Hadly Barrett to announce Nebraska's Big Rodeo
By KRIS WILLIAMSHub Regional Correspondent
KERSEY, Co.-Rodeo fans most likely know the name Hadley Barrett. The famous announcer has been entertaining fans for decades. In addition to his ringside announcing, Barrett was also a contestant, television and radio personality and singer/guitar player in his own band.
Barrett is back again this year to announce Nebraska’s Big Rodeo in Burwell July 24-26.
“Like anybody from Nebraska that’s interested in rodeo, I grew up with stars in my eyes about Burwell,” he said in a phone interview with the Hub.
Barrett was raised in the North Platte area. “I always dreamed of being involved in the Burwell rodeo,” he said.
Perhaps he’s best recognized for his one-of -a-kind voice. He has an extensive knowledge of rodeo and witty sense of humor. As a result, he became a combination rodeo sportscaster, master of ceremonies and standup entertainer.
Barrett said, “I want the people in the seats to feel that I’m talking directly to them. I try to carry on a one-sided conversation with the audience, but I get their side of it by their reaction.”
His singing salute to the American Flag, performed at many rodeos, is also one of his trademarks.
He was the announcer in Cheyenne the day bull rider Lane Frost was killed and Barrett played himself in the movie “8 Seconds” about Frost’s life.
For several years about a quarter century ago, Barrett did the announcing in Burwell and he and his band played for dances after the rodeos back then. A scheduling conflict kept him away for awhile.
“I had a good relationship with those people,” he said. That’s why he’s been back for the last six years. “When I stopped doing Cheyenne (Frontier Days) about 6-8 years ago, they were still interested in me,” he said.
In 1965, he joined the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association (PRCA) and became one of the country's premier rodeo announcers.
He has been selected as the PRCA announcer of the year several times. He is the only announcer to have been nominated for the award every year since its beginning in 1981.
In 1999, he became one of only five rodeo announcers to be inducted into the Pro Rodeo Hall of Fame in Colorado Springs.
Currently he is co-host of Beyond Rodeo of RFD television and did a feature on Nebraska’s Big Rodeo on his show last year.
“My image of a real rodeo was outdoors in the afternoon with Indians dancing, trick riders and chuck wagons,” he said. “Low and behold, Burwell is one of the few rodeos that still does that type of thing.”
“Burwell really has the image of family entertainment,” he said. “It’s not really a Wild West show, but the way rodeos were meant to be.”
Barrett still spends about 200 days out of the year on the road doing what he loves. He says his love for rodeo and what he does for a living are what keep him going every day.
His son still has the cattle ranch in North Platte and he lives on a ranch in Kersey, Colo. where he enjoys training horses and his wife Lee raises White Golden Retrievers.