Longtime rodeo announcer Boyd Polhamus works up the crowd
Special to the Times | Lee Begaye
Longtime PRCA rodeo announcer Boyd Polhamus worked his first prorodeo on Dinébitah during last week’s Home of the Navajo PRCA Rodeo in Window Rock. Polhamus, who announced on horseback, is a fixture at the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo for the past two decades.
WINDOW ROCK – Professional rodeo announcer Boyd Polhamus is a master at his craft.
For three nights last week the four-time PRCA Announcer of the Year shared his expertise and his distinctive voice with Diné fans that attended the Home of the PRCA Rodeo at the Dean C. Jackson Memorial Arena in Window Rock.
“This will forever be a special moment in my life, in my career and in my heart,” Polhamus, 58, said of making his first trip to Dinébitah. “I mean, being here was a gift. It’s been heartwarming. That’s the only way that I can explain it.”
For much of a distinguished career that spans nearly four decades, Polhamus has watched Navajo Nation contestants such as Derrick Begay, Aaron Tsinigine, Erich Rogers, Danielle Lowman and Kassidy Dennison from afar, not knowing their true background.
“As a rodeo announcer I would pass by them when they would go to the (rodeo) secretary’s office or something in that nature,” said Polhamus, who has announced at the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo 27 times. “This year I finally got to work with Derrick Begay and Erich Rogers, and I got to learn who they are and the Navajo culture. They’re really big on respecting the elders and, you know, they’re role models for the next generation, and I think that’s really important for the Navajo people.”
Polhamus, who hails from Brenham, Texas, with wife Sandee, has announced for 39 years, including stints at the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo, Snake River Stampede in Nampa, Idaho, the Dodge City Round Up (Kansas) and the National Western in Denver.
“You know, when I think back at my career, when I think back of all the things that I’ve done, and the places that I have gone and places that I have announced, this will be right near the top of the list just because it was that special for me,” Polhamus said. “The biggest thing I realized is how much of a deep passion the Navajo Nation has on rodeo. It’s very moving and it’s left an indelible impression on me.”
As much as the Navajo Nation would like to have Polhamus back next year, this could be his only time that he’ll be able to announce here at the PRCA rodeo in Window Rock.
“I’m a little worried about next year,” Polhamus said. “I was open this year, but I have some rodeos changing dates that might make it difficult for me to come back, which will break my heart.”
Despite those circumstances, Polhamus was grateful that he was able to visit the Navajo Nation and its people.
“If I never got to do this, I wouldn’t have known what I would have missed,” he said. “It’s going to be difficult to not come back because I really fell in love with everything that is going on here, especially the efforts they made to make this rodeo as special and relevant as possible as they can.
“This crew, this team of people who worked so hard to make this rodeo special, have succeeded,” Polhamus added. “I mean, you watched the horses buck, you saw what the bulls did, and you saw Bobby Kerr, who is one of the special entertainers in the country, delight the crowd. They gave the people who came to the rodeo a reason to come back. What they did was good and I believe they hit that through the roof.”
Highway 264,
I-40, WB @ Winslow