10/20/2026
We sure do love coming across these sweet memories. đź’›
He roped calves at the very first National Finals Rodeo in 1959. More than sixty years later, he was still carrying his PRCA card. Mel Potter was the only man who could say both.
Mel Potter was born in 1935 in Wisconsin and grew up in Arizona. His mother took him to his first rodeo, La Fiesta de los Vaqueros in Tucson, when he was nine. He entered his first competition at sixteen and joined the Rodeo Cowboys Association in 1951. He competed in junior rodeo for his Tucson high school and then at the University of Arizona, where he was an all-around champion in intercollegiate rodeo for four years.
Then he took the national stage. In 1959, Potter competed in calf roping at the first National Finals Rodeo, in Dallas. He went on to win some of the biggest rodeos in the sport, including the Calgary Stampede in 1962, La Fiesta de los Vaqueros, the Phoenix Jaycees Rodeo of Rodeos, the National Western Stock Show, and the Helldorado Days Rodeo twice. Over the years he competed in tie-down roping, steer wrestling, steer roping, and team roping, partnering as a header with cowboys like Bum Post, Bob Padilla, Eddie Schell, and Dale Smith. He competed at the Great Lakes Circuit Finals at 75 and was still entering PRCA team ropings in 2017. He’s the only cowboy to have competed at the first NFR in 1959 and still hold an active PRCA card.
Then he built a rodeo company. From 1964 to 1973, Potter ran a stock contracting outfit called Rodeos Inc., and its bucking horses made history. Tea Trader, Sheep Mountain, and Major Reno were each named Saddle Bronc of the NFR, and Major Reno won it two years in a row. Five of his horses won NFR champion honors in saddle and ba****ck bronc riding. He also bred and raised horses through Mel Potter Ranch and Driftwood Horses in Marana, Arizona, and he kept the family’s cranberry business in Wisconsin going. “I wouldn’t take a million dollars for the experience,” he said of stock contracting, “but they couldn’t pay me $10 million to do it again.”
Then he gave back. Potter served on the PRCA Board of Directors and as the Arizona High School Rodeo National Director. He raised two cowgirls with his wife Wendy: Jo Lynn Alexander, a two-time National High School Rodeo Association all-around cowgirl, and Sherry Cervi, a four-time world champion barrel racer.
Inducted into the Cheyenne Frontier Days Hall of Fame in 2003. Inducted into the National Rodeo Hall of Fame in 2005, the same year he received its Ben Johnson Memorial Award. Named a Legend of ProRodeo in 2015 and inducted into the ProRodeo Hall of Fame in 2022. Mel Potter died February 22, 2025, at 90.
A nine-year-old at his first rodeo in Tucson. A calf roper at the very first Finals. Mel Potter kept his card in his pocket for more than six decades.
Mel Potter 🤠🪢🏆
