Jeff “Jackrabbit” Harris had to work Saturday night keeping the Monta de Toros rodeo crowd happy as they waited through random rainfall to watch bulls released into the ring. Fortunately he had decades of experience as a rodeo clown and the inspiration of a legend and friend to draw from.
The legend in question was four time PRCA Clown of the year Lecile Harris, dubbed the “Dean of Rodeo Clowns/ Bullfighters” and a regular feature on TV’s “Hee Haw.”
Jackrabbit dedicated his performance to Lecile at the Dublin City Park Arena Saturday, May 6 adopting some of the legend’s mannerisms and painting his face in the pattern for which Lecile was known.
Jackrabbit worked the crowd with ease, exchanging barbs with announcer Glenn Murray from Comanche, trading banter with the audience and keeping them well supplied in wife and mother-in-law jokes and sight gags during a magic-themed halftime performance. This was all in tribute to Lecile.
One of Jackrabbit’s earliest rodeo memories was going to an event with his parents where Lecile was working.
“I loved his act,” Jeff said.
Rodeo clowning remained an interest of Jackrabbit’s for years but it wasn’t until he was serving in the Navy that he realized how much he had learned about the craft.
Jeff was going through instructor basic training and was tasked with drawing up a poster board and presentation on a career he had never performed. He ably made a list of the requirements of the job.
“I had never done it but I knew what you needed to do,” he said.
In the final year of his 8-year enlistment (1994-- ‘95), he was stationed in Roosevelt Roads, Puerto Rico when a friend asked for assistance at a local rodeo.
Jeff asked if they had a clown and he got his chance to become the “first American Rodeo Clown bullfighter in Puerto Rico.”
He returned to America in March of 1995 and got involved in rodeo, riding PRCA bareback in New Jersey.
“After breaking my tail bone and sternum and having a bone missing the Aorta main blood vessel to the heart by a ¼ inch, I realized this bareback riding stuff wasn’t my cup of tea,” Jackrabbit said.
He still continued to help around the rodeo until he moved to Texas in 2001.
Jeff was working events at the Kowbell Arena in Mansfield when a friend told him there were too many bullfighters and that he should get a barrel and a cordless microphone.
Jeff found success, filling in at the Cowtown Colliseum and becoming a regular at Billy Bob’s Texas for five years following a successful audition. The career was put on a brief hiatus when he reenlisted, serving with the U.S. Navy Seabees. This decision was spurred by the loss of a friend, one of the last six found in the World Trade Center aftermath from the Sept. 11, 2001 attack.
Jeff was also “frustrated seeing kids coming back in body bags.”
“After returning from the war, it wasn’t very long until I was back in the arena protecting cowboys and entertaining the crowd,” Jeff said.
Two major events changed his life in 2015. The first was Lecile stepping into his life.
“In 2015, I went to the National Finals for the conference….Iwasdownstairs going back upstairs to the 7th floor, where my room was… The elevator doors open and there was Lecile Harris. I’m not one to get star-struck [but] I literally couldn’t move,” Jeff remembered.
“I couldn’t speak,” he continued. “[Lecile] said, ‘Cowboy, you going up?’” He was asked by his idol if he was enjoying the convention before Lecile said he had heard a lot of good things about him.
Jeff didn’t believe him but Lecile told him he knew Jeff was a barrel man from Texas and that his nickname was Jackrabbit.
‘I’ve been keeping my eye on you,’ Lecille told Jeff “Why are you keeping such a close eye on me?,” Jackrabbit countered.
“You never know. We have the same last name, we may be related.” Lecile stopped by his booth and hung out with him for a while at the convention and they kept up with each other after that.
Jeff fondly remembered his then-wife asking him for a signed photo one day. He didn’t know why until she presented him a signed copy of Lecile’s book. Lecile kept a collection of signed photos of rodeo clowns and asked for one of Jackrabbit in exchange for the book.
The other event that shaped his life in 2015 was a major accident in the arena.
Jeff was performing at a big benefit for a friend. He was dumping dirt which had been built up in his barrel and didn’t hear the announcer call out a bull was being released.
“I had this bull three times before,” he recalled. “We didn’t get along. He hits me and he hits me hard.”
Jackrabbit was trying to be prepared but the bull slammed into the barrel and in coming down, it land on his face, crushing the right side.
Jeff had to go to a specialist and plastic surgeon to repair the damage.
“I was told I can’t take another hit in the face,” Jeff said. “They said they barely had enough bone to put in screws and plates.”
Jeff knew he couldn’t be as active in the ring but he still returned to the arena six weeks later at an event in Clifton. Jeff tells anyone who requests him that he has to stick to comedy now, but he still offers as much support as he can safely give.
When asked what keeps him going out after such a major hit, he replied with a laugh, “My elevator don’t go to the top floor?... I don’t know, it’s an adrenaline rush.”
Jeff was clearly feeling the rush as he rewarded the stands for sticking out the rain with entertainment akin to acts that he loved as a boy.
When Lecile passed in 2020, Jeff saw several rodeo clowns don his trademark makeup in tribute. He always wanted to be able to do that himself. Saturday provided the opportunity.
Jackrabbit was grateful to Monta de Toros organizer Rick Taylor for letting him do the tribute, saying he was immediately supportive of the idea.
“Professional Rodeo clown Lecile Harris was a friend, a hero and someone I admired very much,” Jeff said. “I will never forget him!”