‘Pretty much total shock’: Darrell Damen honoured for decades of rodeo service

By Melissa Crispin-Piche Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Darrell Damen thought he was watching someone else receive an award. When he arrived at the Canadian Professional Rodeo Association’s Night of Champions in Edmonton during Canadian Finals Rodeo Week, the long-time Strathmore Stampede volunteer understood that his friend and mentor, Don Johansen, would be recognized.

Instead, Damen heard his own name called as the CPRA’s Committee Person of the Year. “Pretty much total shock,” said Damen on how he felt when he realized it was he who was getting the award. “It’s definitely an honour.”

The national honour recognizes the dedication and leadership of people working behind the scenes in professional rodeo. For Damen, whose involvement with the Strathmore Stampede spans more than three decades, it was unexpected recognition for work he enjoys.

Damen’s introduction to rodeo work came while he was still in high school. Around Grade 11, (1980-1981) he began helping his high school teacher Gordon Prusky with paperwork and organizing high school rodeo.

He found his place on the working side of the arena, taking on the jobs that help keep an event moving. Over the years, those responsibilities have included working the bucking chute gates, managing the centre gate and stepping into whatever role needed filling.

One assignment remains particularly memorable. When Strathmore moved from amateur to professional rodeo, Damen was handed a rope and told he would be pulling gates.

There was little time to learn. 

“It was do it right or get run over,” he said.

Today, Damen serves as the Stampede’s Volunteer Arena Dirt Manager. The title covers ground preparation, but his responsibilities also reach into equipment maintenance and other work around the grounds.

During the rodeo, he relies on a crew with professional experience working the dirt. Throughout the rest of the year, he helps maintain the ground and keep it in the best condition possible.

At Strathmore that work comes with a particular challenge: rodeo competitors and chuckwagon racers share the arena, but their ideal footing differs.

“But you can’t, unfortunately, you can’t have perfect ground for both,” Damen said.

Scheduling helps bridge the gap. Barrel racing runs first in the rodeo performance when the ground has been prepared for those competitors. By the time the chuckwagons run later in the evening the surface has firmed up.

Changes to the arena have helped, too. As part of an expansion undertaken when the suites were built, the chutes were moved back about 30 feet. Damen said the additional space helped keep barrel racers off the harder racetrack surface and gave team ropers more room to make their turns. He said there is still work to be done to make it as close to perfect as they can.

The work continues well beyond the Stampede’s four days. Planning for the next year begins before the current event has even finished. Afterward, committee members take a month to record concerns and ideas before returning to regular planning.

Damen credits the people around him for helping him learn along the way. Johansen, in particular, has been a steady source of advice, including over the past decade or so as they have worked together.

His involvement also extends to the High School Rodeo and Rodeo School at the Strathmore agricultural grounds. Along with helping young competitors develop their skills, Damen sees those events as places where lasting friendships begin.

The people competing against one another become a community, he said, supporting fellow athletes and carrying those connections through their lives.

That connection has become a family affair for Damen. His sons, Travis, J.D. and Tyson, have all been involved in rodeo in one way or another. Watching them find their own place in the sport is now among his biggest reasons for returning. 

“Well, it’s the love of the sport,” he said. He hopes his grandchildren might eventually follow those footsteps, too.

For all the attention brought by the award, Damen wanted to make sure the rodeo committee and fellow volunteers received credit. Their support, he said, made the recognition possible.

And there is still work ahead. Each year brings another set of improvements to consider, another rodeo to prepare and another chance to hear what fans think as they leave the grounds.

For Damen that means continuing the work that brought him to the arena in the first place.