TERRELL LESTER

The memory and the legacy of Clem McSpadden will wash across his Bushyhead spread this weekend like a summer sunset.

The Bushyhead 101 Pasture Roping and Barrel Race unfolds Sunday and Monday on the Rogers County ranch where his roots ran deep and his voice soared.

McSpadden died July 7 at the age of 82, but the legendary event that draws cowboys from all across the midwest will not skip a beat, thanks to the labor and love of his family and his friends.

Sunday’s schedule will start off with 9 a.m. Cowboy Church services. The team roping starts at high noon, with two go-rounds. The top 75 teams advance to the Finals on Monday, with no times carried forward.

Monday’s events, also scheduled for a noon start, include the roping Finals, with two go rounds, and the 12-team short go. The top 4 teams in average will compete in the sweepstakes with 1,600-pound Texas longhorns for $2,000 extra. The pasture barrel race will be run with a half-mile pattern.

It’s just what Clem envisioned in the early 1980s when he kicked the event into high gear.

In a 2003 interview, Clem said: "It's just a fun place, and it's getting to be a place where people who may not get to see each other but once or twice a year come to visit. It's a lot of fun and it's a lot of work, but we enjoy doing it. We're kinda proud of it."

Clem’s widow, Donna, said recently: "We're going to try to make this exactly as another ‘Clem's Roping.’ All it takes is desire, hard work, dedication, good friends, ropers, barrel racers, spectators, workers, and two days of sunshine."

Handling the duties at the microphone will be veteran Rod Nicholas of Dewey and Steve Massey of Lookeba.

The roping is a throwback to old-time ranch roping, and the entire weekend is a preservation of heritage, family and competition.

McSpadden brought the roping and barrel race to his Rogers County ranch in the early 1980s, having seen a similar competition in Texas. McSpadden, though, went Texas one better. He added his own Oklahoma touch. He added one foot to the start, or score, expanding the roping run to 101 feet — Texas had a 100-foot score.

No arena is used in the roping. The boundary is set with a single yellow rope, and vehicles, trailers, and tents set up behind the “legal line.”

McSpadden, the rodeo announcer who is enshrined in the ProRodeo Hall of Fame, was the preeminent voice of the rodeo, from coast to coast and then some. From Bushyhead to ABC’s Wide World of Sports, he was a familiar and comfortable voice.