All-American Rodeo revives colorful, storied Hawaii tradition

“Ride ‘em, cowboy!” Hawaii’s country music queen Dita Holifield brings three days and four exhibitions of the All-American Rodeo to Waimanalo next week, beginning Thursday.

“It’s a one-of-a-kind type of excitement,” she said. “You’re getting to see a full-on-caliber, national rodeo-style event, where you’re sitting 20 feet from a giant bull, and maybe your next-door neighbor’s cousin is competing in match barrels, and you get to see the tiny little 7-year-old keiki on a giant horse going down the field racing, barrel-style.“

Rodeo has a long and illustrious history in Hawaii, dating to the days of the paniolo. Big Island cowboy Ikua Purdy led a team of island cowboys to national renown by winning a competition in Wyoming in the early 1900s, and Hawaiian rodeo was particularly famed for its “double-mugging” competition, in which two cowboys – no horses – chase down a cow in an arena about three-quarters the size of a football field, wrestle it to the ground and tie it up.

“On the mainland, everybody in rodeo talks about ‘In Hawaii, where they have double-mugging!’” Holifield said.

With ranching in the islands in decline over the years, rodeo too began to die out, especially on Oahu. Holifield revived it five years ago and has seen a steady growth in interest since.

“I think the story of the paniolo is inherent to the fabric of the Hawaiian culture,” she said.

More than 150 athletes applied for this year’s rodeo, with the top 100 chosen for 11 competitions.

Holifield has gathered 100 head of cattle from around the islands for the competition. She also made sure there would be an incentive for fierce contests, adding an extra $20,000 over and above the entry fees paid by participants as prize money.

THE STAR attraction is Judd Napier, a Waipahu native who’s now a professional rodeo star based in Oklahoma.

Napier’s specialty is bullfighting, in a style known as American Freestyle. Don’t worry about it being bloody, like the Spanish variety. There are no lances or swords, and no red cape — but a fighter like Napier might as well be Superman for what he does, climbing into a pen to play chicken with a 1,500-pound steer.

“The object of it is to stay as close as possible – it’s called ‘a game of inches’ – and stay within a foot or less of that bull for 60 seconds,” Napier said.

“The way it’s judged is that you give 50 points to the bull and 50 points to the fighter, and you judge how aggressive the bull is, how aggressive the fighter is, how well we can ‘dress up’ the fight.

“It’s lateral movement, just like you would practice on a football field,” Napier said. “If you can get that bull to move over and think you’re going one way, you can break off the other way.”

Bullfighters have another responsibility at the rodeo, one Napier sees as just as important as competing. They’re at ringside during bull riding, ready to jump in and distract the bull if the rider gets in trouble.

People might see them as rodeo clowns – Kevin Higley, a professional rodeo clown from Utah, will also be on hand as emcee – but Napier said he doesn’t fool around. “My job is all serious about making sure the cowboys are safe,” he said.

Napier, 32, won an award in 2013 for his work protecting cowboys.

NAPIER GREW up in Waipahu with rodeo in this blood. Both his parents and his grandfather were in ranching, and he learned to ride horses early, but stopped for a time “and went to pretty much every other extreme sport you can think of — skateboards, BMX, dirt bikes, you name it,” he said.

He got back into rodeo in high school and went to college in Kansas on a rodeo scholarship. At first he specialized in bull riding, but a friend convinced him to stop.

“I was having a hard time staying healthy,” he said.

Ironically, he’s been racked up plenty fighting bulls – knocked out, bruised and cut. His worst accident was “taking one” to the personal area, which resulted in “12 very uncomfortable stitches” and several weeks’ recovery time.

“It’s not necessarily something I’m proud to announce, but it happens,” said Napier in his Southern drawl, which reverts to pidgin when he is in the islands.

Napier is excited to have rodeo back in Hawaii. He’s hoping it continues to grow, and would like to bring some mainland cowboys with him.

Rodeo has a sanctioning organization, the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association, he notes, which would give credibility to local cowboy culture.

“That’s something I’m working towards, because a lot of the top rodeo talent back in the late ’80s and early ’90s was a big part of Hawaii’s success in rodeo,” he said.