National Recognition of My Great Great Grandfather's achievement...
in something that was his way of life was not done for competition.
Recognition his humble heart would rather not have, but in any case...
Last modified: Sunday, July 22, 2007 12:26 AM MDT Waiomina will honor Hawaiian Paniolos
By Jodi Rogstad
jrogstad@wyomingnews.com
CHEYENNE - On a Pacific island made of volcanic rock and covered with flowers, there's a place where people still sing about three cowboys who made them proud at Cheyenne Frontier Days.
After crossing more than 2,000 miles over sea and land in 1908 to enter the steer roping competition, the trio of ranchers at first seemed innocuous in the eyes of the northern cowboys.
But in a handful of days, they went from "doubtful factors" and "foreigners" to champions.
Ikua Purdy was the champion - the first non-Wyomingite to seize the title, according to an account in the Cheyenne Daily Leader.
His friend Archie Kaaua placed third, and Jack Low was sixth.
"(They) invaded the heart of American cow country and taught the white ropers a lesson in how to handle steers," it said in the Aug. 22, 1908 edition of the Cheyenne Daily Leader.
The honor meant a great deal to the people of Hawaii, which was not known for much more than being a port on the way to the Philippines, said Dexter Keawe'ehu Vredenburg of Kamuela, Hawaii.
Today, the story lives on in two songs, "Waiomina," the Hawaiian word for Wyoming, and "Hawaiian Rough Riders," said Dr. Billy Bergin, also of Kamuela.
Vredenburg and Bergin are two members of a Hawaiian delegation visiting Cheyenne this week to see the rodeo that made Purdy, Kaaua and Low famous.
Next year is the centennial of this unexpected victory, and it will be marked with the Great Waiomina Centennial Celebration.
As leaders of the Paniolo Preservation Society, Bergin and Vredenburg are here to do some of the historical research that can't be done from home.
But anything they can do to convince the people of Cheyenne to come to their island and partake in next year's festivities won't hurt either, they say.
Those who can't make the trip will be able to take in the story right here in Cheyenne: The Hawaii delegation is also here to start planning an exhibit next year for the Old West Museum.
"Paniolo" is the Hawaiian word for cowboy. It comes from its pronunciation of "Espagnol" because, like many other American cowboys, their ranching techniques have Spanish and Mexican roots, Vredenburg said.
And like in many other Western states, the cowboy mystique lives on in America's 50th state, where cattle were fattened on the ranches of its grass-rich islands, Vredenburg said.
But it's clear that in true Hawaiian style, cowboy fashion has its touches of paradise.
Walking into the home where Vredenburg and Bergin were staying on Friday, the woman in the kitchen looked the part of the CFD: denim, Western shirt, hair curling out from a cowboy hat.
But she was dancing the hula.
And there was Purdy's grandson, Daniel Jr., who was born on the family ranch in Hawaii. He doesn't remember much about his grandfather - who died when Daniel Jr. was little - but everyone knows who he was.
Daniel Jr. wore a golden neckerchief covered with branding symbols. But "Hawaiian cowboy" was embroidered on the breast of his corded Western shirt, and it was covered with a tropical flower pattern.
And one of the women from the Hawaiian delegation had a gift for him. It was a lei - a usual gift given in this instance in an unusual form.
This silk flower garland was designed to be worn on a cowboy hat. After he tied the two ends of black ribbon into a bow in the back, he replaced the feather in the band.
As he stood outside the Old West Museum, a tourist paused to snap his photograph.
"I should charge a fee," he joked.
Recognition his humble heart would rather not have, but in any case...
Last modified: Sunday, July 22, 2007 12:26 AM MDT Waiomina will honor Hawaiian Paniolos
By Jodi Rogstad
jrogstad@wyomingnews.com
CHEYENNE - On a Pacific island made of volcanic rock and covered with flowers, there's a place where people still sing about three cowboys who made them proud at Cheyenne Frontier Days.
After crossing more than 2,000 miles over sea and land in 1908 to enter the steer roping competition, the trio of ranchers at first seemed innocuous in the eyes of the northern cowboys.
But in a handful of days, they went from "doubtful factors" and "foreigners" to champions.
Ikua Purdy was the champion - the first non-Wyomingite to seize the title, according to an account in the Cheyenne Daily Leader.
His friend Archie Kaaua placed third, and Jack Low was sixth.
"(They) invaded the heart of American cow country and taught the white ropers a lesson in how to handle steers," it said in the Aug. 22, 1908 edition of the Cheyenne Daily Leader.
The honor meant a great deal to the people of Hawaii, which was not known for much more than being a port on the way to the Philippines, said Dexter Keawe'ehu Vredenburg of Kamuela, Hawaii.
Today, the story lives on in two songs, "Waiomina," the Hawaiian word for Wyoming, and "Hawaiian Rough Riders," said Dr. Billy Bergin, also of Kamuela.
Vredenburg and Bergin are two members of a Hawaiian delegation visiting Cheyenne this week to see the rodeo that made Purdy, Kaaua and Low famous.
Next year is the centennial of this unexpected victory, and it will be marked with the Great Waiomina Centennial Celebration.
As leaders of the Paniolo Preservation Society, Bergin and Vredenburg are here to do some of the historical research that can't be done from home.
But anything they can do to convince the people of Cheyenne to come to their island and partake in next year's festivities won't hurt either, they say.
Those who can't make the trip will be able to take in the story right here in Cheyenne: The Hawaii delegation is also here to start planning an exhibit next year for the Old West Museum.
"Paniolo" is the Hawaiian word for cowboy. It comes from its pronunciation of "Espagnol" because, like many other American cowboys, their ranching techniques have Spanish and Mexican roots, Vredenburg said.
And like in many other Western states, the cowboy mystique lives on in America's 50th state, where cattle were fattened on the ranches of its grass-rich islands, Vredenburg said.
But it's clear that in true Hawaiian style, cowboy fashion has its touches of paradise.
Walking into the home where Vredenburg and Bergin were staying on Friday, the woman in the kitchen looked the part of the CFD: denim, Western shirt, hair curling out from a cowboy hat.
But she was dancing the hula.
And there was Purdy's grandson, Daniel Jr., who was born on the family ranch in Hawaii. He doesn't remember much about his grandfather - who died when Daniel Jr. was little - but everyone knows who he was.
Daniel Jr. wore a golden neckerchief covered with branding symbols. But "Hawaiian cowboy" was embroidered on the breast of his corded Western shirt, and it was covered with a tropical flower pattern.
And one of the women from the Hawaiian delegation had a gift for him. It was a lei - a usual gift given in this instance in an unusual form.
This silk flower garland was designed to be worn on a cowboy hat. After he tied the two ends of black ribbon into a bow in the back, he replaced the feather in the band.
As he stood outside the Old West Museum, a tourist paused to snap his photograph.
"I should charge a fee," he joked.