Ralph Morgan 2

    LAUDERDALE — If there’s one person who’s excited about this weekend’s Ralph Morgan Rodeo, it’s Ralph Morgan himself.

    The semi-annual event, now in its 40th year, returns for its 80th run Friday and Saturday.

    Events include bareback bronc riding, bull riding, calf roping, steer wrestling, team roping, barrel racing and more.

    For Morgan, 82, celebrating 40 years in the sport of rodeo represents the culmination of a life of hard work.

    When he was 13, Morgan’s father was sidelined with a stroke, so the young man went to work as a logger, and eventually built up a successful logging company.

    In his early twenties, shortly after he married his wife, Lib, Morgan entered the rodeo world,

    “I bulldogged — steer wrassled,” he said during a recent interview. “I had never rodeoed before, but I won that one.”

    He pauses and smiles.

    “That was a long time ago.”

    Throughout the late ’50s and ’60s, Morgan racked up a heap of trophies and awards in the rodeo world. By the mid-1970s, he was ready to build and operate his own arena to serve the regional rodeo circuit.

    “I knew if I could every find a place suitable to have an arena, I would,” he recalls.

    The arena, just down the hill from the Morgan residence, was built in 1975.

    “It was a pecan orchard, and we cut two or three rows of the trees to make room for the arena,” he said. “And we’ve been having two rodeos a year ever since. And it’s grown since then.”

    By the late 1970s, “We were getting big crowds,” recalls Morgan’s son, Johnny, who credits the  the rodeo’s success to his father and partner James Harper’s experience in the business.

    “They had rodeoed so much that they knew you had to do a really fast rodeo, with high-paced production,” he said. “They knew what was working everywhere else; you had to have quality announcers, and the people you brought in had to be good. We’ve always had good clowns and good announcers. And we were always able to attract a lot of good cowboys.”

    “I’m just like anybody else,” the elder Morgan says. “If you do anything, you want to be good at it. And if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”

    Accolades from Friends

    Through the years, Morgan has made many friends in the rodeo business. Among those are retired Mississippi Commissioner of Agriculture and Commerce Lester Spell Jr., who said Morgan’s work ethic is legendary.  

    “Young people aspiring to be successful in life would gain immense insight by meeting him and observing his work ethic, his relations with his fellow man, regardless of their status in life, and his love and devotion to family and friends,” Spell said. “He lives by the Golden Rule and is a faithful Christian who incorporates the basic tenets of the Christian living in all of his dealings.  Quietly and without any recognition, he has often come to the aid of other in their times of need.”  

    Rodeo clown Lecile Harris, who grew up with Morgan in the business, said his friend “has a heart as big as the state of Mississippi,” while colleague Ronnie Massey said Morgan is a giant among rodeo producers.

     “His reputation for hosting good, family-fun rodeos is the best in the state,” Massey said. “Ralph is one of the most giving people I know, and his integrity and loyalty are his greatest gifts.”

    “He’s a leader in the community and has a heart for people that you don’t find in very many successful businessman in this day and time,” Massey said.

    Wallace Strickland, president and CEO of Rush Health Systems, a sponsor of the rodeo, said Morgan’s efforts have had a broad economic impact.

    “Many people don’t realize the economic impact of the rodeo,” he said.

    During the rodeo, the economy is improved by visitors who eat in local restaurants and stay in area hotels, he said.

    “We continue to support this tradition because so many people in the communities we serve enjoy the event, and it gives children the opportunity to experience non-traditional athletes and livestock animals in a competition that is very patriotic, paying tribute to our country and the American way of life,” he said.

    Beyond his contributions to the economy, Morgan has made tremendous contributions to the sport of rodeo in Mississippi and beyond, Commissioner of Agriculture and Commerce Cindy Hyde-Smith said.

     “When I think about rodeos, the first person that comes to mind is Ralph Morgan,” she said.  I commend him on 40 successful years of the Ralph Morgan Rodeo. Whether it is the Ralph Morgan Rodeo in Lauderdale or the Dixie National Rodeo in Jackson, his rodeos have played an integral part in have provided countless opportunities for aspiring youth to follow their rodeo dreams.”

     Ann Alexander, a longtime friend of the Morgans, said, “Our community owes so much to Ralph and Lib Morgan for 40 years of bringing family entertainment to us. This community is truly blessed by their presence and generosity.”