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There are 779 people competing in this year’s St. Paul Rodeo. Every one of them will come to the secretary’s office to sign in, ask questions about the competition or at least get a pass so they can get dinner.
The person they’re all seeking, and the one most of them know, is Debi Davis, the rodeo secretary. The entire St. Paul Rodeo, which runs through July 4, is coordinated by her. She likens the job to herding cats.
“Hi, Miss Debi,” one cowboy says before asking a question. She answers as she juggles four other tasks.
From April through September, Davis works 16-hour days as secretary for rodeos throughout the west.
Beyond all of the administrative duties, Davis is the person every rider needs to find if they want answers about what is happening during the show. She’s also a den mother, confidant and social organizer to rodeo cowboys.
Debi Davis is like the air traffic controller of the St. Paul Rodeo.
If you want to know how a rodeo operates, watch her for a few hours.
A steer wrestler from Oklahoma walks into Davis' office and asks a question. He is respectful when he calls her ma’am and says “thank you” after she helps him.
The man smells heavily of marijuana.
Davis knows him well, like she does hundreds of rodeo cowboys. When he leaves the office, Davis says she likes the man, but doesn’t understand how he can compete.
She knows almost every one of the cowboys who come through her office, and they’re nearly all extremely polite to her. Most of them call her "ma'am."
Davis has been a rodeo secretary for over 30 years. She was an emergency medical technician for a decade and owned a construction business with her husband, Larrie.
Davis got involved in rodeo as a secretary in the early 1990s through a brother-in-law.
“We have to go to a school. It’s like anything else,” Davis said.
That education only taught her the X’s and O’s of the job. She had to learn the rest on the job.
“There’s something different every single time,” she said.
Now that Davis is a professional rodeo secretary, she spends her offseasons as a pilot car driver.
Davis has been the rodeo secretary at St. Paul since 2021 when she took over for Kevin Smith.
Davis’ average day at the St. Paul Rodeo starts at 7 a.m. It ends at about 11 p.m. She doesn’t take breaks of more than a few minutes at a time and drinks plenty of coffee.
Her friend, Patty Bonner, recently retired and joins her on the road at most rodeos as her assistant. It’s made the traveling life of a rodeo secretary easier and more pleasant.
Bonner says she has to remind Davis to eat. On a recent day, Bonner asked if she wanted a sandwich.
“I don’t know. I don’t have time to think right now,” Davis replied.
She’s lucky to find five minutes to get dinner. But instead of sitting down for her meal, she brings the food back to the secretary’s office and takes a bite of watermelon between answering questions and helping cowboys.
When Bonner brought her the sandwich, it took over an hour for Davis to find the time to eat it.
“Need a nap?” Davis says to an official who is yawning.
“I just had a great one,” the official replies.
“That’s your problem,” Davis said.
Between April and September, Davis spends a handful of days a week in almost every state in the west.
Her schedule takes her from Red Bluff, Calif. to Mountain Home, Idaho, Sheridan, Wyo. and more.
She’s on a stretch where she will be at so many rodeos that she will sleep in her own bed at her home in Spokane, Wash., just a few nights until September.
“It’s every weekend from the middle of June until the second week of September,” Davis said.
In an hour’s time, Davis and Bonner’s interactions with rodeo contestants vary. They frequently joke with the cowboys to keep the mood light.
“Hi, there,” Bonner said to a cowboy. “What can I screw you out of?”
While most cowboys are respectful, some haven't been over the years. Not to worry. Older cowboys took them outside and straightened them out.
“If they need something, they got to get it from me,” Davis said.
Davis brings hundreds of poker chips from rodeo to rodeo to determine which cowboys chase which livestock. When it comes time for Davis to do the draw, she kicks everyone out of the secretary’s office.
“I’m locking the door,” Davis said.
She and a few judges will draw poker chips while cowboys stand outside the door and wait nervously to find out which animals they will chase in front of an arena filled with 10,000 souls.
Technology has changed her profession in some ways.
Davis says there were times when she would have $30,000 to $50,000 in cash and checks in entry fees in a rodeo office. Now she’ll have a fraction of that.
Registration is done completely online. So are the payouts.
The hundreds of pages of event lineups, schedules and judging sheets she produces from one of three printers she lugs from town to town are nearly worth their weight in gold. It’s one of the ways that rodeo resists evolving. The board outside the secretary’s office is decidedly old school.
During the rodeo, Davis gets calls from cowboys running late with requests:
“Can you hold the rodeo?”
“Can you move me down the order?”
“Can you change the order?”
She says she cowboys will try to pull anything on her.
After the St. Paul Rodeo concludes on July 4 and Davis and Bonner will pack up their stuff, they will go back to their hotel in Woodburn around 1 a.m.
They will leave their hotel in Woodburn before 5 a.m. and drive 1,000 miles to Sheridan, Wyo., hoping to arrive around 1 a.m.
“It helps us both keep entertained,” said Bonner, who met Davis while working for the fire service in Spokane. “Where I drive, she’s able to work. We keep each other entertained and try to, when you’re frustrated and having a hard time, there’s someone there.”
Bill Poehler covers Marion and Polk County for the Statesman Journal. Contact him at [email protected]
This article originally appeared on Salem Statesman Journal: Debi Davis is the woman who keeps the St. Paul Rodeo moving
Continue reading...
The person they’re all seeking, and the one most of them know, is Debi Davis, the rodeo secretary. The entire St. Paul Rodeo, which runs through July 4, is coordinated by her. She likens the job to herding cats.
“Hi, Miss Debi,” one cowboy says before asking a question. She answers as she juggles four other tasks.
From April through September, Davis works 16-hour days as secretary for rodeos throughout the west.
Beyond all of the administrative duties, Davis is the person every rider needs to find if they want answers about what is happening during the show. She’s also a den mother, confidant and social organizer to rodeo cowboys.
Debi Davis is like the air traffic controller of the St. Paul Rodeo.
If you want to know how a rodeo operates, watch her for a few hours.
Debi Davis knows all of the cowboys competing in St. Paul
A steer wrestler from Oklahoma walks into Davis' office and asks a question. He is respectful when he calls her ma’am and says “thank you” after she helps him.
You must be registered for see images attach
The man smells heavily of marijuana.
Davis knows him well, like she does hundreds of rodeo cowboys. When he leaves the office, Davis says she likes the man, but doesn’t understand how he can compete.
She knows almost every one of the cowboys who come through her office, and they’re nearly all extremely polite to her. Most of them call her "ma'am."
Davis has been a rodeo secretary for over 30 years. She was an emergency medical technician for a decade and owned a construction business with her husband, Larrie.
Davis got involved in rodeo as a secretary in the early 1990s through a brother-in-law.
“We have to go to a school. It’s like anything else,” Davis said.
That education only taught her the X’s and O’s of the job. She had to learn the rest on the job.
“There’s something different every single time,” she said.
Now that Davis is a professional rodeo secretary, she spends her offseasons as a pilot car driver.
Davis has been the rodeo secretary at St. Paul since 2021 when she took over for Kevin Smith.
16-hour days are part of being a rodeo secretary
Davis’ average day at the St. Paul Rodeo starts at 7 a.m. It ends at about 11 p.m. She doesn’t take breaks of more than a few minutes at a time and drinks plenty of coffee.
Her friend, Patty Bonner, recently retired and joins her on the road at most rodeos as her assistant. It’s made the traveling life of a rodeo secretary easier and more pleasant.
You must be registered for see images attach
Bonner says she has to remind Davis to eat. On a recent day, Bonner asked if she wanted a sandwich.
“I don’t know. I don’t have time to think right now,” Davis replied.
She’s lucky to find five minutes to get dinner. But instead of sitting down for her meal, she brings the food back to the secretary’s office and takes a bite of watermelon between answering questions and helping cowboys.
When Bonner brought her the sandwich, it took over an hour for Davis to find the time to eat it.
“Need a nap?” Davis says to an official who is yawning.
“I just had a great one,” the official replies.
“That’s your problem,” Davis said.
Between April and September, Davis spends a handful of days a week in almost every state in the west.
Her schedule takes her from Red Bluff, Calif. to Mountain Home, Idaho, Sheridan, Wyo. and more.
She’s on a stretch where she will be at so many rodeos that she will sleep in her own bed at her home in Spokane, Wash., just a few nights until September.
You must be registered for see images attach
“It’s every weekend from the middle of June until the second week of September,” Davis said.
Keeping the mood light when things get too serious
In an hour’s time, Davis and Bonner’s interactions with rodeo contestants vary. They frequently joke with the cowboys to keep the mood light.
“Hi, there,” Bonner said to a cowboy. “What can I screw you out of?”
While most cowboys are respectful, some haven't been over the years. Not to worry. Older cowboys took them outside and straightened them out.
“If they need something, they got to get it from me,” Davis said.
Davis brings hundreds of poker chips from rodeo to rodeo to determine which cowboys chase which livestock. When it comes time for Davis to do the draw, she kicks everyone out of the secretary’s office.
“I’m locking the door,” Davis said.
She and a few judges will draw poker chips while cowboys stand outside the door and wait nervously to find out which animals they will chase in front of an arena filled with 10,000 souls.
Technology has changed her profession in some ways.
You must be registered for see images attach
Davis says there were times when she would have $30,000 to $50,000 in cash and checks in entry fees in a rodeo office. Now she’ll have a fraction of that.
Registration is done completely online. So are the payouts.
The hundreds of pages of event lineups, schedules and judging sheets she produces from one of three printers she lugs from town to town are nearly worth their weight in gold. It’s one of the ways that rodeo resists evolving. The board outside the secretary’s office is decidedly old school.
Going up and down the road is part of the rodeo lifestyle
During the rodeo, Davis gets calls from cowboys running late with requests:
“Can you hold the rodeo?”
“Can you move me down the order?”
“Can you change the order?”
You must be registered for see images attach
She says she cowboys will try to pull anything on her.
After the St. Paul Rodeo concludes on July 4 and Davis and Bonner will pack up their stuff, they will go back to their hotel in Woodburn around 1 a.m.
They will leave their hotel in Woodburn before 5 a.m. and drive 1,000 miles to Sheridan, Wyo., hoping to arrive around 1 a.m.
“It helps us both keep entertained,” said Bonner, who met Davis while working for the fire service in Spokane. “Where I drive, she’s able to work. We keep each other entertained and try to, when you’re frustrated and having a hard time, there’s someone there.”
Bill Poehler covers Marion and Polk County for the Statesman Journal. Contact him at [email protected]
This article originally appeared on Salem Statesman Journal: Debi Davis is the woman who keeps the St. Paul Rodeo moving
Continue reading...
