Literally, because that's his name, Maurice Champion.
Literally, because he's also a cowboy Hall of Famer.
Literally, because this veteran kid has rodeoed since the 1940s.
If that doesn't sound fun enough for you, try on this for a smile:
He's here this weekend to watch his grandsons, one of them named ... ready? ... National Champion.
That's right. Nat will be competing to become his own namesake, a national champion, this week in team roping, with his first rides coming Wednesday morning and night.
But if you don't get the opportunity to talk with National, maybe you'll catch a moment with Maurice's granddaughter:
Ima Champion.
I'm a-thinking they're all winners, as rodeo talent runs deep in this family, far beyond the names.
***
I knew it was a Cinch to find Maurice, to continue the puns with names, because there he was, grinning and wearing a beautiful blue Cinch western shirt with his initials embroidered up-and-down the top middle buttons near his neck. I commented on it, and this wonderful storyteller even had a story to go along with the shirt.
"I remember the first time I saw a shirt with initials on it," he said, sitting back in a chair I found for him behind the curtains backstage at the indoor vendors market.
"Ever heard of Burr Andrews?" he asked me, moving his walking cane to his side and tipping his gentleman-styled cowboy hat back.
Can't say as I have, I told him.
"Well, you're
Maurice was born June 14, 1931, in the great state of Texas.
He's seen, competed in and produced many a rodeo in his 78 years of life, and let me tell you, this old cowboy has many more rodeos left in him.
"My daddy rodeoed, and I just grew up around it. He rode saddle broncs and bulls," Maurice said.
Throughout his early years, Maurice himself competed in the local-yocal circuit, learning his skills in Sunday afternoon affairs and biting his fair share of Texas dirt along the way.
Then in 1947, the teenager decided to ride for money.
He tried it all: bull riding, saddle broncs, roping and whatever else struck his fancy or hinted of a chance for a payday.
"I didn't do too good," he said of his first rodeo for dough. He was bucked off his saddle bronc, missed with his rope toss, but did finish fourth in bull riding.
So began the career of a rodeo man that led to the Texas Cowboy Hall of Fame.
Hundreds of towns and dusty corrals later, Maurice made his mark primarily in the sport of bull dogging, an event where the cowboy has to use original cowboying skills learned on the range to wrestle a steer to the ground.
Then in 1969, he moved from the saddle to the press box as a rodeo producer.
That after two knee replacements, a hip replacement and a broken back.
***
Today and since about 1964, the Houston native lives in Buffalo, Texas, a small town of about 2,000.
Seen any changes at the rodeo since the 1940s, I asked him?
"Oh, you bet!" he was quick to reply.
"Back when I first started, the calves were bigger," he said. "Back then, you had a minute time limit instead of 30 seconds like you got now."
Meanwhile, he thinks deliberate breeding has produced more consistency with better-bucking bulls and broncs in the rough-stock events.
Another change is how kids today get started in the rodeo. There are more options.
"Back then, you learned because you had a friend doing it," or, as he did, because you grew up around the rodeo lifestyle. While the latter is still true for many beginners, for others, "now, you can learn it at school."
Maruice and his family are the house guests of Kim and Joi Stratton here in Farmington. "He's something else," Joi told me when she tipped me off about his background.
The Champions feel the same about their hosts. "We can't believe they'd just open their house up to us like that, to let total strangers stay with them," said Maurice's daughter.
Such is the hospitality spirit as hundreds of local volunteers here in San Juan County, New Mexico, offered to help the thousands of visitors from across the U.S., Canada and Australia. Many of them are providing their homes as host families.
Listen close during the competitions this week, if you go to the National High School Finals Rodeo.
Chances are good you'll be hearing the name of a Champion.
Troy Turner is the editor of The Daily Times. He can be contacted at P.O. Box 450, Farmington, N.M., 87499; or at tturner@daily-times.com.
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