WT Rodeo to Induct First Honorees in Hall of Fame at May 3 Banquet

Copy by Chip Chandler, 806-651-2124, cchandler@wtamu.edu

CANYON, Texas — West Texas A&M University’s first-ever national championship rodeo team will be inducted into the WT Rodeo Hall of Fame at a May 3 banquet.

Also named to the hall’s inaugural class are an accomplished former coach, the team’s first national champion rider, and two major supporters.

The banquet will begin at 6:30 p.m. May 3 in the Piehl-Schaeffer Pavillion in the Agricultural Sciences Complex on WT’s Canyon campus.

Tickets are $50 at the door, payable by cash or check only, and include a three-course steak dinner, drinks and dessert. Auction items also will be available for purchase by cash or check only.

To RSVP, click here: wtamuuw.az1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_79QL4d33o3bGXgW.

“Our theme of the evening is to celebrate our past while we look towards the future. It is because of our legacy that we can be successful today,” said Cody Joe Bonds, WT Rodeo head coach. “The WT Rodeo Hall of Fame is a well-deserved honor that exemplifies that theme. I am excited to celebrate WT Rodeo with the community.”

The Hall of Fame will feature three categories: Faculty/Staff, Alumni and Supporter.

Mark Eakin, who was WT Rodeo’s coach from 1999 to 2008, will be inducted in the Faculty/Staff category, which recognizes current and former employees whose leadership has significantly advanced the growth of WT Rodeo. Eakin, who is now director of rodeo activities and head coach at Tarleton State University, led the WT team to its historic 2006 national championship.

Inducted as alumni hall of famers will be the members of the 2006 team: Wes Burns, Zack Cobb, Marty Eakin, Ike Hanes, Chad Mask and Jarett Stovall. In 2006, Cobb was the national champion steer wrestler and won the Bill Robinson Timed Event Award, and Eakin won the Walt Garrison Award for loyalty, determination, integrity and leadership.

Also slated to be inducted as an alumnus is the late Earl Reynolds, who won WT Rodeo’s first championship in 1950 for his efforts in team roping.

Two area men will be inducted as key supporters of the team.

The late Spicer Gripp, a Hereford native and Texas Rodeo Cowboy Hall of Famer, was a respected farmer and rodeo athlete who won a steer roping round at the 1949 Cheyenne Frontier Days. Inspired by teaching his son, Kim Gripp, to rope, Spicer Gripp had a passion for helping youth in rodeo, and proceeds from the annual Spicer Gripp Memorial Roping support WT scholarships.

Matt Collier of Top of Texas Welding will be honored for building the WT Rodeo Arena located south of Happy State Bank Stadium, the former Kimbrough Memorial Stadium. Collier built the arena in the early 2000s, and it is still in use by the team today.

The banquet also will recognize current WT Rodeo team members and will feature both live and silent auctions of such items as Professional Bull Riders World Finals tickets, handmade leather goods and more.

Team competition is one way in which WT creates in its students a commitment to being self-reliant, courageous, resourceful and part of something larger than one’s self, as laid out in the University’s long-range plan, WT 125: From the Panhandle to the World.

That plan is fueled by the historic One West comprehensive fundraising campaign, which reached its initial $125 million goal 18 months after publicly launching in September 2021. The campaign’s new goal is to reach $175 million by 2025; currently, it has raised more than $160 million.

About West Texas A&M University

WT, a Regional Research University, is redefining excellence in Canyon, Texas, on a 342-acre residential campus, as well as the Harrington Academic Hall WTAMU Amarillo Center in downtown Amarillo. Established in 1910, the University has been part of The Texas A&M University System since 1990. WT, a Hispanic Serving Institution since 2016, boasts an enrollment of more than 9,000 and offers 66 undergraduate degree programs, including eight associate degrees; and 44 graduate degrees, including an integrated bachelor’s and master’s degree, a specialist degree and two doctoral degrees. The University is also home to the Panhandle-Plains Historical Museum, the largest history museum in the state and the home of one of the Southwest’s finest art collections. The Buffaloes are a member of the NCAA Division II Lone Star Conference and offers 14 men’s and women’s athletics programs.

Photo: Members of the 2006 West Texas A&M University Rodeo Team include, from second from left, Coach Mark Eakin, Zack Cobb, Marty Eakin, Ike Haynes, Chad Mask, Jarrett Stovall and Wes Burns. The team will be among the first inductees in the WT Rodeo Hall of Fame at a May 3 banquet.

—WT—