The 150th Silver Spurs Rodeo filled the stands of all three of its rodeos this past weekend, with rodeo fans from all of Central Florida experiencing the best of the best in professional rodeo. Contestants battled it out for some big cash payouts, and some serious bragging rights. For the Silver Spurs Riding Club, it was time to show its passion for the Osceola County community.
As the Silver Spurs Riding Club always does, it took time during the 150th Silver Spurs Rodeo to show its passion for the community by donation $5000 to the Osceola Council On Aging’s Meals on Wheels program and the Museum of Military History. During the Monster Bulls event, which took place the Saturday to the Silver Spurs Rodeo, The Opportunity Center was presented with a check.
The Silver Spurs Riding Club’s support for community goes far beyond just financial. The organization has always shown its advocacy for those who have risked their own lives to ensure that our free nation remains free, and during the 150th Silver Spurs Rodeo they honored and celebrated veterans that served in WWll, the Korean Conflict, and the Vietnam War.
During the Friday night rodeo, Louis Boria Jr. was recognized in front of thousands of rodeo fans as he was saluted on the floor of the Silver Spurs Rodeo. Born March 22, 1927 in Brooklyn NY. Lou was raised about 6 blocks from the Brooklyn Navy Yard. He tried to enlist when he was 15 but was turned away, however he registered for the draft “fibbing” about his age and was drafted at 16. That was in 1943 when WWII was in full swing. He was deployed to the Philippines and made the Battle of Leyte Landing with the 250 Marines that led MacArthur in his “Return to the Philipians”. He received his first Purple Heart there. In 1950 he was recalled and was sent to Korea and made the Inchon Landing. He was wounded again and returned to the states. He remained in the Marine until 1957 training School Troops at Quantico. Lou is now 95 and recently walked 7 2/3 miles from his house to the VFW for the Marine Birthday in November of 2022.
Saturday evening the Spurs thanks and paid tribute to 101-year-old Navy Veteran Pat Rudd. Pat, Born in Danville, Ill. worked as an instructor at a factory associated with the Marshall Field’s Company during the early days of World War II. She was recruited to join the Navy through the new Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service (WAVES). Pat was in one of the first groups of WAVES to deploy to Pearl Harbor, Hawaii in 1944, which was considered, an overseas war zone at that time. Her duties included running the base’s Education Office, and teaching literacy courses to sailors. She also volunteered at the base hospital. During that time, she met her future husband of 75 years, Gerald, who was also in the Navy and was originally from Kissimmee. Pat currently resides in St. Cloud and participated in this year’s Silver Spurs Parade.
On Sunday, the Silver Spurs Rodeo recognized 100 Year-old John Zuch who served in WWlI from 1944-1946, and was employed at Edward G. Budds Co. in Philadelphia, PA. As a machinist, working on secret military projects for three years before enlisting in the U.S. Navy at age 23, John attended basic training in Samson KY and then was schooled in Gulfport, Mississippi in diesel school. He then served on the USSC703 Subchaser in the South Pacific patrolling for enemy submarines as a 2nd Class Motor Machinist Mate. John saw action at the initial invasion of the Philippine Islands in the Battle of Leyte Gulf where the Japanese first used kamikaze planes. HE also fought in the second invasion of Luzon.
The Silver Spurs Rodeo also paid tribute to 98-year-old Louis Barretta who was a member of the 364th Fighter Group of the 383rd Fighter Squadron of the U.S. Army Air Corps stationed in Honington, England at the Royal Air Force base. While there, Louis was a Supply Sergeant and part of the team working on P38s and P51s. He was honorably discharged in November 1945, and will be 99 years young in April and is a father, grandfather, and great-grandfather. Louis is retired from Lockheed Martin and enjoys playing golf as often as often as he can.
Positively Osceola thanks the Silver Spurs Riding Club for once again hosting an amazing rodeo weekend, but also for doing so in a way that encourages us all to value life, history, heritage, and the nation we live in. Thank you!
Here are the results from teh 150th Silver Spurs Rodeo
The All-around cowboy for the Silver Spurs Rodeo was Marcus Theriot, who took home $2,709, for his tie-down roping, steer wrestling and team roping skills.
Bareback riding: 1. Keenan Hayes, 89 points on Big Rafter Rodeo ‘s Dark Rose, $2,902; 2. Bradlee Miller, 82, $2,225; 3. Taylor Broussard, 81, $1,644; 4. Houston Herbert, 79.5, $1,064; 5. Bronc Marriott, 79, $677; 6. (tie) Kameron Merck and Kade Sonnier, 78, $435 each; 8. Logan Patterson, 77, $290.
Steer wrestling: 1. Will Lummus, 4.5 seconds, $2,789; 2. (tie) Joshua Hefner and Kyle Irwin, 4.7, $2,243 each; 4. Sam Dixon, 4.8, $1,698; 5. Quentin Wheeler, 5.1, $1,334; 6. Jacob Talley, 5.2, $970; 7. Eli Troyer, 5.5, $606; 8. (tie) Austin Anderson and Joe Ross, 5.7, $121 each.
Team roping: 1. Keven Daniel/Justin Yost, 4.5 seconds, $3,027 each; 2. Marcus Theriot/Cole Curry, 4.7, $2,709; 3. Bradley Massey/Reno Gonzales, 4.9, $2,390; 4. Trace Porter/Chase Graves, 5.0, $2,071; 5. Ty Veon/Bubba Ireland, 5.3, $1,753; 6. Koby Sanchez/Zack Mabry, 5.4, $1,434; 7. Braxton Culpepper/Brad Culpepper, 5.7, $1,115; 8. Wyatt Allen/Colton Allen, 5.9, $797; 9. (tie) Ketch Crawley/Rodney Melton and Spunk Sasser/Parker Carbajal, 6.0, $319 each.
Saddle bronc riding: 1. Chase Brooks, 88 points on Big Rafter Rodeo ‘s Resistol’s Wild, $3,105; 2. Shea Fournier, 86.5, $2,380; 3. Logan Cook, 85, $1,759; 4. Parker Fleet, 83.5, $1,138; 5. (tie) Alan Gobert and Lucas Macza, 82, $621 each; 7. (tie) Wyatt Casper and Jack Smithson, 79, $362 each.
Tie-down roping: 1. Michael Otero, 7.5 seconds, $3,161; 2. Blake Chauvin, 8.0, $2,828; 3. Andrew Burks, 8.5, $2,496; 4. (tie) Austin Davis and Macon Murphy, 8.7, $1,997 each; 6. Cole Walker, 9.0, $1,497; 7. Booker McCutchen, 9.1, $1,165; 8. Polo Bacque II, 9.4, $832; 9. Shane Overby, 10.8, $499; 10. Abdiel Zamora, 11.2, $166.
Barrel racing: 1. Nicole Love, 15.86 seconds, $3,850; 2. (tie) Chloe Gray and Kristin Hanchey, 15.87, $2,791 each; 4. Taylor Carver, 16.12, $1,925; 5. Jenna Lummus, 16.17, $1,540; 6. Erin Wetzel, 16.18, $1,155; 7. Mickayla Brown, 16.20, $963; 8. Margo Crowther, 16.23, $866; 9. Angie Hammock, 16.26, $770; 10. Cristin Posey, 16.27, $674; 11. Presley Smith, 16.30, $578; 12. Susie Parisee, 16.32, $481; 13. Sandi Brandli, 16.34, $385; 14. Stevie Perkins, 16.36, $289; 15. Kara Kreder, 16.38, $193.
Bull riding: 1. Coy Pollmeier, 87 points on Silver Spurs Club ‘s Nasty Nelson, $3,525; 2. Koby Radley, 85, $2,703; 3. (tie) Dakota Louis and Lukasey Morris, 84.5, $1,645 each; 5. (tie) Jett Lambert, JB Mauney and T Parker, 84, $627 each; 8. Hayden Harris, 83.5, $353.
