Wednesday, august 23, 1978
daily nebraskan
page 13
of 'em all'
"Some compete part-time and others enter as
many rodeos as possible for a chance to win the
prestige championship belt buckle.
"They have to train and stay in shape like any
other athlete. It takes a lot of concentration and
skill to ride bucking animals," he said.
Everyone dresses western
Some drove to the stockyards in campers.
Others pulled up in Cadillacs. Most everyone's
clothes were of the western style. A few looked
like they were ranch hands, but most looked as if
they had just taken the price tag off their new
Tony Lama boots.
To cool down dusty throats, venders sold beer
for 90 cents a can and sugar water with an orange
and lemon wedge which masqueraded as lemon
ade was sold for 75 cents.
Between the competing events clowns put on
a show, along with the Oglala Indians. The
Oglalas chanted ancient ballads in their native
tongue and danced to the rhythm of drums.
They were from the South Dakota Pine Ridge
reservation and are descend en ts of Red Cloud,
Crazy Horse and Sitting Bull.
Midway, carnival's dream
Next to the grandstands was a traveling carni
val's dream, a midway complete with an official
Cheyenne Frontier Days souvenir stand and a
quarter mile stretch of rides.
People stood in line for stomach-turning
rides that lasted less than a minute, and then
tried to cool off by standing under the shade of
hot dog stands.
No rodeo is complete without entertainers and
at night people could take in such performers as
Charley Pride, Dolly Parton and Johnny Payckeck.
At night, the downtown area looked like the
Old West. Bars were packed with cowboys and
the marshalls were replaced with police officers
walking their beats.
One cowboy remarked to a policeman that he
needn't be concerned if people get a little rowdy.
Most everyone knows each other and "We're just
goin' down the road."
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Cowboy clowns around on the job
He comes to work in pants six inches too big
and paints his face red. His business and traveling
companions include a monkey, a mule and several
ducks.
When Wilbur Plauger does his job, he just
clowns around.
Plauger also is Cheyenne Frontier Days' answer
to half-time entertainment. He's been performing
his animal acts, along with bull fighting at
Frontier Days for 24 years.
But Plauger didn't get his start in rodeos as a
clown. In 1946, he was a ranch hand. Plauger
describes himself at that time as a "drifting cow
boy who broke horses."
"Back then ranch hands wages were 50 bucks a
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month plus room and board. When I entered a
rodeo in '46, 1 never dreamed that I'd end up in
' rodeo work, but I was a championship cowboy
that year," Plauger said.
"I won some money too. It was more than I'd
made in a year on the ranch.
Bull rider
"I got extra money for fighting bulls. Then the
rodeo asked me to do some clowning for extra
money, but I still rode bulls 'til I was 36," Plauger
said.
Plauger also had the opportunity to clown on
other levels.
"Hopalong Cassidy hired me as a clown for his
show and put me in the actor's guild to make a
movie. But I didn't like that kind of work. It was
too dull for me. I had to sit around sets all day
long.
'I did a few Walt Disney movies, Run
Appaloosa Run, Indian Girl and the Horses and I
did a few Daniel Boone television shows," Plauger
said.
In 1970 the 56-year-old clown was flown to
Australia for the Sydney Royal Easter Show.
"It was like a big world's fair and 1 got to meet
the queen (of England) and her family who were
there to celebrate Australia's 200th birthday,"
the clown said.
Animal acts
"I did some of my animal acts in Svdnev. but
the country wouldn't let me bring in any of my
animals so I had to train some new ones in about
two weeks," he said.
Some of Plauger's acts include a monkey
dressed as a cowboy that rides a wild bucking
dog and an Old West shoot out with another
clown.
Yet Plauger didn't quit competing professional
ly until 1973.
Plauger boasts of other accomplishments in his
life.
"A lot of other cowboys I know have pot
bellies and get out of shape when they get older.
I'm still going strong and I never took a drink in
my life," Plauger said.
"A couple cowboys and myself started the
cowboy chapter of the Fellowship of Christian
Athletes. We started out with four members. Now
we have over 800 members.
"I'm a born-again Christian. Three to four
years ago I didn't tell people that, but God wants
this. world to know that He loves everybody. IVe
got the opportunity to tell others. I had all this
exposure and didn't use it before," Plauger said.