Okmulgee still supplying IPRA with top-notch talent

(The text from the article below was authored by Doug Graham, with photograph by unknown, published in the Okmulgee Daily Times, July 8, 1987.)

Nearly every city in the world wants to grab attention, to have something that it can hold as its claim to fame. World-record pecan pies aside, the city of Okmulgee is probably best known for its rodeo performers.

In the past twenty years, Okmulgee has been on the minds of everyone involved with the International Professional Rodeo Association (IPRA), the people who have put on the International Final Rodeo (IFR) in Tulsa every year for the past 17 years, as several young men from this area have been top performers on the circuit.

Dexter Bailey and Clarence LeBlanc have stamped their names in the IPRA forever with their performances. Joining them in excelling in the world's toughest sport are Randy White and Clarence's brother Kenneth.

The IPRA finds its roots in 1955 when two Midwestern rodeo promoters grew tired of the existing rodeo management organization's efforts to concentrate rodeo's expansion westward. They also wanted to bring some the credibility back to rodeo in the south where it had been hurt by unregulated contestants, unqualified judges and fly-by-night organizations.

In 1964, the IPRA formed a Board of Governors to further regulate the sport and to set forth new policies. The IPRA also made big news when in 1961 they became the first rodeo body to recognize a world champion in women's barrel racing.

Today, the IPRA based in Pauls Valley, Oklahoma, conducts rodeos in over 20 states and the IFR is one of the biggest rodeo events in the United States.

Dexter Bailey became [a] member of the IPRA in the late 1960's and took his first World Title in calf roping in 1970. That started what one could call the Dexter Bailey decade in IPRA calf roping. Every year during the period between 1970 and 1979, Dexter finished in the top ten in the National Calf roping standing and won four world championships. He also finished in the top ten in All-Around cowboy competition in five of those years which he won in '70, '75, '76, '79, Dexter also finished second in the championship standings twice and finished third another time. In 1976, he finished second to Mike Bailey, also of Okmulgee. Dexter also shares the record for most times qualifying for the IFR in calf roping as he made it to the prestigious event nine times. 

Since hanging up his spurs, Bailey now runs a ranch south of Okmulgee and is an approved judge for the IPRA. He is also grooming son Kenneth Bailey for a possible future career in rodeo.

Although competing in a different sport, Clarence LeBlanc has also made a lasting mark on the IPRA. Clarence reached the top in 1983 when he won the world championship in steer wrestling in 1983 after spending eight years on the IPRA tour to become the first black IPRA world champ. 

Clarence joined the IPRA in 1975 and was the top average man in the 1978 IFR. He also placed runner-up in the steer wrestling national championship in 1983 before winning that title the very next year. He has finished in the top 15 in the national standings eight times and has also finished in the top ten All-Around competition several times. In 1984 he picked up checks in 52 rodeos.

Clarence got his start in rodeo 17 years ago and competed in college rodeo while attending Oklahoma State University, where he earned a degree in Animal Science. He learned the ropes of the rodeo world from his father Roy and got some good coaching from Calvin Greely and Chris Profitt.

He is one of the best liked performers in the IPRA both in and out of the arena as his personality has won him the favor of fans. 

In the latest IPRA national standings, Clarence stands second in the steer wrestling standings, just $600 behind Britches Simms of Moore, Oklahoma.

Randy White has also been a longtime performer on the IPRA circuit as he has been a member since 1967 and has been in the IFR nine times and won the average in the calf roping event in 1975 and '77. Randy is as consistent with the rope now as he was as a rookie twenty years ago and continues to finish in the top 15 among calf ropers.

He ended the season in the top ten for the first time in 1979 and has placed in the top fifteen four times since then. He is the brother-in-law of Dexter Bailey and has two sons at home who have their sights set on a rodeo career, Walt and Wade.

Kenneth LeBlanc decided he had seen enough of his brothers feats in steer wrestling and in 1985 hit the tour as a performer and did well enough to finish sixth in the national standing in steer wrestling and qualified for the IFR. He is 18th in the latest IPRA national standings. 

These are not he only performers from the Okmulgee area who have excelled on the IPRA circuit. One is Dale Yerigan, who is a Minnesota native but moved to Okmulgee and won two world titles in Steer Wrestling before moving to Henryetta a couple years ago. He is an improving star in the IPRA.

Two other performers from the Henryetta area are Tommy and Everett Crandell. Everett was the All-Around world champion in 1966 and also won a couple of world titles in steer wrestling in the mid-60's. His brother Tommy is a current rodeo man who has qualified for the IFR 13 times as a Bull Rider.

Everyone who enjoys good rodeo action should be glad that they live in an area that has such a rich past, and future, in the sport.