The National Reining Horse Association, since its beginning, has been about horses. It has also been about people. NRHA members and fans are passionate about their love of the sport, their love of the horses, and especially their opinions on the best way to carry the sport forward.
With the current identification of NRHA with Oklahoma City, it is hard to remember that there was a time when the question of relocating the Association’s signature event – the NRHA Futurity – was a lightning rod that separated the membership.
Just after the National Finals Rodeo in 1984, the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association made the decision to move its signature event from Oklahoma City to Las Vegas. When that event left, it took away an estimated $8 to $10 million annual boost to the city’s economy. Oklahoma City had hosted the finals for two decades, and every performance had been sold out for over 10 years. Oklahoma City had always worked under a one-year contract with the PRCA.
With the NFR gone, Oklahoma City officials were looking for an event to fill the void. Talks began to lure the NRHA to move its Futurity.
Dick Pieper was President of the NRHA during this time. According to Dick, moving the NRHA Futurity was a hot-button topic that was both thrilling and terrifying if you were the association’s leader.
The NRHA’s premier event had been held at the All American Quarter Horse Congress every year except one, but it was outgrowing the facility’s capacity for stalls and warmup space. NRHA leadership and administration had begun looking for options. When the National Finals Rodeo left Oklahoma City, Dick and NRHA Executive Director Butch Shaver discussed the idea of moving the Futurity to Oklahoma City, and the Oklahoma State Tourism Bureau offered up $100,000 annually.
What Is It About Oklahoma City?
711 miles from Chicago, IL
412 miles from Houston, TX
831 miles from Phoenix, AZ
421 miles from San Antonio, TX
190 miles from Dallas, TX
695 miles from Monterrey, Mexico
942 miles from Detroit, MI
960 miles from Jacksonville, FL
705 miles from Indianapolis, IN
874 miles from Columbus, OH
360 miles from Austin, TX
1,324 miles from New York
From Oklahoma City to the
North pole: 3,767 mi
South pole: 8,668 mi
Equator: 2,450.57 mi
Dick remembered, “The Congress was giving the NRHA $5,000 a year and Oklahoma City offered a multi-year contract giving us $100,000 a year. We told the Congress administration (led by Ohio Quarter Horse Association President Burgess Holt) that because of the long tradition with NRHA and the OQHA, we would be willing to stay in spite of the huge offer if they could just give us any kind of increase in money as well as stall concessions.”
When those terms weren’t met, it was decided to move the Futurity to Oklahoma City.
The idea of moving the Futurity to the Oklahoma State Fair Park had a polarizing effect that split the NRHA into factions. Some felt that the Ohio site had become too costly and unwieldy. And many felt that the Futurity was too small a part of the monstrous All American Quarter Horse Congress.
An equally emphatic group pointed out that Ohio already had an established audience. They felt that changing sites would cause many in the core reining community to opt out of attending.
Ultimately, the attraction of the cash incentive proved irresistible, a three-year contract was signed, and the first NRHA Futurity was held in Oklahoma City in 1986.
Smooth waters ahead? There is always a story behind the story.
The decision was controversial, to say the least. Dick explained, “The large concentration of reiners east of the Mississippi felt the move would never work. Up until the time we had the first Futurity at Oklahoma City, I was on the list to be hanged.”
At first blush, the move seemed solid as people arrived. There was a bigger pen, motels close by, and conveniently located stabling. And people realized it wasn’t as bad a drive to Oklahoma as they thought it would be. Pieper said, “We had so far outgrown the Congress and were thrilled to have a place where we had a feeling of ownership for that week. We had been dealing with waiting until 3 a.m. to get the other events out, people warming up and lunging horses. It had been so hard to prepare a horse with all that going on.”
There was just one unexpected issue – the ground. The carefully located and hauled base and top ground got rained on. Dick remembered, “During the national meeting the day before the futurity started I couldn’t even come to meeting because I was driving a tractor. We were working to dry out the ground and the base – we had fans on it. Then we put barrels out there to prevent anyone from trying to stop on the wet area.”
At the 1986 Futurity, $100,000 was paid out to the Champions. Bob Loomis won the Futurity -his sixth – on Sophie Oak owned by Loomis/Tom Lyons. It was a landmark year – a new home for the NRHA’s premier event, a success in spite of challenges, and there was more.
The 1986 Futurity draw held a group of Open Finalists that would have an impact of the entire industry! The horses represented sons and daughters of NRHA Hall of Famers, Topsail Cody, Be Aech Enterprise, Great Pine, Miss Cee Blair and Glenda Echols. The top three horses were Sophie Oak, Hollywood Dun It ridden by Tim McQuay and owned by Gwendy Steif, and Zans Diamond Sun, ridden by Craig Johnson and owned by Carol Rose. A lot of history began in that first Oklahoma City Futurity.
Luckily, with continued attention, the ground improved as the week went on. Dick continued, “We had good ground the next year. That second year we hired a professional firm to come in and build the ground. They came in, put a base in, then clay, then sand, then drug it until it was perfect. They worked on it a whole week before the Futurity began.”
Bob Loomis supported the relocation to Oklahoma City. He said in an NRHA Reiner article written by Pat Feuerstein that it was the smartest move the Association ever made and added that the location, right smack dab in the middle of the country, seemed to be ideal. Bob summarized, “It was a huge success that set our Association on course for tremendous growth.” With the success came acceptance of the new plan. Dick remembered, “I changed from a bum to a hero in one week with some folks. Ultimately, the more central location opened the way for west coast reiners to attend and the NRHA grew with support from all over the country.”
Oklahoma City is the largest city in the State of Oklahoma with a population of more than 1.3 million. In land area, Oklahoma City is the 3rd largest city in the nation.
1. The bread twist tie was invented in Maysville.
2. The shopping cart was invented in Ardmore in 1936.
3. The nation’s first parking meter was installed in Oklahoma City in 1935.
4. The first Girl Scout Cookie was sold in Muskogee in 1917.
5. Cimarron County, located in the Oklahoma Panhandle, is the only county in the U.S. bordered by 4
separate states – Texas, New Mexico, Colorado & Kansas.
6. The Oklahoma State Capital is the only capital in the U.S. with working oil wells on its grounds.
7. Boise City, Okla., was the only city in the United States to be bombed during World War II. On Monday,
July 5, 1943, at 12:30 am., a B-17 Bomber based at Dalhart Army Air Base, Texas, dropped six practice
bombs on the sleeping town, mistaking the city lights as target lights.
8. WKY Radio in Oklahoma City was the first radio station transmitting west of the Mississippi River.
9. The nation’s first tornado warning was issued March 25, 1948 in Oklahoma City minutes before a
devastating tornado. Because of the warning, no lives were lost.
10. Oklahoma has the largest Native American population of any state in the U.S.
11. The name ‘Oklahoma’ comes from two Choctaw words – okla meaning “people” and humma meaning
“red.” So the name means, “Red People.” The name was approved in 1890.
12. Oklahoma has produced more astronauts than any other state.
13. Oklahoma has more man-made lakes than any other state (including Caddo County’s Fort Cobb Lake).
14. During the Land Rush, Oklahoma City and Guthrie went from vast, open prairie to cities of over 10,000
in a single day.
15. The nation’s first Yield traffic sign was erected in Tulsa on a trial basis.
16. The Pensacola Dam on Grand Lake is the longest multi-arched dam in the world at 6,565 feet.
17. The Port of Catoosa (just north of Tulsa) is the largest inland port in America.
18. The aerosol can was invented in Bartlesville.
19. Per square mile, Oklahoma has more tornadoes than any other place in the world.
20. The highest wind speed ever recorded on earth was in Moore Okla., on May 3, 1999 during the
Oklahoma City F-5 tornado. Wind speed was clocked at 318 mph.
21. The Will Rogers World Airport and the Wiley Post Airport are both named after two famous
Oklahomans, both killed in the same airplane crash.