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In Play with Craig Mattick: Marvin Garrett

South Dakota Hall of Fame

Marvin Garrett, a native of Belle Fourche, is a four-time world bareback champion, and a member of the Pro Rodeo Hall of Fame. Nicknamed 'Marvelous Marvin,' for many years, Garrett defined what rodeo was in South Dakota.

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Craig Mattick: Welcome to another edition of In Play. I'm Craig Mattick. Today's guest involved with one of the toughest sports of all: rodeo, specifically bareback riding. He's a Belle Fourche native, a four-time World Bareback Champion. He was the regular season money leader as well in the PRCA, four times he represented the USA at the Calgary Olympics in 1988. And he also came back after sustaining some severe injuries in the plane crash in 1988. He's in the Pro Rodeo Hall of Fame and also the South Dakota Sports Hall of Fame. By the way, his brother is in the Pro Rodeo Hall of Fame. He's Marvelous Marvin Garrett.

Marvin, welcome to In Play.

Marvin Garrett: Well thank you. Good to be with you.

Craig Mattick: All right. Where did the nickname come from? Who gets the credit for coming up with the Marvelous Marvin Garrett?

Marvin Garrett: Oh, man. I'd have to think on that. I think it comes from Duane Peters. He was a rodeo announcer back in the early '80s. And I want to say it comes from him. It could've been sparked by Bob Lowe also. I can't remember.

Craig Mattick: Well it's got a great ring to it, doesn't it?

Marvin Garrett: Yeah. I think Bob Lowe called me Chipmunk, I think.

Craig Mattick: Chipmunk or Marvelous. Yeah. You get to get your pick there, Marvin. You had a lot of success as a wrestler before you really got into rodeo. Talk about your wrestling career. You were pretty successful as a wrestler.

Marvin Garrett: Yeah. Wrestling was a big sport for me. I really took to it and really loved doing it. And worked hard at it. And we were in Wyoming when I wrestled, and so I wrestled for Hulett but yeah, went a long ways with that. And had the scholarships to Dan Gable School out there in Iowa. I didn't go. I wished it could've been different. I'd have loved to do it because I really was just about as passionate at wrestling as I was rodeo. But rodeo just seemed to fit me a little bit better and I just couldn't get the broncs out of my mind. So that's the direction I took.

Craig Mattick: When did rodeo start catching your eye?

Marvin Garrett: Oh, at a very early age. I had a couple uncles that rodeo, Buck and Kenny Day. And I had several cousins rodeo, my older brother, and so I mean it was something that we played when we was kids. I remember back in as early as probably five, six years old, and played rodeo in the backyard. And as we got older and moved to Wyoming and on the ranch there, we put a bucking barrel up in an old horse barn that we had. And every year, we'd watch the test and telecasts in on TV. And back then, we only got three channels and that was one of them. We was pretty lucky to get that. We really enjoyed watching that.

Then when we were just, as soon as we was done watching it, we'd go down and emulate all them guys riding that we seen, on the bucking barrel. And yeah. Just childhood was, at that time, was just outstanding. And we didn't know no better. Whether it was 20 below or 15 above, we was on that bucking barrel every December pretending we was at the NFR riding barebacks and broncs and bulls.

Craig Mattick: You rode your first steer though at the age of 12. How did that come about?

Marvin Garrett: Well, steer riding was awful fun. What a great starter, you know? Get you involved with the competition and just we was pretty fortunate, we had a bunch of dads back there were ... we were on the ranch that had a roping club and they built an arena on the neighbor's place. And then they had some roping steers that they bought. And when they wasn't roping, we was riding them. And they was good with that, and they helped us out, and we had a ball.

Craig Mattick: What were the size of the steers at the time that you would ride?

Marvin Garrett: Oh, they were probably in the 6, 7 hundred range.

Craig Mattick: And a teenager riding the steers.

Marvin Garrett: Correct.

Craig Mattick: Did your mother know at the time?

Marvin Garrett: Oh yeah. Oh yeah.

Craig Mattick: Yeah. You got her blessing on it.

Marvin Garrett: Yeah. They were all gung-ho, you know.

Craig Mattick: Yeah. But-

Marvin Garrett: Started getting a little older and wanting to ride bulls and mom kind of put her foot down. When I turned 15, I was too old to ride steers and so I was going to ride bulls. But she didn't want me doing that. She said, "You pick one of the horse events." So I picked the wildest event I could and it was bareback riding. And that's kind of ... after I got started getting on bareback horses, fell in love with it, and wanted to perfect it the best way I could. And I spent the rest of my life career doing that, you know, just working hard to be better.

Craig Mattick: So how do you train though to ride bareback horses?

Marvin Garrett: There's a mechanic, a body mechanics of your body. It's kind of hard to maybe say it over the phone with people that maybe don't understand it. But you ride a bareback horse with a single handhold on a little rigging, that you strap on the horse's withers. And then in order to make a good ride, you have to have your shoulders behind your hips and you have to have your chin down, got to have kind of a curl in your upper body. And you got to be driving that power from your upper body to your feet. You got your hips pointed towards the neck, it's easy to get your feet to the neck, and that's where they need to be. But there's several different things about body mechanics that you got to have to make it all work. And there's times when it's real difficult depending on what horses you're getting on.

Craig Mattick: Comparing the mechanics of riding a bull compared to a bareback horse, on a bull it seems the cowboys are trying to sit up as much as possible. But on the bareback horse, you're kind of leaning back a lot more. Is that part of the technique?

Marvin Garrett: Right. Right. And it kind of helps you keep your hips on your rigging. So you're lifting that rigging to your nose, you're trying to. And you got to keep your shoulders behind your hip so your back hits and you can be back a little farther than that if you want to. But it takes several years of learning how to do that, to do it correctly. But in the bull riding, you kind of get off of your pockets and you get out over your bull. And so, if you can imagine like a teeter-totter, if you sit in the middle, there ain't a lot of movement to it, right?

Craig Mattick: Right.

Marvin Garrett: So, if you get out on the end and the guy jumps on the other side, it wants to lift you up out of there.

Craig Mattick: Trouble.

Marvin Garrett: So, in the bull riding, if you're back behind that little pendulum, then there's a lot of power there. So if you ride a bull up over his shoulders, per se, then you don't get as much power there.

Craig Mattick: So how much of the rodeo aspect of life was going on when you were in high school? I mean you were wrestling. Did you play any other sports? Or was rodeo one of those where it was a year-round commitment?

Marvin Garrett: Well, you know, when we were in high school, we naturally of course went to all the high school rodeos in Wyoming. I really want to credit Wyoming too for, when you're in high school rodeo in Wyoming, you can go to these rodeos and you can actually win money. I think we went 18 or 21 of them rodeos and you'd win, for winning first or second you'd win anywhere from 150, 250 bucks. And so, for a kid at that age, back in the 1981 or '80, that was pretty good little money for a guy to rodeo in the summertime and make some money. And wintertime, you know, we didn't do a lot of riding then. But we did a lot of fur trapping and hunting.

Craig Mattick: Yeah.

Marvin Garrett: And we sold a lot of raccoon skins and made money that way in the wintertime. And that was really, really fun back then. And it was really something you could do to make money, you know?

Craig Mattick: When did you decide that you wanted to go on the Pro Rodeo circuit?

Marvin Garrett: Well, I dreamed of going to the NFR as early as back when I was watching on TV, you know? I was 7, 8, 9, 10 years old. But when it really became a reality that I could do it, was probably when I won runner-up in the NRCA and then I won the championship 1982, I believe. And then in 1983, I got my permit and I didn't go to an amateur rodeo after that. I just went to Pro Rodeos and filled my card at Deadwood. And I think I went to eight rodeos and filled my permit.

Craig Mattick: Rookie of the Year your first year.

Marvin Garrett: Yeah. Then the next year, I bought my card. And then won Rookie of the Year that year.

Craig Mattick: Wow. Wow. Did you have a coach at all? How did you know you were going to get better?

Marvin Garrett: Just the will. And it's one of them deals where you see the guys that are winning and you see what they're doing and you critique that. And then you put your own twist on it. And the more you do that, the more confidence you get. And when you get your confidence, what you're doing is all. Because when you spur a horse out and you build your ride, it holds that horse down, I don't care what he's doing, if he's real fast or real got a lot of moves or whatever. You can slow that animal down, pick him up, and when you start feeling like you got that confidence. And back then I remember thinking, man I don't think that anything could throw me off.

And then, of course, I had a lot of mentors back then. Like Lonnie Hall, you know, he was encouraging me to go. And eventually in '83, I went with Lonnie Hall. I traveled with Larry Hamilton, a good friend of mine, passed away here a while back. But he was a real good friend. And we rodeoed together in '83 and part of '84. And then I got in with Lonnie Hall and Lonnie was at the end of his career. And he said, "You need to get in with somebody that's going to try to go to the Finals." So he hooked me up with the guy out in Idaho named of Mickey Young. Had one runner-up to the World Championship. And was a heck of a bareback rider. So I met him and got in with him and finished my rookie year out with him. And he was a great friend and we rodeoed together for just a little over four years together.

Craig Mattick: During the season, how much travel was involved? And who did you travel with? Were there a lot of other cowboys that would, you'd all travel together? How did that work out?

Marvin Garrett: Oh, yeah. Back then, you'd get in a van or car. Most of the time I couldn't wait to get a van because I was sick of riding in a car with four, five guys, you know? So the first year I remember when we made the Finals in '86, come home ... well actually it was right before I went to the Finals I got a van. A guy that owned Clean City Motors back then sponsored me and gave me a pretty good deal on a van. And so we took that and rodeoed with that. And then I made the Finals in '86 and was set to make the Finals in '85, but I broke my leg real bad in Hugo, Oklahoma.

And I was in the top 10 at that time, and then that put me out and it took me all the rest of the year to heal up. Then I come back in '86 and we made the Finals, traveling with Mickey Young in '87 and '88. '88, I think he was about ready to hang her up. So then I got in with Wayne Herman from North Dakota. Real good cowboy and real good bareback rider, one of the best there ever been. And we rodeoed together for about four years. And then my brother got in. I kept trying to get my brother to go with me. And he was rodeoing amateur back home. And he finally got enough, I don't know what you call it. He was doing so good where he was at, he didn't know why he needed to leave, you know? But I finally convinced him and he went with us. And then he eventually made the Finals in '89 and several times after that.

Craig Mattick: Yep. And he's in the Pro Rodeo Hall of Fame as well.

Marvin Garrett: We rodeoed together from that point on. Me and Mark and then Larry Sandvick, and Ken Lensegrav, Merle Temple.

Craig Mattick: Those some great names.

Marvin Garrett: Yeah. It was a bunch of good ones. And the best year, I'm maybe jumping the gun on the interview, but just think of them guys, you know, the best year that I ever had rodeoing was when Mark won the World and in 1996, and Kenny won second, and I won third, and Larry ended up fourth, or five. So the reason I say that is there's not very often you can take four guys, stick them in an outfit, and finish in the top five of the World. You know because every day you compete, you're competing against those guys that are in your van. Because you're at the same rodeos.

Craig Mattick: Marvin, 1988, you represented America at the Olympics in Calgary. What was that experience like?

Marvin Garrett: Oh, that was just about as neat as it could be. I always dreamed of going to the Olympics and wrestling, you know? And when I realized that wasn't going to happen, I forgot about it pretty quick. But when the opportunity to go to the Olympics there in Calgary came up for the rodeo deal, man, it was just about as good as winning the World Saddle to me. It was pretty neat. Then to be up there and compete, be in the same place as all the skiers and the downhills, that just the skaters, the hockey players, and it was just one big neat deal. Everybody respected each everybody. I thought that rodeo would be kind of looked down upon there. But man, it was a big deal and the stands were full every night.

There was a lot of intermingling with the different Olympic contestants. I actually traded a team coat with a guy from France. He was a three-time downhill skier world champ. And his name was Eric Laboureix. And he was sittin' in a table by us and he was ... of course, I couldn't understand him. But he came over and we kind of figured out what each other was talking about. And he just was really excited about the rodeo. And he had a big old coat on and it had his team and stuff on it and medals and stuff and little pins I guess, not medals. But he wanted to trade me coats. And I had my team jacket on, it was a denim coat, just said USA.

Craig Mattick: You gave it to him.

Marvin Garrett: So I said, "Heck yeah." So I swapped him coats and I felt like I kind of got him, so I gave a cowboy hat. And he wore that cowboy hat everywhere he went.

Craig Mattick: Do you still have the coat?

Marvin Garrett: It was pretty cool. Oh, I do. I just found it the other day. It's pretty neat.

Craig Mattick: Over seven years, you would win the World Bareback title four times. Leading money leader four times. There was a time you didn't get bucked off a horse for six years.

Marvin Garrett: Right.

Craig Mattick: How confident were you getting on a horse during a rodeo event knowing that you were going to ride that horse?

Marvin Garrett: You know, I teach a lot of bareback riding and coaching up here and try and help them youngsters out and stuff. But there is a will to win and there's just a will to not give up. And I always want to be able to ride and win on anything that they run in the shoot. Whether it was the rankest horse that nobody wanted or the sorriest to ride horse nobody wanted, I felt like I could get on it and I could win on it. And with the group that I traveled with, that was kind of the way we thought. And we won a lot of money on horses that guys didn't win on.

And just that confidence is a big deal. It can just add to your list of horses that I can't think of at the time the horses that were around that I dreaded. Matter of fact, I chased one all the way from Spanish Fort ... it wasn't Spanish Fort, it was St. George, Utah. It was at a match. There's a big gray horse called Big Chill. Both of them horses that I mentioned right there were probably the rankest horses of their day.

And I ended up get half dropped at a short round in Saskatchewan. And when I called back, it was going to be tough for us to make it. And secretary there, the guy that kind of headed up the bareback directorship, he was on the phone with me, "Marv, you ain't going to want to come anyway." Man that horse bucks and he is rank and he can drop, he's got everything. He's got some moves, he walks on his front. Tremendous power. And I said, "I'll tell you what. The plane we're in won't get us there in time. But the guy that was putting on a rodeo where I was at, at St. George had a Learjet and he said we could use it."

Craig Mattick: Oh nice.

Marvin Garrett: Which costed us quite a bit. Costed us 1,500 bucks a piece and there was four of us going. And so I called that Jim Dunn back and I said, "Tell you what, if you can move that bareback ride to the second event, we'll be there."

Craig Mattick: And he did.

Marvin Garrett: And they did. And we got in that plane and we jetted up there and I ended up winning the short round on him. And I won the rodeo, but I only won a little over 1,800 bucks, and it cost me 1,500 bucks to get the job done.

Craig Mattick: Yeah. But it was well worth it, wasn't it?

Marvin Garrett: So, I always tell that story because in my mind, I won, that was a big payday for me. Because I had proved a point, I had proved it to myself, I proved it to people that didn't think I could do it. And walked away there plum happier than heck to make a couple hundred bucks.

Craig Mattick: Injuries play a major part in the sport of rodeo. What were the most serious injuries you sustained while in rodeo and how did you overcome them?

Marvin Garrett: Oh man, there's lots of times. I have a good wife.

Craig Mattick: To take care of you.

Marvin Garrett: Oh, man. She takes care of me. And all those tough times, that comes in handy to have family back you. I've had broken bones, broken legs, and it's all disappointing and it'll hold you back. And you think, man, I need to be out there. But a guy has to find a little bit of peace in where you're at. And thank God that I was able to find it and it's through Him that I found it. But you just got to take the time to heal up and you come back stronger.

But from legs, to arms, to shoulders, to sternum, to lower abdominal. Lower abdominals, do not ever want anybody to have to go through that. That's terrible. That takes a long time to heal up. That takes about seven months. We started back at five and it's too early, but we did it anyway. And it's dang sure tough.

Craig Mattick: Maybe the toughest experience you had, 1988. Flying with your brother and two other cowboys to compete in California and your plane crash. It did kill the pilot. What do you remember from that event? And what do you think about it still today?

Marvin Garrett: Well, that was definitely the worst thing that ever happened to us. And for the first and foremost, we lost our good friend, Johnny Morris in that plane. And man, it's been a long time, probably 20 some years, I still get choked up about it.

Craig Mattick: The story was that your brother Mark was the one that pulled you guys out of the wreckage. And probably saved your life.

Marvin Garrett: Yeah. Mark saved, yeah. Mark was the one that was in the far back and everybody of course had broken backs and pelvises and arms. And it's just miracle I would say. I know Johnny had all confidence like we did riding. Johnny was actually a World Champion old-timers bareback riding champ in I think '93. And he had rode bareback all of his life and then was a heck of a pilot. But we ended up having to rent a plane and it had fuel leak that we didn't know about. And that's what happened to that plane was we run out of fuel.

Craig Mattick: You broke your back, you broke an arm in the crash. Was there a time after that crash you thought maybe rodeo was done? That you weren't going to go anymore?

Marvin Garrett: Well, I tell you, I spent a lot of time in a day for weeks, they had me on morphine and I broke my back, had a leak in my spinal cord. They didn't think I'd be able to walk. And I just laid there still as I could, you know. They kept me as still as they could, I was in there for 14 days. They finally fixed my arm. Had a real bad break in my arm and nerve damage. And then the broken back. Had a real good doctor out there. He put me together pretty good. And when I finally could kind of come to and knew what was going on, I knew that if I could walk, I could ride bucking horses. And that's what my train of thought was through all that.

Craig Mattick: Oh, my.

Marvin Garrett: And there was lots of down times once we got out of there and got back home. I remember my father-in-law, Larry, he brung his RV out there and brung us all home when it was all done. I know Johnny passed away out there and just real tough time for all of us. But like I said, Mark made it all happen, he got everybody out. If there was anybody going to be saved, he had a mountain and was ready to roll, you know.

Craig Mattick: What was that first time on a horse after the airplane accident, what was that like, what you were going through?

Marvin Garrett: I had a colt at Denver, when I finally did crack out. Me and Mark went down there and Kenny and Larry and had a yellow horse, a little colt and turn back and was pretty fun. I rode him pretty good. And I remember Mark was out there hollering at me and whistle blows, then that horse takes off down the wall and Mark was right in front of me. I could see Mark right in front of the horse, he was running, trying to get out of the way. It about smoked him. But anyway, he jumped to the side, the horse went by, and got off. But yeah, it was all a big deal. That was the really, really big deal that I was back out there again, you know?

Craig Mattick: Yeah. Two years after the plane crash, you qualify for your 12th and final time at the National Finals Rodeo. You're about, what, 37 at that time?

Marvin Garrett: Yeah.

Craig Mattick: About 37 years old. 16 years in Pro Rodeo. Did you know that that was going to be your last attempt for the NFR?

Marvin Garrett: Yeah. I knew it would. I knew one reason I wanted to go back there was because I didn't want to be always say that, well I broke my back so I never got to go back. So, my big deal was getting back to the NFR and then quitting when I wanted to quit. And I never really wanted to quit, ever. There was a time-

Craig Mattick: Well you were still barebacking when you were 43 still.

Marvin Garrett: Oh, yeah. I think I got on my last one when I was 45. But I never did try to go back to the Finals after 2000, I just ... that rodeo's hard enough. My son Weston was going to be coming up and have his card, so I wanted to go with him, and so I stayed busy. Just stayed in rodeo shape, so when he was ready to go, I was ready to go with him. And that worked out. I got to rodeo with Weston a couple years. And the first year it was his rookie year, and-

Craig Mattick: We're talking about your son Weston here. Yes.

Marvin Garrett: Yeah. Yeah. Went to Fort Worth and he ends up breaking his femur.

Craig Mattick: Oh jeez.

Marvin Garrett: Getting off a horse down there.

Craig Mattick: Oh.

Marvin Garrett: And so, I thought well, he's got to go home and heal up and I might as well keep rodeoing, stay in shape because he's going to be ready to go next year. So I just stayed at it, I think I went to probably 50 rodeos that year. Had a lot of fun anyway because I was rodeoing with Larry and some good friends that I'd rodeoed all through my career with. And then at the same time, I just took it like I was not really pushing to go to the Finals. I was just riding to stay in shape and have fun. And love riding bucking horses and that's what I did. And then when Weston healed up, Weston and me and Dustin Looper, we took off and rodeoed for a couple years and had a lot of fun.

Craig Mattick: That's great. That is great. You know what? And your brother, Mark, was with you a long time as well, on the Pro Rodeo circuit. What was that like, being with your brother, even though he beat you a few times? What was it like having Mark with you?

Marvin Garrett: Oh, it was outstanding. Yeah. Just the amount of support each of had for each other and the help that each other gives each other. I mean it wasn't all took very hard, there was no ... we have a really good relationship and he's always been there for me and I've always been there for him. He's been big part of my life.

Craig Mattick: And how great was it he went into the Pro Rodeo Hall of Fame as well? He had to go in, with you going in, right?

Marvin Garrett: Well, another thing I might add is just having him win a World title, I always say that's my fifth one, he got it.

Craig Mattick: You know, you won six bareback titles at the Black Hills Roundup in your hometown of Belle Fourche. Did you have that hometown advantage at that time?

Marvin Garrett: You know, I must've drawed awful good there. Every time I think about Belle Fourche, I think I probably drawed real good. It made me hard to beat there. There's a couple times that ... I think one time they had a big Kesler, Hank bought a Kesler horse from Greg Kesler, the big stud. And I remember that horse, I had to double grab on that horse to ride out of there. He had me upside down. I didn't do so good that day.

Craig Mattick: Well, you lived near Rozet, Wyoming. It's near Gillette. You've got a couple of daughters, you got your son, Weston. It is a rodeo family. What is keeping you busy today, Marvin?

Marvin Garrett: Well, today I worked at a coal mine about 20 minutes from the house here. And we got a little cow calf operation and I run a bunch of bucking horses. And that kind of keeps me busy. I do the college coach. I'm the coach for the rough stock part of the college rodeo team.

Craig Mattick: For which college?

Marvin Garrett: Gillette College.

Craig Mattick: Okay.

Marvin Garrett: Community college.

Craig Mattick: Gotcha. But you're also a coal miner?

Marvin Garrett: Yeah. Yeah. Drive them big rigs and loaders and scrapers. You know, that's something that's never appealed to me. Ain't something I set out to do. But when I got done rodeoing. And there's a whole nother part of my life as far as the rough stock series that we had for 10 years that was going pretty good, but fell through. When I quit doing that, I needed to do something. And I thought well, heck, had a cousin, Dave, he worked over here at the power plant. And he said, "Marv, you ought to put in over there. I'll give you, I'll call them, tell them you're going to be putting in."

So I went over there. I didn't think much of it, met with the manager. And he was a big rodeo fan and he hired me. And I thought, man, so I'm going to have to learn all this stuff I don't ... but I can learn. But anyway, learn I did. Had a lot of good people at that mine that helped me out on different pieces of equipment. And it became really pretty interesting and I was very thankful for the opportunity to be able to make a decent living there. And at the same time be kind of driven and pushed to get better at each piece of equipment. So I mean it kind of tied in with rodeo deal just a little bit.

Craig Mattick: Wow.

Marvin Garrett: And it's been quite fun.

Craig Mattick: Marv, I've got a couple more questions for you. You know, your mom never wanted you to ride a bull. Did you ever get a chance to ride one?

Marvin Garrett: I did. I think the number is about 15 or 16 bulls I've rode. I think I got throwed off of two of them and they were both NFR bulls. But yeah. I rode a few bulls and it was fun and I still, even when I was doing it, I can't remember the last one I got one was probably Kaycee, Wyoming. That would've been maybe late '80s, early '90s. Was probably the last time I rode a bull. But a whole lot of fun, but I never did feel the passion to do it for a living. And to add it to what I was doing. I wanted to kind of stick with the bareback riding. It's way easier to get traveling partners in one event and stay hooked than be bouncing around. Like Ty Murray, he was in all them events. I don't know how he did it. That in itself, he should be able to get an award for, just for doing it.

Craig Mattick: Well, when you decided to ride the bull, you told your mom, "Don't worry, I'll be okay," right?

Marvin Garrett: Right. Yeah.

Craig Mattick: You assured her that you would be just fine, right? When you take a look back at your career, is there still one event that you keep remembering? Whether you won or whether you lost, was there one event that still comes into the back of your mind with the great career that you had?

Marvin Garrett: Oh, yeah. Yeah. You know, the first kind of ... there's so many of them, but I think about them rodeos still today. I got pictures on my wall. And the pictures I have on my wall aren't all the nice little horses that I got on, that I could make really good rides on. They were the horses that were hard to make good rides on. And them were the horses that I have on my wall. And every time I look at them, I remember the time at Reno when I won Reno on Big Chill. And how he circled how and how droppy he was and how you could feel your muscles tearing. And he was just he was rank.

And the time that, then there's one of high tap rail and at Houston. I ended up getting on that horse, seven times, and did quite well on him every time I got on him. And there's just them kind of horses that stand out. Khadafy was probably one of my favorite horses of all time. I got on that horse I think seven times. I won Belle Fourche on that horse twice. I won several, I don't know if I ... the only time I placed lower than first was at the NFR. I had that Khadafy and I think he ended up splitting third and fourth. But the time at Belle, the last time I had him at Belle, I was 90 points. It couldn't get any better than that. Being at your hometown rodeo and have the horse you want, be 90 points. That's pretty awesome.

Craig Mattick: Last one, Marvin. You're in the South Dakota Sports Hall of Fame. What does that mean to you?

Marvin Garrett: Well, I tell you, it's humbling. There's so many people that are in there that you just think, man, people dedicate their lives to a sport. And if they're lucky, they do real well at it. And if they're lucky, lucky, they get to be in the Hall of Fame, you know. There's so many good ones that may not be at the Hall of Fame. But I feel very privileged to be included in the Hall of Fame there in South Dakota. And all the hall of fames that I'm in, the Wyoming Hall of Fame, Sports Hall of Fame, naturally the Pro Rodeo Hall of Fame. All them things are just neat that and them deals are going to be there forever.

Craig Mattick: If you like what you're hearing, please give us a five-star review wherever you get your podcasts. Programs such as this are only possible with the continued support of our listeners, like you. For South Dakota Public Broadcasting, I'm Craig Mattick. Join is again on the next episode of In Play.

Nate Wek is currently the sports content producer and sports and rec beat reporter for South Dakota Public Broadcasting. He is a graduate of South Dakota State University with a Bachelor of Science degree in Journalism Broadcasting and a minor in Leadership. From 2010-2013 Nate was the Director of Gameday Media for the Sioux Falls Storm (Indoor Football League) football team. He also spent 2012 and 2013 as the News and Sports Director of KSDJ Radio in Brookings, SD. Nate, his wife Sarah, and two kids Braxan and Jordy, live in Canton, SD.