumann and Scott represent two different sides of the coin. Scott is an enrolled Rosebud Sioux and has competed in Indian rodeos and the Crow Fair rodeo in the past, while Baumann remembers his days in Hardin when his football team was incrementally smaller for a week.
“That whole week of football practice none of the natives were there because they were at Crow Fair," Baumann said.
“They have good stock and their families are all there. It's a really good event for the whole culture and it brings a lot of economic value to the reservation that they don't know normally get. There's more people on the Crow Reservation that weekend than there is other time of the year."
Scott and Baumann might not be at the Crow Fair rodeo, but there is tremendous talent out there on display this weekend.
