1 week Ago By Roger Knox
The longtime manager of the Falkland Stampede has earned a posthumous honour. Mervin (Merv) Churchill, who died Nov. 24, 2024, one week past his 83rd birthday, is one of three men named to the BC Cowboy Hall of Fame Class of 2025.
The Hall of Fame committee announced the selections Friday, April 11. Joining Churchill in the Hall call are Daryl Mills of Pink Mountain (113 kilometres northwest of Fort St. John), and Gene Allen from Kispiox (13 kms north of Hazelton).
A formal induction ceremony will take place Sunday, April 20, at the IREA Indoor Spring Classic Rodeo in Williams Lake. Churchill was born in Vernon on Nov. 17, 1941.
His family has managed the Falkland Stampede for most of its 105-year history, beginning with his uncle Homer in the 1940s; Merv for the 1960s though until 1991; Jason, his son, for most of the 2000s; and granddaughter Melissa for the last six years. Churchill began his involvement with Falkland Stampede in 1955 at the age of 14 when he put on a barn dance in his parents’ barn to raise money to build new corrals at the rodeo ground. He competed for a short time in bull riding, winning at home in Falkland in 1961, and the Merritt rodeo in 1963.
He left the competition side to become rodeo manager in Falkland, and continued in a management capacity until 1991. He was still counted on as an adviser until his passing on Nov. 24, 2024.
In 1982 the Canadian Pro Rodeo Association named him Committee Person of the Year. He spent two terms as a director on the CPRA board and many years as the B.C.
rep for the CPRA. In 2013 he was awarded the Queen's Diamond Jubilee medal for his commitment to the sport of rodeo and to his community of Falkland, and in 2013 was named to the Canadian Rodeo Hall of Fame in the Builder category. Churchill lived his entire life in Falkland on a small ranch and was a local businessman.
He was not a working cowboy, nor did he make the majority of his income from ranching, but he was without a doubt a builder of the Sport of Rodeo. Mills started his rodeo career in 1987 as the BC High School Rodeo Champion in bull riding and bareback, representing B.C.
at the National High School Finals Rodeo in Pueblo, CO. The year 1989 saw him as the FCA and NRA Bull Riding Champion in the amateur leagues, moving onto professional rodeo world in the CPRA in 1990. In his first year he won the Rookie of the Year and the Canadian Bull Riding Champion.
He was sidelined in 1991 due to injury, only to return in 1992 as the CPRA Bull Riding Champion and qualifier for the NFR in Vegas. He did win the World Champion Bull Riding at the NFR in 1994. Having achieved his rodeo goals, he retired as a competitor after the 10th round of the NFR.
In 2002 he received the PBR Ring of Honour for his contributions to the founding of the Professional Bull Riders (PBR) Association in 1992. Almost 20 years after starting out, Mills was inducted into the Canadian Pro Rodeo Hall of Fame in 2006 for his excellence in rodeo. Allen's fingerprints were all over the sport – saddle bronc rider, steer wrestler, rodeo organizer, BCRA president and ultimately rodeo stock contractor.
He was instrumental in restarting the Kispiox Rodeo back in the 1960s and the rodeo has been going strong ever since. Gene competed in the IRA, NRA, YRCA, the BCRA and in the NARC world finals. His love for good bucking horses led him to begin his own bucking horse breeding program in the Mid 70s which became GJ Rodeo Stock Contractors.
Their quality horses performed in some of the world's largest rodeos, including Houston, TX, Calgary Stampede, Ponoka and Williams Lake over 45 years, winning many championships along the way. Allen and his wife Joy raised “cowboy friendly” horses that were genetically bred to buck. Along with raising these great horses, they ran many rough stock rodeo schools throughout the province and took many cowboys under their wings, housing and feeding them to get them started on their rodeo careers.
He was presented with both the Lifetime Achievement Award and the Rodeo Person of the Year award within the BCRA. In 2022 at the Canadian Finals Rodeo he was presented with the Bucking Horse Legacy Award for his contributions to the Bucking Horse Industry. The BC Cowboy Hall of Fame committee includes Lynn Peck, OJ Harris, Ray Jasper, David Ciriani, Joy Allen, Kelly Walls and Patti Gerhardi.
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