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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (July 20, 2019)
E AST O REGONIAN Saturday, July 20, 2019 RODEO annual Chief Joseph days rodeo returns next week By JEFF BUDLONG For the East Oregonian JOSEPH – It’s that time of year, again. a small Oregon town will once again transform into a cen- ter of top rodeo action where well-known cowboys and cow- girls put it all on the line. the six-day event begins tuesday with the bucking horse stam- pede kicking off the 74th annual Chief Joseph days. “It is a tradition, and we have heard from people from Boise, Spokane, lewiston, Portland, and they have been coming to this for 30 years because this is what their family does,” said Stacy Green, who helps promote the rodeo. “For people that are close, it is a big reunion because you know that you are going to see everybody. It is a big social gathering.” the town, with a population of little more than 1,000 people, is said to swell to more than 10,000 for the rodeo that is always held the last full week of July. the Professional rodeo Cow- boys association rodeo begins Wednesday afternoon, with slack at 2 p.m. before the main action gets started at 7 p.m. on family night. the same schedule is set for thursday, Friday and Saturday, with rodeo slack on Saturday beginning at 2:30 p.m. thursday is “tough Enough to Wear Pink day” to support can- cer screening. the rodeo has earned a host of recognition over the years, including a place on the list of top-10 rodeos to attend. It is a rodeo that dates back to 1946, with the rodeo action tak- ing place in the Harley tucker Memorial arena. Cowboys and cowgirls will take part in bareback riding, steer wrestling, team roping, saddle bronc riding, tie-down roping, barrel racing, steer rop- ing and bull riding. Not surpris- ingly, it is the bull riding that draws the largest crowd on the final night of the event. “We have top cowboys com- peting and some of those are world ranked,” Green said. “they love the intimacy of Chief Joseph days because fans are right there by the action, and Joseph is small and makes it easy to get around.” General admission tickets Wednesday and thursday are $15, but are $17 on Friday and Saturday. reserved tickets on Friday and Saturday are $20. the PrCa rodeo is the big- gest draw, but Chief Joseph days also hosts the little Buckaroo rodeo for special needs children and adults at 9 a.m. on Wednes- day at the Harley tucker rodeo Grounds. It features multiple events, including goat tail unty- ing, stick horse barrel racing, and a bouncing horse race. there are plenty of other activities throughout the six days outside of the rodeo that range from dances to an all-night cow- boy breakfast. FOLLOW US ON TWITTER @EOSPORTS | FACEBOOK.COM/EOSPORTS B1 Pendleton’s Newsom signs with Linn-Benton Versatile player led the Bucks in scoring with 25.5 points per game By ANNIE FOWLER East Oregonian PENdlEtON — It took Pend- leton’s tyler Newsom a bit longer than others to declare where he was going to play college basket- ball. He needed to find the right fit. He made his decision July 1 — his 18th birthday — and announced July 5 that he had signed with linn-Benton Com- munity College in albany. “I like the area and they have a lot of good recruits coming in,” said Newsom, who plans to major in business. “I feel confident in what we are going to do.” While the 6-foot-4 Newsom played every position on the floor for the Bucks, he said the road- runners have plans of playing him at guard or small forward. “This is a good fit for him,” Pendleton coach Zach dong said. “His heart was set on getting out of Pendleton and expanding, so to speak. they have a good program and a new coach.” Joe Schaumburg was hired in april to replace Everett Hart- man, who retired at the end of the 2018-19 season. He posted a 51-35 record in three seasons with the roadrunners. Newsom made visits to Chemeketa Community College, Mt. Hood Community College, Clark College and Blue Mountain Community College. “Blue Mountain recruited him pretty hard,” dong said. Newsom, who averaged 25.5 points, 7.4 rebounds, 2.84 steals and three assists a game, was named the Intermountain Confer- See Basketball, Page B2 Staff photo by Brett Kane Thomas Richardson of Everett, Wash., unloads his car ahead of Saturday’s WESCO Sprint competition at the Hermiston Raceway. By BRETT KANE East Oregonian H ErMIStON — the Hermiston raceway’s lat- est event doesn’t kick off until later Saturday evening, but the crew was hard at work under the scorching July sun on Friday afternoon, making sure every car and driver is geared up and ready to go. Saturday evening, the race- way will host a stacked bill for the latest installment in its summer season, headlined by WESCO Wing Sprint and Washington Midget racing association races. the usual roundup of late models, street stocks, legends, bombers, hor- nets and bandoleros will also be in the mix. drivers from all over the Northwest — and even a few from Canada — will pay the Staff photo by Brett Kane, File Drivers round the track during a heat race at the Hermiston Raceway on June 15, 2019. raceway a visit to compete in what will be a historic moment for regional racing fans. Sprint cars, which are outfit- ted to be smaller and faster than the usual race car, weigh in at roughly 1,625 pounds and run on an eight-cylinder, 625-horse- power engine. For comparison, the average vehicle at the Herm- iston raceway weighs about 2,800 pounds. Saturday will mark the first time since the 1960s that Herm- iston has hosted a WESCO Wing Sprint Car bill. “they’re the fastest group of cars we’ll run all season, for sure,” said owner and promoter Greg Walden. and WMra cars are even smaller. their four-cylinder, 360-horsepower engine runs on methanol, which burns one gallon per mile. to put that into perspective, four laps around Hermiston’s oval drains one gallon of fuel. See Racing, Page B2 SPORTS SHORTS Cost of Raiders stadium in Las Vegas rises to $1.9 billion laS VEGaS (aP) — Offi- cials have raised the budget to $1.9 billion for the 65,000-seat las Vegas Stadium being built for the NFl’s relocated raiders and uNlV football. the Las Vegas Review-Jour- nal reports the stadium authority board on thurs- day approved $40 million in construction additions. they include 20 more suites and a field-level club area to be paid for by personal and club seat sales that weren’t part of the original budget. the stadium is due to open in 2020 just off the las Vegas Strip. taxpayers are funding $750 million of the project. Plans call for a translucent roof, a natural grass field and sliding doors that can open to view the Strip. In this June 4, 2019, file photo, construc- tion cranes surround the football stadium under construction in Las Vegas. AP Photo/John Locher, File
