A scene from the Indian National Finals Rodeo, held every November in Las Vegas, Nevada. Photo from INFR / Facebook
George Highwalker Sr. – a Northern Cheyenne champion of yester yore
By Clara Caufield
www.nsweekly.com Rodeo season has started and many Indian cowboys and cowgirls will now be seriously competing hoping to gain a spot at the Indian National Finals this November seeking to win the “gold.” Increasingly, many of our native rodeo contestants are branching out in other rodeo associations, such as the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association (PRCA), also seeking a larger “gold.” Someday we will see an Indian PRCA National Champion. Yet, that would not be a first, since George Highwalker Sr., a Northern Cheyenne won a National title, competing against non-Indian way back in 1936. Very few know about his amazing accomplishment, so I now set the record straight. George Highwalker Sr. was a Northern Cheyenne, an uncle married to my Aunt Helen Kinzel. He was born in the early 1900s on the Reservation when automobiles were still rare among our people, thus from the time he was a child he traveled on horseback. Among the many horses he owned and trained during his lifetime, his two favorites were Catina and Black Horse, descendants of those used by the Northern Cheyenne at the Battle of the Little Big Horn. As his mother-in-law, Alice Kinzel said “George loved those horses more than Helen.” When George was a teenager, a white man, George Pittman bought a ranch on the Reservation and built a big arena. Mr. Pittman, a retired rodeo contestant and trick rider/roper was greatly impressed with the horsemanship abilities of the Northern Cheyenne, believing they had great potential as trick ropers and riders which at the time were very popular exhibitions in rodeos and “wild west” shows, a sport of its own. Thus, he recruited some young Cheyenne men, offering to train them in the sport and even to find contracts for them to perform.
Read the rest of the story on the all new Native Sun News website: George Highwalker Sr. – a Northern Cheyenne champion of yester yore (Contact Clara Caufield at acheyennevoice@gmail.com) Copyright permission Native Sun News
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