Page 2 • The Cowboy Chronicle Extra 2002
2002 Inductees: Rodeo • George Bruington • George Bruington’s rodeo involvement began in 1925. Over the next 73 years he participated as a competitor, judge, pickup man, clown and stock contractor. He was born prematurely on Aug. 16, 1909 in a sod house near Amidon, a son of Ward and Mabel Bruington. His mother said he was born horseminded. “The Slope Saga,” page 609, reports that when George was about 3 years old threshers came to their house. That was exciting for a little boy who loved horses. He ran from place to place and eventually to the granary to watch the men unload grain wagons. The wheat looked good, so he tried some, chewing away happily. “Slope Saga” continues, “One of the men said to him, ‘You’ll have to eat awful fast to eat all of that before spring.’ Evidently George thought he meant it – that night he became violently ill.” “Slope Saga” also tells about an evening when 4-year-old George climbed a broken fence post. When he reached the top the post flipped over, cutting his tongue on the barbed wire. His father ran the team in out of the pasture and prepared for a trip to the doctor in New England, 25 miles away. The doctor sewed it up and the next morning George arrived home happily sucking on hard candy. George started trading horses when he was 10 years old. That was just the
beginning of a lifetime of buying, training and trading horses. Bruington lived in the Amidon area until he was about 16 years old and then moved to Almont, where he made his living trading horses. He competed in all the traditional rodeo events such as bareback and saddle bronc riding, team tying, calf roping and bulldogging. He also enjoyed horse racing, chariot racing, wild cow milking and did some Roman riding with Herb Wagner, Earl Bird and Red Olson. In the late 1920s he started stock contracting, trailing his stock to and from the rodeos until 1931 when he bought a truck. On Dec. 10, 1932, he married Ruby Wagner. He bought a ranch at Almont and started to slow down on the rodeoing. In the ‘40s and ‘50s he farmed, ranched and milked cows, but still kept the bucking stock he loved so much. In the late ‘60s he decided to build his herd and start contracting rodeos full-time. He became a North Dakota Rodeo Association member and remained one of the NDRA’s top contractors until 1988. He furnished bucking horses for many area rodeos as well as practice stock for rodeo schools. His best horses included: X23 Pay Day, a NDRA saddle bronc horse of the year; 203 Headlight, a two-time NDRA
bareback horse of the year and top horse at the North American Rodeo Commission Finals in Gallup, N.M.; and Superstar, a four-time NDRA saddle bronc horse of the year. In 1988 he sold most of his bucking string to three Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association contractors: Buddy Pinz, Terrebonne, Ore.; Johnny Walters, Kirksville, Mo.; and Ron Martin from New York. Walters arranged to send a truck and a check to North Dakota to pick up his horses during the February Minneapolis/St. Paul rodeo. A day later the truck returned with the horses, a brand release – and the check. Walters reprimanded his employee for not paying Bruington, and then learned that George wouldn’t accept it (Continued on page 3.) North Dakota Cowboy Hall of Fame Executive Director..............Darrell Dorgan Board of Directors President.......................Phil Baird, Mandan Vice President............Robert Tibor, Hebron Secretary............Russ Danielson, Harwood Board Members Kaye Burian...........................Manning Virginia Eck...........................Bismarck Laura Griffin.............................Medora Ray Morrell..................................Minot Robyn Nelson.........................Pembina Evelyn Neuens......................Bismarck Walter Piehl, Jr.............................Minot Winston Satran......................Bismarck Willard Schnell.......................Dickinson Arlen Sommers....................Valley City Theodore Roosevelt Medora Foundation Representative:
Randy Hatzenbuhler.................Medora State Historical Society Representative:
John Von Rueden...................Bismarck
The Cowboy Chronicle Official publication of the North Dakota Cowboy Hall of Fame Editor.....Colette Knutson Gjermundson Advisory Committee: Jeri L. Dobrowski Ray Morrell Willard Schnell Robert Tibor Send Letters, Address Changes, Memberships and Contributions to: North Dakota Cowboy Hall of Fame 1110 College Drive, Suite 212 Bismarck, North Dakota 58501 Phone: 701-250-1833