Jonnie Jonckowski

Last updated

Jonnie Jonckowski (born 1954), born Lynn Jonckowski, is a 1991 National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame inductee. Jonckowski is a two-time Women's Nationals Finals Rodeo (WNFR) Bull Riding Champion in 1986 and 1988. [1] [2]

Contents

Life

Lynn Jonckowski was born in 1954 in Billings, Montana. [2] Jonckowski was always an athlete. At first, she thought bull riding was something to do for fun. She turned professional when she realized it gave her the challenge she wanted. [1]

Career

In 1976, Jonckowski had Olympic hopes but she was injured. She had to find a new path. Professional bull riding filled that role, and it was challenging enough. Ten years later in 1986, she won a women's bull riding title. The win came at Guthrie, Oklahoma, where she competed on a large brindle bull named B12. The previous day she had just had a bull fall on her. The bull had seriously crushed her leg. Since she could not walk, they lifted her onto B12. She endured the agonizing pain, sprang out of the chute, and rode as she always did, like a champ. [3]

Jonckowski's unending pursuit for the inclusion of women in roughstock events broke many barriers. In the Pendleton Round-Up, she was the first woman to ride since Bonnie McCarroll last rode in 1929. At Cheyenne Frontier Days, she was the first women to ride there since Alice Greenough in 1940. Although Jonckowski endured many hardships, her determination got her a place in the 1991 and 1993 Men's World Bull Riding Championship. She was the first women in that event. She also made many more advances for women. [3]

Jonckowski persisted in bull riding, winning the WNFR in 1986 and 1988. She convinced officials at Cheyenne Frontier Days in Cheyenne, Wyoming, to hold women's bull riding in 1988. This followed a 52-year absence of women on roughstock. She also convinced other rodeos to follow. [2] [3] Jonckowski overcame many obstacles to get those championships, and she forged a path for the women who followed her. Subsequently, many more arenas opened their doors to women regarding roughstock first time since the 1930s. [1]

Jonckowski also participated in the third season of American Gladiators , competing in the first half of the season. She advanced all the way to the semifinals, ultimately bowing out to eventual first-half women's winner (and eventual season runner-up) Kimberly Lentz. [4]

Retirement from rodeo

Jonckowski retired from rodeo to assist her father in caring for her mother who was suffering with Alzheimer's. After her mother died, Jonckowski became a physical therapist. Using her dog and her Paint pony as therapy with the patients eventually got her fired. The patients only wanted Jonnie as their therapist. A visit at her home from a mother and her daughter who wanted to pet her pony ultimately led to the creation of Angel Horses. The animals are rescues who are service animals. [5]

Honors

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lane Frost</span> American bull rider (1963–1989)

Lane Clyde Frost was an American professional rodeo cowboy who specialized in bull riding, and competed in the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association (PRCA). He was the 1987 PRCA World Champion bull rider. Frost was also the only rider ever to score a qualified ride on Red Rock, the 1987 PRCA Bucking Bull of the Year. During a ride in 1989 nicknamed "The Last Ride", Lane sustained fatal injuries when the bull Takin' Care of Business struck Frost with his right horn. He was pronounced dead at a local hospital.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame</span> Hall of Fame for Cowgirls

The National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame is located in Fort Worth, Texas, US. Established in 1975, it is dedicated to honoring women of the American West who have displayed extraordinary courage and pioneering fortitude. The museum is an educational resource with exhibits, a research library, and rare photography collection. It adds Honorees to its Hall of Fame annually.

Jan Youren is an American former professional rodeo cowgirl. She rode bareback horses and bulls, competing for 51 years and winning several world titles. She rodeoed until the age of 63, when she retired with five world championships in bareback bronc riding, 13 reserve championships in bareback, and 15 reserve championships in bull riding. She was inducted into the Cowgirl Hall of Fame in 1993. She was inducted into the Idaho Rodeo Hall of Fame in 2015.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ty Murray</span> American rodeo cowboy

Ty Monroe Murray, is an American nine-time World Champion professional rodeo cowboy. He was one of the top rodeo contestants in the world from the late 1980s to early 2000s. He is one of the co-founders and a board adviser of the Professional Bull Riders (PBR). From 2005 to 2020, he was also a regular color commentator for several televised PBR events.

Anna Lee Aldred was an American jockey and trick rider in rodeos. She was the first woman in the United States to receive a jockey's license. She pursued her professional horse racing career from 1939 to 1945, winning many races at state and county fairs. She then pursued a second career as a trick rider from 1945 to 1950. She was inducted into the National Cowgirl Hall of Fame in 1983 and the Colorado Women's Hall of Fame in 2004.

History of rodeo tracks the lineage of modern Western rodeo.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fannie Sperry Steele</span> American rodeo cowgirl

Fannie Sperry Steele, born Fannie Sperry, was an American bronc rider and rodeo performer from Montana. She was one of the first women inducted into the Rodeo Hall of Fame of the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum in 1975, and the first Montana native in the National Cowgirl Hall of Fame in 1978.

Sherry Cervi, is an American professional cowgirl who has won four world titles in barrel racing. Cervi won the barrel racing title at the National Finals Rodeo (NFR) in 1995, 1999, 2010, and 2013. She was inducted into the National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame in 2018.

Jeanette Katherine Worthington, known as Jackie Worthington, was an American Cowgirl and founding member and former president of the Girls Rodeo Association, now the Women's Professional Rodeo Association (WPRA).

Mary Walker is an American former professional rodeo cowgirl who specialized in barrel racing. She won the Women's Professional Rodeo Association barrel racing world championship in 2012. Despite several traumatic events in the two preceding years, she persevered. She also became the oldest woman, at 53, in rodeo to win a world championship in the barrel racing event at the National Finals Rodeo. She was later surpassed by Mary Burger in 2016 when Burger won at age 68. She lost her only child to a car accident in 2011. Two months later, Latte, her horse, fell on her during competition and severely injured her. It was about a year and a half after these incidents that she won her world title. Walker was inducted into the National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame in 2013.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wanda Harper Bush</span> American barrel racer (b. 1931)

Wanda Harper Bush was an American professional rodeo cowgirl. She competed in the Girl's Rodeo Association (GRA), now known as the Women's Professional Rodeo Association (WPRA), and won two barrel racing world championships, in 1952 and 1953. She was inducted into the National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame in 1978 and the ProRodeo Hall of Fame in 2017. The August 2017 induction ceremony was ProRodeo's 38th annual event, and marked the first time in the event's history that the class of inductees included barrel racers from the Women's Professional Rodeo Association (WPRA).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pat North Ommert</span> Trick riders

Pat North Ommert, in Bell, California, is a skilled rodeo trick rider. She performed as a stunt double in numerous films and toured the world with the Wild West shows through the 1940s and 60s.

Hailey Kinsel, is a four-time World Barrel Racing Champion. Kinsel won the title in 2018, 2019, 2020, and 2022 at the National Finals Rodeo. She has also won the NFR Average title once in 2020. Kinsel and her horses have qualified for the NFR six times in her years in professional rodeo, in 2017 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, and 2022. Kinsel has been competing in rodeo since adolescence, winning awards through high school and college in both barrel racing and breakaway roping, as well as professional rodeo. Her horse, Sister, won the Barrel Racing Horse of the Year Award in 2018.

Prairie Rose Henderson, was considered the first female to do bronc riding and recognized as one of the first female professional athletes. In 2008, she was inducted into the Cowgirl Hall of Fame.

Mabel Strickland Woodward is a hall of fame rodeo performer who competed in several events and who was inducted into several halls of fame.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tad Lucas</span> American trick rider

Tad Lucas is a ProRodeo Hall of Fame cowgirl inductee.

Margie Greenough Henson was a 1978 National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame inductee.

Connie Griffith is a 2004 National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame inductee. Griffith was known for her trick riding ability.

Bobby Brooks Kramer, was a hall of fame equestrian and rodeo performer. She was one of the earliest bronc riders who competed for money. She had a successful rodeo career. After that, she and her husband formed the Diamond A Horse Ranch. She won many awards and trophies in cutting, trail, reining, and pleasure riding. She was inducted into the National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame in 2000.

Alice Greenough Orr, was an internationally known rodeo performer and rodeo organizer who was inducted into the Rodeo Hall of Fame, the National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame, and the Montana Cowboy Hall of Fame. She has been described as "hands down the first rodeo queen."

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "Jonnie Jonckowski". Cowgirl Hall of Fame & Museum. Retrieved October 26, 2019.
  2. 1 2 3 "Jonnie, Champion Bullrider". Lynda Lanker. Retrieved October 26, 2019.
  3. 1 2 3 "Remarkable Rodeo Women". Distinctly Montana Magazine. June 15, 2017. Retrieved October 26, 2019.
  4. "An Incredible Performance in Event Swingshot! | American Gladiators | Full Episode | S03E10". YouTube . July 22, 2022.
  5. "On the Healing Power of Four Legs". Jonnie Jonckowski’s Angel Horses. Retrieved October 26, 2019.
  6. "Montana Pro Rodeo Hall and Wall of Fame in Billings, MT". www.montanaprorodeo.org. Retrieved October 26, 2019.