​

BLAINE PARTRIDGE, PRO RODEO ANNOUNCER

 

 

For most of his life, Blaine Partridge of North Loup, Nebraska has spent his summers in the rodeo arena.  Partridge has been a rodeo announcer for 35 years, traveling to rodeos on summer and winter tours in several states, including Nebraska, Kansas, Iowa, New Mexico and Arizona.

 

Partridge, who grew up in Dannebrog, participated in his first junior rodeo at age 10 in St. Paul. “I was the city kid,” he said. “I rode with two hands; they (rural kids) rode with one.” His younger brothers, Joe, Flip and Luke, followed suit and took part in rodeos. “Growing up, the big thing was to go to the Burwell rodeo,” Partridge said. “I’d listen to Mel Lambert, Jay Harwood and Duane Peters.” The urban cowboy spent much of his youth riding bulls in rodeos, where he gained a wealth of knowledge about them. “He rode everything but not saddle broncs,” his daughter, Michaela, 8, said with spunk, sitting atop a fence at the arena in North Loup. “It was a challenge, an adrenaline rush,” Partridge said of bull riding. “Basically, it applied to me more than the other events did.”

 

But years of getting banged around on a bull took their toll on him. Separated shoulders, broken ribs and a broken nose in 1969, left their scars.

“I’ve had my share of injuries,” he said. Partridge took numerous speech classes in high school and attended an auction college in Mason City, Iowa. But it wasn’t until 1979 that he landed his first announcing gig and April 1980 when he announced his first rodeo — the high school one in Burwell. Jack Plugge of Burwell had persuaded him to try it, while several people rode a bucking horse at the North Loup skating rink on Christmas 1979. “He said, ‘Tell them who we are and what we’re doing,'” Partridge said of his relative.

 

The rodeo aficionado divided his time between riding bulls and calling rodeos. He got his big break in 1987, shortly after he moved to New Mexico. He was called to announce a benefit rodeo conducted by Charles Sampson, the first black world championship bull rider, for the latter’s son, who was in a coma after an accident. “The last bull I got on I rode for the full eight (seconds),” Partridge said of the 1989 feat.

 

Partridge’s mother, Donna Plugge of Elba, Nebraska, said she wasn’t surprised her son made the transition from bull rider to rodeo announcer.

“He’s been into rodeo since he used to go out to some people we knew,” she said. “He got the bug real early.” Partridge doesn’t consider rodeo announcing a pastime. “I want to put a lot into it,” he said. “I wanted to study it.” He puts in a few hours before each rodeo, researching statistics on standings and previous success of stock.

 

Blaine's love for rodeo began in central Nebraska as a creative 8 year old, holding rodeos in his backyard, using his brothers for contestants and awarding handmade cardboard belt buckles as prizes.  From there, Blaine continued into the rodeo scene as a contestant in bare back, bull riding, and steer wrestling.  Announcing rodeos became another way he could be involved, utilizing his “gift of gab.”  Blaine  became a member of the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association in 2007. 

 

Some of Blaine’s achievements include: two time Mid-States Rodeo Announcer of the year, 1994 North American Rodeo Commission World Finals Rodeo in El Paso, Texas, 1988 New Mexico Rodeo Association Finals, 1987 Southwest Pro-Rodeo Association Finals in Chandler, Arizona, 2010 World Champion Announcer for Miniature Bucking Bull World Finals.  

 

Blaine is the owner of Blaine Partridge Auctioneers and Investment Recovery Specialists. He is also the owner and founder of Nebraska Rodeo Notables Museum and Hall of Champions located in Dannebrog, Nebraska.  It features everyone that has qualified for the National Finals Rodeo since 1959 from Nebraska and anyone that has been instrumental in Nebraska Rodeo, from queens, to contestants, to announcers.