Indiana man nears four decade mark as a rodeo clown (2024)

SOUTHERN INDIANA — Rodeo clowns have been part of the rodeo scene entertaining the masses in variety of arenas since the 1900s.

These clowns don’t go to birthday parties to entertain children by making balloon animals or throwing pies in their faces. No, these clowns serve a purpose inside the arena with the bull fighter. Both the bull fighter and clown wear makeup but the bull fighter is out in the ring to distract the bull from the rider when they get bucked off or dismounts, so they can get safely away.

“The clown is out there to entertain the crowd and during the bull riding, he brings his barrel out and he’s out there to back up the bull fighters,” said Tim Pope, who has been involved in rodeos for 58 years. “I would wear a wireless microphone and be out there the whole time telling jokes, doing acts and during the down time I keep the crowd involved and entertained.”

Pope, who is 6 feet tall, has been involved in rodeos since he was nine-years-old. At 9, Pope was bull riding, roping and riding bareback on broncs. But the idea of being a clown remained in the background.

“I would see the clowns and I thought that was really cool for me to see,” he said. “That was the obvious route to take since I wanted to stay in rodeos. I knew early in life that I was going to pursue it.”

Pope participated in rodeos for Floyd Central in the Indiana High School Rodeo Association. He won the IHSRA all-around cowboy championship in 1979, which was the highest award one can receive. He qualified for the national high school finals three times when he traveled to Montana, North Dakota and South Dakota.

“As soon as I graduated from high school, I started clowning and bull fighting,” Pope reminisced. “I got to the point I loved rodeo so much that I wanted to stay with it. I knew I wasn’t good enough to be a competitor to advance where I wanted to be so I started clowning and bull fighting.”

Pope is a 5-time freestyle bullfighting champion along with being a rodeo clown.

In 1972, Pope got to meet his mentor, Lecile Harris, at the Kentucky state fair rodeo. Harris was called the “Dean of rodeo clowns/bullfighters” and was the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association Clown of the Year from 1992-96. Pope said Harris was his mentor and someone he idolized.

It all began eight years later after meeting Harris when he was 25 years old helping out Alan Etherton, who was a fellow clown. Pope had white paint around his eyes, red nose and an outline in black with a little star on his chin. He adorned his costume with baggy Wranglers, different colored shirts and cleats for his shoes. Etherton had white paint over his face, wore a black buttoned shirt and some jeans.

The duo clowned around from April 9-10 in Owensboro, Kentucky, and in May 28-29 in Fordsville, Kentucky.

“Etherton had asked me to help him do it and we did those two rodeos,” Pope said. “Then, I took off from there and kept going.”

From that one rodeo, Pope has turned clowning into an endeavor he has never forgotten. He has been part of rodeos in every state except Washington. He said two of his favorite rodeos were in Utah and Pennsylvania. He worked them for 15 years.

“I liked the crowd, the location and the committee in how they treated me,” Pope said. “Both of them were exceptionally good rodeos as they packed it in and it was a good time.”

Injuries happen to both bull riders and rodeo clowns during the competitions. According to the National Institutes of Health, 55 of 278 competitors and rodeo clowns who participate sustain a total of 61 injuries. Pope has busted ribs and broke his ankle twice due to being a rodeo clown. He sustained a serious neck injury in 1994 at a bull rider event in Farmington, New Mexico.

“My neck still hurts and I have little movability,” Pope said. “I didn’t do the physical therapy after they did surgery, I guess I should have.”

Pope met his idol again at the PRCA national convention in Las Vegas three years after his neck injury. At the convention, all of the committees and their stock contractors were there looking for people to hire. Pope said Harris gestured over to a famous rodeo committee to come over.

“The committee had wanted to hire him to work their rodeo but he was already booked for that date,” Pope recalled. “He brought them to me and said: ‘This guy here will take care of you and treat you right.’ For him to do that for me has been the highlight of my life.”

Harris lived to be 80 and worked his last rodeo on Feb. 13, 2020 in Jackson, MS.

Pope, 65, has clowned for 38 years. He wasn’t the only Pope who participated in clowning as his daughter, Mattie Pope, can be seen in one of his many pictures dressed in rodeo clown attire when she was young.

“It meant the world to me to have her in the arena with me,” Pope said. “It’s a memory that I will never forget.”

Pope will return to clowning this summer at rodeos in Indiana, Kentucky and Ohio. He said clowning has been good to him for his entire life.

“Hopefully it’s not my last go and I want to continue to do it for as long as I can,” he said. “To anyone who wants to pursue clowning, then go for it. That’s the kind of thing you have to really love to do and you have to be invested in it. I remember my dad, Jack Pope, telling me I had to get a job where I would have a pension someday. But I wanted to be part of rodeos.”