our stories: PAT HAMILTON
Kids, Cattle
and Making It
Count
MAY 2016
PA R K E R C O U N T Y T O D AY
BY ABIGAIL GIEGER
PHOTO BY STEVE SCHILLIO
Parker County is known for its involvement in the Rodeo
community. As the “Cuttin’ Horse Capital of the World,”
it is no surprise when we find that a pillar of our community has been involved in the rodeo scene for going on 14
years.
Pat Hamilton, president of Plains Capital Bank, has
been serving as a rodeo superintendent since his friend
Bob Glenn, a fellow superintendent, asked him if he’d
help out. “They were expanding the breeds over there
and needing some more superintendents so he asked me,
‘would you like to do this?’” Hamilton said with a smile.
“And I said ‘well, sure!’ I’ve been around livestock most of
my life.”
As superintendents, Pat Hamilton, Bob Glenn and
Mike Sands serve as a sort of traffic control. “It’s kind of
a babysitting job, actually,” Hamilton said. “We check in
cattle and direct them to the stalls that they’re assigned to
and then help them [contestants] if they need something or
if something breaks or busts; we get that fixed for them and
then on show day we are in the ring with the judge and
help him tag up scores as he picks six places.”
Usually Hamilton works with Sands and together they
work with three different breeds. “We do the Brafords,
Braunvieh, and now the Beefmasters. So we have three different shows we’re responsible for,” Hamilton explained.
“So that means we have three breeds of cattle to check
in, accommodate if they have needs or whatever, and get
those taken care of. We’re in the ring with them and we
set up their classes as well and make sure we get the right
entry number in the right spot as they’re coming into the
ring so the judge can judge them appropriately.”
They start their jobs in the middle of January and usually are down working the stock show for an entire week.
From that Friday to the following Wednesday, Hamilton
and his fellow superintendents are pretty busy, but he
doesn’t seem to mind. “My favorite part, I guess, is the
people — watching the kids grow up and watching them
become responsible. These cattle take a lot of time and
dedication,” Hamilton said. “And for the most part these
kids will be hands on. They’re feeding, they’re bathing
them [their animals] once or twice a day themselves, getting them to show shape, and it teaches them responsibility. They account for all their feed, they keep up with their
costs and they know what’s profitable and what’s not.”
80
A rodeo
superintendent
gives us the scoop
on volunteering
at the Fort Worth
Stock Show
and Rodeo
He also explained that when the kids work in groups
they learn even more, “especially with 4H or the FFA kids.
There are maybe five to eight in a group and they all have
a common bond and that’s raising these cattle. It gives
them a sense of belonging to a common cause. They really
get an education in responsibility, respect, and manners,
just by taking care of an animal that’s dependent upon
them.”
Through the years Hamilton has seen a great many
things and he nearly couldn’t pin down the most interesting thing he’d seen. One of those stories included when
a few calves got out into the arena, and one who escaped
nearly as far as University [Drive]. “She got caught before
she got there but just got away and we didn’t get the gates
closed on time and she got out onto the outer grounds,”
he recalled. But there are also the stories with which you
could be inspired.
“This little girl, I think she showed once or twice, but
she showed her animal with a walking crutch, she had a
disabled leg,” Hamilton explained. “She wasn’t that old,
maybe 10 or 11, and she was showing in a 4H group. She
was pulling her animal and just striding right along with
her crutch too. Kind of makes you appreciate her overcoming those odds and still doing what she really wanted to
do. She just had so much heart.”
Working the rodeo he tends to see familiar faces every
year and quite a few come from Parker County, such as
Bob Tallman, who is the rodeo announcer and resides in
Poolville. Considering how popular 4H is in Parker County, Hamilton gets to see both children and families grow as
they compete throughout the years. “It’s kind of neat to see
those young kids grow up. We catch them at 10 years and
older and we’ll see them come back every year till high
school and then they’re gone off to college. You kind of
get to watch them grow up. You learn the family, learn the
kids year after year and it’s a lot of fun.”
Having cattle of his own, Hamilton has seen a few
things in his time volunteering. Not only has he learned
about those that participate, but he has also noticed he
sees things a bit differently when he looks at his own herd.
“We had Braford cattle…I stayed with commercial because the dollars were a little less, but it just made me kind
of look back at the cows we had at the time,” he said. “I
could see a little bit of better breeding over there and I can