Richard first became involved in the Colorado Gay Rodeo Association in 1982. His interest in rodeos and horses stem back to trophies and ribbons he won in 1965.
Richard was elected to the CGRA Board of Directors in the position of Recording Secretary in the 1983-84 terms. Richard was entered as a contestant in the 1st Annual Rocky Mountain Regional rodeo held in 1993. In the elections for the 1984-85 terms, Richard was elected President of CGRA and held that position for the next three years. Taking that office during a period of troubled times for CGRA, Richard (along with a very strong Board) put CGRA on the rebound and gave it a new direction - that of a growing organization to serve the entire Gay Community of Colorado.
The general membership of CGRA chose Richard as the "Member of the Year" for his contributions in 1984-85. While Richard held the office of President, the International Gay Rodeo Association was organized. Richard served as Trustee for IGRA in 1986-87. He was a "Blue Ribbon Member" for the first year when Arizona Gay Rodeo was formed. The Texas Gay Rodeo Association awarded Richard with an Honorary Membership in 1986.
Besides being a contestant in Rocky Mountain Regional Rodeos, Richard has been a contestant in rodeos sponsored by the Texas Gay Rodeo Association, Arizona Gay Rodeo Association, Golden State Gay Rodeo Association, and the California and Great Plains Regional Rodeo in Oklahoma.
In 1987, he retired from the position of President of CGRA and the position was filled by Jeanie Nelson, our current President.
Richard continued to support the CGRA by serving as Chairman of the Nominating Committee for the elections of 1998-1989.
While in the Navy, Tim was a missile technician and claims to have had "a lot of fun" until he was discharged in San Francisco where he "really had fun!" Tim went to work for his first gay bar there called The Tool Box for about two years before returning to the east coast to take a "straight" job for Texaco, programing and designing computer systems. Two years later, he and his then-lover were transferred to Houston where they lived within walking distance of twelve gay bars, and where he stayed for the next ten years.
Single, again, Tim became bored with Texaco, so he quit and started buying houses, remodeling, and then re-selling them while also working part-time as a bartender/manager in a number of gay bars. When the housing market fell apart, he and his new lover moved to Denver, recalling that, "Denver was and is the friendliest place I've ever been." He then went back into the bar business and ended up as general manager of the Foxhole and Tracks.
While working at The Foxhole and Tacks, Tim became involved with The Colorado Tavern Guild and the Colorado AIDS Project (CAP). Tim was Secretary of the Tavern Guild for three years and President for two. He was a founding Board Member of CAP and served as Secretary for three and one half years. Tim is currently on the advertising committee of The Tavern Guild and still keeps in close contact with CAP.
After the loss of a number of really close friends to AIDS, "the stress of management" became too much for Tim to deal with. So he resigned to do just bartending and went to work at Southtown Lumber Co., where you can now go in and say "hello" to this really gracious gentleman.
On June 4, 1990 the Coal Creek Rodeo Park Area experienced a fire that completely destroyed the announcer stand. Even though the stand was not exactly what we would have liked to have we had used it successfully for several rodeos and gymkhanas. Through negotiations with the city of Aurora Parks and Recreation Department, agreements were reached to allow the Colorado Gay Rodeo association to build a new announcer stand. Then the work began. A donated welder and cutting torch was located and volunteers were solicited from the CGRA general membership.
Posts were set on Friday June 15, and the final construction done on volunteer time and energy was completed on Saturday June 23rd. We salute all the people who so generously donated materials, knowledge, time and energy to make our beautiful new announcer stand a reality. Below is a list of names of these people. If anyone was missed, I sincerely apologize.
Chuck Webb
D.J Clark
Bill (from Tecon)
Bob Sutherland
Dick Bower
Bob Deming
John Desgrosslier
Charles Merritt
John Beck
Carr Hines
Treva London
Tom Adamson
Tim Buster
Bob Saxon
Lee Williams
Drew
Marki
Huey
Gary Brown
Rick Chernicky
Once again your efforts are greatly appreciated, we thank you.
