Butch Knowles of Heppner is part of the Class of 2023 for the ProRodeo Hall of Fame.

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — It’s not often Butch Knowles of Heppner is at a loss for words, but when he was notified on Monday, March 27, that he was part of the Class of 2023 for the ProRodeo Hall of Fame, he was a bit tongue-tied.

“That’s pretty humbling. Holy cow,” said Knowles in a Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association release. “For a guy that does a lot of talking, I don’t have a ton of words to say right now. This is the last thing that I ever thought would happen. It is quite an honor. It’s probably not the place that I feel like I should be. But it’s an honor to be thought of that way, it really is.”

Knowles, who is being honored for his contributions to rodeo, is joined in the Class of 2023 by steer wrestler Luke Branquinho, saddle bronc rider Cody Wright, team roper Doyle Gellerman, pickup man Kenny Clabaugh, notable Tom Feller, bareback horse Night Jacket, rodeo committees from the St. Paul Rodeo and the Cowtown Rodeo of New Jersey, barrel racer Sherry Johnson, and Women’s Professional Rodeo Association notable Fay Ann Horton Leach.

“If they want me, I’ll take it,” Knowles said. “I like being just me, behind the scenes.”

The Hall of Fame enshrinement ceremony will be July 15, at the ProRodeo Hall of Fame in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

A saddle bronc rider, Knowles qualified for the National Finals Rodeo in 1981, 1983 and 1986-87. He won the National Finals Rodeo average in 1987.

The past three decades, Knowles has made a name for himself as a TV commentator, including being the color analyst for the NFR every year since 1988.

“The first year I did it, I thought it would be just a year or two,” he said. “It has been a great ride. I work all over the place, but pretty much for one company. I go to Canada for the Calgary Stampede for a company up there. I’m a freelance kind of guy.”

It’s been a great rideKnowles was born in Klamath Falls, and his family moved to the Redmond area when he was in the second grade. He began his rodeo career in the seventh grade and has never looked back.

“They had a junior rodeo in Redmond and me and my brother went,” he said. “I rode calves. I made it about two jumps, but that’s all it took. It grabbed me.”

Knowles, a 1973 graduate of Redmond High School, went on to win the high school all-around title in 1973, which also came with a brand new car — a yellow Dodge Colt.

“It was as plain as you could get a car,” Knowles said. “No radio or carpet, but it had a heater. I drove it in college and to rodeos for a few years. Free is better than fancy.”

He went on to rodeo at Walla Walla Community College, and got his PRCA card in 1974.

Knowles had many wins over the years, including titles in Pendleton (1986, 1991), St. Paul, Calgary, and his first PRCA victory in Salinas, California, in 1974.

There was a time in Knowles’ career when he would get on the back of a bull. He is one of the few to say he got a qualified ride on the notorious Oscar II. A ride that scored a 92 in Longview, Washington, many years ago.

“All through high school and college I rode bulls and broncs, and for about 10 years after that,” he said. “I dropped the bulls in 1983 or 84, though it might have been my best event.”

Knowles was working in a hay field when his wife, Mary, let him know which bronc he drew at Longview.

“I asked what I had in bulls,” he said. “She said, ‘Can you ride Oscar?’ I said no. Oscar had quite the reputation.”

Knowles is no stranger when it comes to hall of fames. He was inducted in the Pendleton Round-Up and Happy Canyon Hall of Fame in 2021, and the St. Paul Rodeo Hall of Fame in 2019.

Knowles and his wife Mary lived for a time in Hermiston before moving to Heppner full time in 1988, where they raised their sons, Brian and Blake, who is a PRCA steer wrestler.

Putting together Farm-City Pro RodeoIn 1987, Knowles and fellow saddle bronc rider David Bothum made the initial pitch to Umatilla County Fair Manager Janet Aiken to bring a pro rodeo to the fair.

“We are really proud of that,” Knowles said. “David and I were going down the road one night, figuring out what we would need.”

After some reluctance, the fair board agreed to the rodeo at the fairgrounds, but did not want to have any ties to it in case it didn’t work out.

In 1988, the Farm-City Pro Rodeo was born, and it has grown bigger and better over the past three decades. The best of the best have competed in Hermiston, thanks in part to two cowboys who had a dream.

“The first night, it was about 6:30 and there was no one in the stands,” Knowles said. “After the bareback, we looked around and the stands were full. Everything that has come since then, David has built. It’s amazing.”