Pendleton Round-Up: Pendleton, Oregon
Football is second-best at the Pendleton Round-Up, one of the world's most famous rodeo venues. It's perhaps the nation's most unique combination-style venue.
Photo courtesy of Debbi Green
The
Pendleton (Ore.) football team has the unique experience of playing its home games in the arena of one of the top rodeos in the world. It seats 17,000 and traces its history to 1910. The Round-Up Association rents the field to the school, which is just one-half mile away if one takes the foot bridge over the river instead of driving.
Rodeo week annually swells the town's population from 15,000 to at least 50,000. Football players often are awed when they picture all the great cowboys who have performed on the same field. It's no wonder the team is nicknamed the Buckaroos.
Home fans are seated in the south grandstand, while visitors are seated over the bucking chutes. Some believe the latter seats are the best in the house.
Dust is not a major problem, according to Pendleton athletic secretary Anita Lewis, because the Round-Up is one of the select rodeo sites with a grass infield.
A unique home-field advantage, coupled with a steady run of talent, enabled coach Don Requa to win 301 games - No. 5 in state history - from 1951-1986, and carve out a niche in the Oregon Hall of Fame.
More photos of the Pendleton Round-Up
