2014 LEGACY INDUCTEE DISTRICT 11
Oral Harris Zumwalt (1903-1962)
Oral Harris Zumwalt was born August 26, 1903, in Morenci, Arizona. His family lived in Arizona and Texas, before moving to Roundup, Montana, when Oral was a teenager. Oral began his rodeo career at age 13, winning a saddle bronc contest at a farmer’s picnic on Swimming Woman Creek, north of Roundup.
Oral rodeoed hard from 1926 through 1932, winning many of the largest rodeos in the country in several different events. He was a calf roper, bulldogger, saddle bronc rider, and wild cow milker, among others. Oral specialized in saddle broncs, but eventually gave that up to rope and steer wrestle. Good records were not kept in the early days, but some of Oral’s rodeo accomplishments were:
1930, Billings, Montana: Won Calf Roping.
1933, Nampa, Idaho: Won the Saddle Bronc, Steer Wrestling, and All Around.
1933, Calgary, Alberta: Won Steer Decorating. In other years in Calgary, he won the Calf Roping and Steer Decorating.
1935, Portland, Oregon: Won Steer Wrestling.
1937-1938, Australia: He was a member of the U.S. Rodeo Teams. Won the All Around both years, and also holds the record for roping a kangaroo, though he got two-barreled with its hind feet when he tried to tie it.
1939, Palm Springs, California. Set a world record of 2.2 seconds in the Steer Wrestling. Still stands as the fastest time.
Oral won saddle bronc events in Miles City, Montana, and rode for the 101 Wild West Show. He was an excellent pick-up man working for McCarty & Elliot and Leo Cremer. While working for Cremer, Oral sometimes was Arena Director or Chute Boss. He also worked for W.T. Johnson. This led to a career as a rodeo producer himself, a career starting in 1944, with partner Julius Peters of Great Falls.
In 1948, Oral partnered with Bud Lake, and they formed the Zumwalt-Lake Rodeo Company in Missoula, Montana. In 1949, they leased the McCullough Ranch. They ran their stock there and used the ranch for their headquarters. The partners bought out Sorenson Rodeo Company and took over several Sorenson Rodeos. They put on rodeos in Montana, Nevada, Idaho, Wyoming, and Canada.
In about 1955, Oral and Bud Lake built the KO Rodeo Arena outside of Missoula and hosted a very large rodeo there every year. The arena sat in a natural bowl, and as many as 13,000 spectators lined the hillsides to watch. This was the most profitable and well attended of Oral’s rodeos. He ran a fast, well run, and organized rodeo. He is quoted as saying, “I always start on time, and finish when I damned please.”
His rodeo company was before the “Born to Buck” programs, and in the day was kind of a “luck of the draw” deal to find good bucking stock. Word of mouth information and killer-canner yards were the main sources for bucking horses. Oral was both lucky and horseman enough to find some of the best. Ex-pack horse Trail’s End was one of his most famous, but he had plenty of others, the likes of Centennial, Brown Bomber, Chief Many Wounds, Black Gold, Badlands Shorty. In 1959, Trail’s End won Bucking Horse of the Year and was presented with a silver mounted halter—an accomplishment of which Oral was very proud. In an exhibition bronc riding that year, Trail’s End bucked off Casey Tibbs, the 1959 Champion Bronc Rider.
In 1958, Oral bought out Bud Lake and ran Zumwalt Rodeo Company with the help of his wife Mae, and son-in-law, Bill Lawrence, who later ran the business.
As a contestant, Oral sustained some serious injuries—a broken neck at Shelby, and a broken leg in Livingston, but was back in the rodeo game as soon as he healed up. As a horseman, he donated a finger to a stallion who resented being “altered."
Oral is described as being a heck of a cowboy and a real good horseman who bred and trained quality horses both for rodeo performance and for the racetrack. He was known for a keen wit, colorful speech patterns, and for his honest and forceful personal opinions. He fostered several rookie cowboys and was an active contributor to Father Cassidy’s Boys Ranch in North Dakota, often stopping there to visit.
In Big Timber in 1962, Oral was not feeling well when he pulled a flank strap for former son-in-law Bill Lawrence. Oral died of a massive heart attack from the exertion, right behind the chutes, doing what he loved.
Oral Zumwalt’s rodeo company was dispersed in 1964.
Information from:
National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
Rodeo, The Suicide Trail by Lee Hames
Interview: Dwain Rennaker, Darby Montana