Wednesday, August 24, 2022
A16
SPORTS
Wallowa County teen has an eye on national titles
By KATY NESBITT
For the Wallowa County
Chieftain
ENTERPRISE — In a
county well known for its pro
rodeo the last full weekend of
July, it’s no surprise to fi nd a
pro rodeo cowboy in the mak-
ing. Hanley Miller is already
a state champion and was
asked to perform at the 2022
Chief Joseph Days Rodeo.
As a high school freshman
this spring, Miller won the tie-
down competition at the state
rodeo fi nals. With that title,
the Pro Rodeo Cowboy Asso-
ciation paid for his PRCA
card; at 15, he was too young
to compete but was allowed
to test his skill against the
pros as an exhibitionist.
Just before Chief Joseph
Days, Miller placed 29th in
the tie-down aggregate at the
National High School Rodeo
fi nals in Gillette, Wyoming.
With three more years in high
Contributed Photo
Hanley Miller, an incoming sophomore at Joseph High School,
is the 2022 Oregon State High School Rodeo tie-down champ.
This July he ran with the pros as an exhibitionist at the Chief
Joseph Days Rodeo.
school and two until he is old
enough to hold a PRCA card,
he has ambitious goals.
“I want to win a national
title in tie-down and qualify
for the NFR (National Finals
Rodeo),” he said.
Miller, an incoming soph-
omore at Joseph High School,
fought hard for that state
championship in tie-down.
He said he had a tough go
in the second round of state
fi nals after being very consis-
tent all year.
“I had to forget about it
and move on,” he said.
The excitement of the
crowd carried him through,
and his mother, Dena Miller,
said, “he took care of busi-
ness” and got the win.
This past year he team
roped with partner Bayli
Ladner, of Klamath Falls.
The pair placed fourth at the
Oregon State Finals Rodeo
in Prineville. This coming
year, Miller said he is adding
steer wrestling to his events,
with an eye on earning
points toward the all-around
competition.
The high school rodeo sea-
son is three competitions in
the fall and four in the spring.
Miller said he had a rope
in his hand as a toddler and
was horseback by the age of
3. It wasn’t long before he
was a regular at local junior
and ranch rodeos and a hand
at Chief Joseph Days, either
untying calves at timed
event slack competitions or
cooling down the pickup
men’s horses.
At the age of 7, he com-
peted in his fi rst rodeo out-
side of Wallowa County —
the Cayuse Junior Rodeo in
Pendleton. He started com-
peting in junior high rodeo
competitions as a sixth grader
and qualifi ed for nationals,
held in Huron, South Dakota.
Miller’s seventh grade
year was during the COVID-
19 shutdowns, so he and his
family opened up their arena
to kids in Wallowa County
to come rope and ride. Up to
50 would attend an afternoon
of roping, barrels and pole
bending.
“There were no fall sports
so we had rodeo practice
open to the community all fall
on Tuesdays and Thursdays,”
Dena Miller said.
The following year as an
eighth grader, the young cow-
boy qualifi ed again for the
junior high rodeo national in
Des Moines, Iowa. With three
more years of high school, the
sky’s the limit.
“To see your kid want
something and work for it
is really emotional,” Dena
Miller said.
Hanley Miller’s skills
aren’t confi ned to the rodeo
arena. Along with the rest of
his family, he moves cattle
for the Fence Creek Ranch,
and he started training horses
by the age of 11.
“People will call up and
say, ‘I want a roping horse,’
and I work with them,”
Miller said.
Keen on perfecting his
rodeo skills, while encour-
aging others to do so as
well, Miller and his family
are hosting a breakaway and
tie-down roping clinic with
PRCA champion Nathan
Steinberg.
“We are excited to share
our passion and bring some-
one with his qualifi cations to
come to the county,” Dena
Miller said.
Shortage of high school football offi cials hitting Northeastern Oregon
By DICK MASON
The Observer
LA GRANDE — A
shortage of football refer-
ees is looming as the start
of high school football sea-
son in Northeastern Oregon
approaches.
The Northeast Oregon
Football Offi cials Associ-
ation, which provides offi -
cials for high school and
middle school varsity and
junior games in Union, Wal-
lowa, Baker and Grant coun-
ties, has just 19 people avail-
able to offi ciate this season,
seven short of the minimum
needed, according to Pete
Caldwell, commissioner of
the association.
MORE INFORMATION
People interested in serving as football offi cials for the
Northeast Oregon Football Offi cials Association should call
Pete Caldwell at 541-910-7020.
“It is the lowest number
we have had,” said Caldwell,
who has been with the North-
east Oregon Football Offi -
cials Association for about 25
years.
Caldwell attributes the
decline to the fact that many
members have been retiring.
“I don’t know why more
younger people are not get-
ting involved in offi ciating. It
is a mystery,” said Caldwell,
noting that the average age of
his association’s members is
now 61.5 years.
He said that unless the
association can recruit more
people to offi ciate, it will
face the prospect of request-
ing schools on some occa-
sions to change their sched-
ules. For example, schools
may be asked to move some
contests to Thursday or Sat-
urday — instead of Fridays,
when there are a high num-
ber of games scheduled —
to reduce the logjam, making
it possible for offi cials to be
provided for all of them.
Caldwell, who noted that
rescheduling had to be done
several times in 2021 when
there was also a shortage of
offi cials, said it is not easy.
“It is a huge headache,” he
said.
Doug Hislop, of La
Grande, an offi cial with the
association for the past 52
years, said rescheduling
games is not ideal. He said he
fears that the complications
created by the process may
lead some schools to cancel
some contests.
Caldwell is hoping people
will step forward to serve as
offi cials to reduce the short-
age. Previous offi ciating
experience is not needed.
“We can teach anyone to
be an offi cial,” he said.
Caldwell said those start-
ing out may fi rst be assigned
to middle school and junior
varsity games before offi ci-
ating varsity contests. This
will allow them to develop
their skills in a less pressure
packed environment, he said.
Caldwell said many peo-
ple who serve as offi cials are
driven to do so because they
want to help youth.
“They want to give back
to the community and kids,”
he said.
Hislop said this a motivat-
ing factor for him, noting that
he will never forget how ref-
erees made it possible for him
to participate in athletics as a
youth growing up in Idaho.
“I had the opportunity
to play football and wrestle
because we had offi cials,” he
said.
Others are drawn to offi -
ciating because of their love
of a specifi c sport — football,
for example.
“It gives people a chance
to be part of the game,” Cald-
well said.
Offi cials are paid on a
per game basis, making
$73.50 for offi ciating class
4A games. Offi cials are paid
a little less for offi ciating var-
sity games involving schools
in the 3A, 2A and 1A classi-
fi cations for smaller schools.
NEW
• Sockeye Salmon: The pre-dam blunders that caused their
extinction and today’s plans for reintroduction
• Wallowa Lake Amusement Park and its merry-go-round
• Early rodeos at the Lake (1930’s) where Harley Tucker got
his start.
• The electric railroad vs the steam railroad
• The Edelweiss Inn’s history
• The Wallowa Lake Monster
• The national park that almost was in today’s Eagle Cap
Wilderness
AND MUCH, MUCH MORE!
Available at The Bookloft, Cooper Creek, Heidi’s Grain Growers,
Wallowa Lake Lodge, Eagle Cap Chalet, and www.eaglecappress.com