The Rodeo News
f t p i g The Rodeo News
  • Home
  • Articles
    • 5 Star Champion
    • American Hat
    • 6 Over 60
    • Momma’s Message
    • Back When They Bucked
    • On The Trail
    • Profiles
    • Rodeo News Today
    • Special Features
      • Roper Review
      • JR Vezain
  • Associations
  • Classifieds
    • Place a Classified Ad
    • My Classifieds
  • Subscribe
    • Subscribe
    • Change of Address
    • Newsletter Signup
  • Newsletters
  • Photos
  • Partners
  • Contact
    • About Rodeo News
    • Meet the Team
    • Meet The Freelancers
    • Advertiser Interests

Back When They Bucked with Deb Copenhaver

Back When they Bucked, Deb Copenhaver, Rodeo News

Deb on Miss Klamath in Ellensburg, Wash., 1952 – photo by DeVere

Written by: Siri Stevens

< Back to Articles

Deb Copenhaver grew up in a ranch family in Wilbur, Wash. “I worked for a lot of different ranches riding colts,” said the 89-year-old World Champion Saddle Bronc Rider. Born January 21, 1925, Deb is considered one of the greatest bronc riders to come out of the Pacific Northwest He lived through the Depression and at 17, enlisted in the Navy during World War II. “I was in the construction battalion of the Navy, the Seabees. I had always liked construction work as a kid, so that was my reason for joining the Seabees. It was a branch of the Navy put together during WWII – the Seabees kid the Marines that they came in on the road the Seabees built.” Deb spent two years in North Africa running a bull dozer for $70 a month.
“When I got out, I made up my mind I was going to rodeo and I started going to a few rodeos close to home.” The first year, 1946, he went to Calgary and won day money in the bull riding. “I was riding broncs and barebacks, but I got a little sore and kept to bronc riding. I had a good beginning -God gave me the ability to win right off the bat. I was fortunate to win Calgary three times, New York (Madison Square Garden) twice; Denver, Ft. Worth, Houston, Phoenix, Pendleton, Cheyenne, and Salinas.”
In the 1950s, Deb teamed up with Paul Templeton, and Bill Linderman and went airborne in Paul’s 180 Cessna. “We were all over the country for rodeo—Calgary, Elko, Omaha, Kalispell, Butte. We did them all.” Dedication paid off and Deb came in second in the world in 1951, ’53, and ‘54 to his good friend, South Dakota roughstock rider, Casey Tibbs. He won it the next two years.
Deb was elected to the RCA Board of Directors in 1958. “While on that Board I had a vote in having the first National Finals Rodeo. It was held in Dallas, Texas, in 1959.”
He took his earnings from rodeo and invested in land near Creston, Wash., where he bred and raised quality quarter horses and operated Deb’s Cafe in town. “This little restaurant had belonged to my dad and was in the town that I was born in,” said Deb, who had made the last ride of his career in Pendleton in 1974 and was looking for a source of income for his family. “At that time it was a small restaurant and gas station. We bought a big building, 40 x 80, and moved it across the road and tied it into the existing building and had enough floor space for nice consequences.” The decision paid off; Deb and Cheryl built the restaurant into the heyday of Deb’s Cafe, decorated in true western style, and his ‘Steak Nights” were a hit with the town’s people as well as the country bands that he’d bring in to play on Saturday nights. Hank Thompson, Bonnie Guitar, and Earnest Tubb, and other country music greats all played at “Deb’s”.
Cheryl was not as excited about the purchase of the restaurant. “It was open 7 days a week from 5 am until the last dog went home. We did that for 16 years and raised three kids in the midst of it.” Deb’s daughter Debra is a former Miss Rodeo Washington and a respected bronze sculptor (see Art of Rodeo, page 42). His son Jeff was ’75 World Champion Calf Roper and founding  pastor of the store of the New Frontier Cowboy Church in Texas (see Christian Corner, page 7). Deb is proud of his boys Matt and Guy, who are in the construction business, and his daughter Kelly, who is a Florida businesswoman and mom to three.
It was Jeff that led Deb and Cheryl to the Lord in 1979. It wasn’t long after that they sold the restaurant. “If we are going to serve God, we are not going to serve booze,” Deb had said. “And that was the end of the restaurant. In two months time we had it sold, so our lives went on – we run cattle and quarter horses. If you are doing something that is not in God’s good will, if you pray about it, He will take you out of it.” After that, Deb and Cheryl sold the restaurant and settled into raising quarter horses and spreading the Gospel. “The most important thing that I could add is our Love for God – that’s more important now than anything you might write about us.”
Today, Deb and Cheryl Copenhaver keep busy with their quarter horses, and Deb spends time in the log chapel he built down the road from his house.  Deb says proudly. “I want to be remembered for serving
the Lord.”
 

Story also available in the December 2014 issue.

Back when they bucked, Rodeo News, Deb Copenhaver
Jeff and Deb – Jeff on the great bucking horse Badger Mountain in Omak, Wash. 1953
Back When they Bucked, Deb Copenhaver, Rodeo News
Jim Shoulders and Deb opening day of Rimrock Meadows, Wash. 1973
Back When they Bucked, Deb Copenhaver, Rodeo News, Casey Tibbs, Jim Shoulders
Casey Tibbs, Jim Shoulders and Deb
Back When they Bucked, Deb Copenhaver, Rodeo News
Deb riding the never-before-ridden Snake in Penticton, BC., 1949 – photo by Jim Chamberlain
Back When they Bucked, Deb Copenhaver, Rodeo News
Deb on Miss Klamath in Ellensburg, Wash., 1952 – photo by DeVere
Back When they Bucked, Deb Copenhaver, Rodeo News
Deb, Casey Tibbs, and Bill Linderman in Phoenix, Ariz. in 1957 – photo by Helfrich
  • Facebook
  • Twitter

AM HAT WEB ad FEB 2022  

Posted on: November 24, 2014

Related Posts

Back When They Bucked with Bob Click

Bob Click was never a threat to any big-name cowboys, but he loved to compete. “Jim Shoulders never lost any sleep over me,” Bob quipped, […]

April 17, 2020

Back When they Bucked with Howard Barker

Howard Barker lived out his dreams. Ever since he was a little boy, he wanted to be a cowboy, and he wanted to fly, and […]

May 22, 2015

On The Trail with Quincy Sullivan and Luis Mendiaz

Quincy Sullivan is the second girl to ever win the National High School Finals in team roping..Brend Youtsey Reay was the first in 1986. The […]

August 27, 2020

Rodeo News

1612 Laporte Ave. Suite #2

Fort Collins, CO 80521

United States

Phone: 970-419-4747

More Info

  • Add An Event
  • Advertiser Interests
  • Place a Classified
  • Vendor Login
  • Submit an Association
  • Terms
  • Newsletter Signup

© Copyright 2022 Rodeo News | All Rights Reserved

TERMS:
Rodeo Newstm (ISSN 1934-5224) is published 12 times a year, semi-monthly May-Nov; once in Dec Jan, Feb., March, and April by Publication Printers, 2001 S. Platte River Drive, Denver, Colo., 80223. Iris Ink, Inc., parent company of Rodeo News is located at 3604 WCR 54G, Laporte, Colo., 80535. Subscriptions are $30 per year. Periodicals postage paid at LaPorte, Colo., and additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Rodeo News, 1612 Laporte Ave. Suite #2, Fort Collins, CO 80521

Canada Post (CPC) publication #40798037. Material in this publication may not be reproduced in any form without permission. Rodeo News carries advertising and editorials as a service to the readers. However, publication of advertisements and editorials in Rodeo News does not commit Rodeo News to agree with or guarantee any of the merchandise or livestock advertised.