The rodeo way of life was on full display Saturday night as several individuals were honored at the Dublin Rodeo Heritage Association Annual Honoree Dinner.
The event was held at Rancho Viejo and serves as the Dublin Rodeo Heritage Museum’s largest fundraiser. More than $3,000 was raised through ticket sales, auction items and raffle drawings.
Teresa Burleson and Miss Devon Dawson entertained event goers with country music and some yodeling lessons while a catfish dinner was served.
Johnny Wayne Hampton, Row Hampton and Living Legends JJ Hampton and Jim Sharp were honored as inductees.
Jim Sharp
Nicknamed ‘Razor’ Jim Sharp was introduced to rodeo at an early age. He climbed on his first calve at the age of 5, and a career and a legend were launched.
He entered his first rodeo in Pecos in 1974, and Sharp went on to win four bullriding championships in the American Junior Rodeo Association and in 1984 he won the Texas High School Rodeo Association All Around Championship. In 1986 and 1987 he won bullriding titles in the National Intercollegiate Rodeo Association. It was here that his professional bullriding career was launched.
He qualified for the National Finals Rodeo in his first season and would go on to have seven consecutive qualifications and also win the 1986 Rookie of the Year in the bullriding and the all around. In 1988, Sharp became the first person to ride all 10 bulls at the NFR, win his first of three NFR Bullriding titles, and win his first of two gold buckles for the World Championship.
In 1992 Sharp was one of the founding members of the Professional Bullriders where he qualified for seven PBR World Finals. He was inducted into the Professional Rodeo Cowboy Hall of Fame in 2006 and inducted into the Professional Bullriding Hall of Fame in 2016.
“It is my pleasure and the Dublin Rodeo Heritage Association’s privilege to induct Jim Sharp into the Dublin Rodeo Living Legends,” Museum Board Secretary and organizer Rick Taylor said at the event.
JJ Hampton
JJ Hampton comes from a rodeo family, her father Johnny Wayne Hampton, was a steer wrestler, calf roper and team roper.
“I grew a love for the sport. I always tried to go with them to pen cows and really they tried to leave me at home because I was such a pain in the butt and I always got in the way and something always happened when I was there with them. It was always funny for them but I would always beat them up and I’d make it outside and they had to take me,” Hampton said in an interview with the Cowboy Channel.
Her love of rodeo got started at the age of four when she entered the flag race at her first rodeo and her career took off from there. She grew up competing in junior rodeos in barrel racing, goat tying and breakaway roping.
A roper for Tarleton State’s rodeo team, she was inducted to the university’s Rodeo Hall of Fame in 2014. If one looks at Hampton’s career statistics there is no doubt of her love of all things rodeo and major talent.
Herprorodeocareerincludes 18 Women’s Professional Rodeo Association world championships and 25 national titles.
She has qualified to the biggest breakaway roping events around the U.S. including The American, the World Champions Rodeo Alliance (WCRA) events, Cheyenne Frontier Days open roping and the Days of ’47 Rodeo in Salt Lake City, a WCRA event.
She is also a member of the Texas Cowboy Hall of Fame, Texas Rodeo Cowboy Hall of Fame and the Cowboy Capital of Texas Walk of Fame.
She will be inducted into the National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame later this year.
Still active in the world of rodeo, she also owns JJ Hampton Realty in Stephenville.
“It is my pleasure and the Dublin Rodeo Heritage Association’s privilege to induct JJ Hampton into the Dublin Rodeo Living Legends,” Taylor said at the event.
Johnny Wayne Hampton Johnny Wayne Hampton was born in 1946 in Stephenville to Johnnie and Helen Hampton. He married Barbara Richardson in February 1964 in Stephenville. He loved his family and many friends, and loved rodeo events and children who were associated with rodeoing.
He embraced the very essence of being a cowboy and he never met a stranger.
He was a friend to many and always liked a good joke. He loved to help people learn about rodeo whether it was bull doggin’ or ropin’.
Following in his footsteps are his daughter, JJ, nephew Mary and grandson Kason, along with his son, the late Row Hampton.
Today he is memorialized by the annual Johnny Wayne Hampton Memorial Roping, which is coming up in a few weeks.
“Tonight we honor him and his family for helping to preserve the rodeo and cowboy legacy and heritage right here at home,” Taylor said.
Row Hampton
Row Hampton was born to Johnny Wayne and Barbara Hampton in July 1975. He graduated from Huckabay High School in 1994. He attended Vernon College on a rodeo scholarship. Row was a cowboy and he did things his own way on his own time.
He left this world in January 2019. He is survived by his mother Barbara, sisters Angie and JJ, brother Ricky Prince and nephews, Marty Yates and Kason Prince.
Row excelled in roping and he won the Texas High School Finals and also qualified several years later along with Trevor Brazile in the State Championship in team roping.
Row was known for helping people. He was there for everyone and he was an all around fun guy.
His name is still used in vain by his family when something is torn up or out of place.
“With that being said it is with extreme pleasure to be a part of along with the Hampton Family and everyone in this room to witness the induction into the Dublin Rodeo Heritage museum, Johnny Wayne Hampton and his son Row,” Taylor said.
Ava Colburn Service Awards Beverly Christina Gamble, a volunteer for the Dublin Rodeo Heritage Museum, received an Ava Colburn Service Award.
Barbara Hampton, who was not present to receive her award due to illness, also received an Ava Colburn Service Award.
“It’s a job being a rodeo wife, a mother and to be the kind of person that Barbara is,” Taylor said.
The award is named after Ava Colburn one of the rodeo’s biggest producers. During the company’s 30year history, she took an active part in producing rodeos all around the nation. The Colborns’ Lightning C Ranch near Dublin was the world’s only facility devoted to breeding and raising rodeo stock.
Tom Rogers Media Award Paul and Wyndi Gaudette, editors for The Dublin Citizen, both received the Tom Rogers Media Award from the Dublin Rodeo Heritage Association.
Tom Rogers was an Erath County historian whose parents were photographers of Dublin history during the long-ago Dublin Rodeo days.
“It’s folks like Tom and his parents that diligently worked and got involved with their community to maintain any and all historical facts and newsworthy events such as the Dublin Rodeo. And even today, in spite of the fact of the technology that surrounds our everyday lifestyle, newspapers still have a major impact on us, our history and the future. Either way the media is what keeps everything in the rodeo world going in one way or another,” said DRHA President Penny Corona. “It is our honor to present this award to Paul and Wyndi Gaudette with The Dublin Citizen.”