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Wednesday, June 3, 2020 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon
N U G G E T F L AS H BAC K
PHOTO BY DEVERE HELFRICH
Jim Bickers riding Billy Be Damned at 1948 Sisters Rodeo.
Photo sparks memory
of ‘outlaw horse’
The photo on page 2 of The
Nugget in the March 27 edi-
tion sparked a memory for the
Goodwin family of Sisters.
The photo depicted saddle
bronc rider Jim Bickers com-
ing off of a horse named Billy
Be Damned during the 1948
Sisters Rodeo.
An alert reader thought
that horse once belonged to
Ted Goodwin. His son Jim
confirmed it.
<With the picture blown
up, it was easy for Dad to rec-
ognize his old mount,= Jim
Goodwin reported. <Dad was
hoping the left side of Billy9s
face would have been visible
because there was an L7 brand
on his jaw. Dad said some
horses which were branded on
the jaw became 8foolish about
the head,9 but that was not the
case with Billy Be Damned.
<Here9s the story as best
as Dad could recall it: A
classmate owed a third party
$18 and gave Dad Billy Be
Damned, and Dad made some
arrangement to pay the third
party the $18. Dad was work-
ing on the Melvin Weberg
ranch in Suplee for $1.50 a
day at the time. It was 1939.
Dad always claimed it took
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three guys to 8ear him down9
while Dad got on him. That
story was confirmed years
later at a branding at Jim
Wood9s Aspen Valley Ranch
when Les Robertson, who
was a young boy at the time,
said he witnessed the exhi-
bition. Dad rode Billy from
Prineville to Suplee to get
him out to Weberg9s ranch
(75 miles). Eventually, Billy
calmed down enough to let
Dad get on him without assis-
tance, but as Dad put it 8he
was just a wild horse,9 having
literally been rounded up in
the wild.
<Dad left Billy and all
his tack with his dad when
he went to The University
of Oregon in 1940. His
dad promptly sold Billy Be
Damned and the tack, osten-
sibly to the local rodeo stock
contractor who was well
known in the Upper Country
as the guy who would buy
8outlaw horses.9=
Apparently, Billy Be
Damned continued to be an
outlaw 4 one that was hard
to stick to, inside the arena
and out.
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