Frank J. Buchman

Cowboy • Horseman • Writer

Clowning Around Just Comes Naturally For Generational Lifetime Kansas Rodeo Family Man 10 Times Clown Of Year

Justin Rumford is a ten-time Professional Rodeo Cowboy’s Association (PRCA) Clown of the Year who grew up in the rodeo business.

He attended his first National Finals Rodeo when he was six years old. Rumford knew then and there that he was destined to be in the rodeo arena.

Rumford’s rodeo career is long and distinguished before he became a clown. He went to the National High School Finals and competed in the Central Plains Region for college rodeo. He made the college finals in both saddle bronc riding and steer wrestling.

Rumford went on to compete in pro rodeo where he made the Prairie Circuit Finals in the steer wrestling multiple times.

Rumford’s clown career happened quick. After a clown was unable to make it last minute, Rumford was asked to “just give it a shot” in Pretty Prairie, Kansas. He borrowed a barrel and a wireless microphone for one performance.

“I was like wow this a thing, man this is maybe something I want to do,” Rumford said.

Justin Rumford is a 10-time PRCA Clown of the Year, but what he does in the arena is what he does in his everyday life. He’s simply an entertaining person, and he will prove it again at the Guymon, Oklahoma, Pioneer Days Rodeo in May.

In 2011, he made the decision to go forward with being a rodeo clown. It kept him involved with rodeo where he already had a relationship with a lot of people that he would end up working with.

Rumford’s career took off quickly after he got his card in 2011. He won PRCA Clown of the Year in 2012 and for the next nine consecutive years.

“I think that my career just hit when it was supposed to. I’m pretty blessed to just be there when I was supposed to be there,” he said.

Rodeo has been a part of Rumford’s life forever. It is full of friends turned family and his memories and stories are worth more than the buckles.

His grandpa Floyd Rumford Jr. started in the rodeo contracting business in 1946 and annually produced rodeos throughout the Midwest.

Justin Rumford’s dad, Bronc Rumford was the world’s youngest champion bareback bronc rider when three-years-old. Bronc went on to an illustrious career in every phase of rodeo from diverse competition championships,  to stock contracting, to picking up, and well beyond.

Justin Rumford is the most decorated rodeo clown in the PRCA with many unforgettable moments.

Peering through the reflective glass at his past, Justin Rumford was a comedy act waiting to happen.

As a high schooler in south-central Kansas, his actions oftentimes proved to be a mix of his small-town raising. A life lived on the rodeo trail and a hunger for a good time.

He carried that on to the next level when he attended Northwestern Oklahoma State University in Alva. And it was a big part of his lifestyle in the early stages of his rodeo career.

There isn’t anything in rodeo that the man hasn’t done. He’s been a bullfighter and a pickup man and a bronc rider and a bulldogger.

He’s roped calves and roped steers, and through every layer of his life, he told funny tales, oftentimes about his own life. It made his transition into a popular rodeo clown that much easier.

Rumford, lives in Ponca City, Oklahoma, with his wife and their triplets,

“We like having Rump around, because he’s funny and he’s a lot like the rest of us,” said Jeremy Carman, chairman of the volunteer committee that produces the annual Guymon, Oklahoma, rodeo. “He is a great fit for our rodeo and the people who live out here in the Panhandle. He’s really one of us.”

Whether he’s telling reride stories behind the chutes or entertaining the crowds who pile into rodeo arena, it’s Rumford being Rumford.

It’s the way he was as a 16-year-old in Abbyville, Kansas; it’s the way he is in his mid-40s. The stories are different, but they’re still comical.

“He’s very easy to work with, because he understands rodeo so well,” said Ken Stonecipher, a longtime committee member and one of the announcers who calls the action in Guymon. “He understands what we need as a rodeo production, and he knows the right times to turn on his microphone and entertain the fans.

Before he ever became a clown, Justin Rumford was entertaining folks in Guymon, just doing so behind the scenes. He and his vibrant personality return to for the Pioneer Days Rodeo, May 5-7.(Ted Harbin photo)

“It’s almost like he’s visiting with each person in the stands. He makes it comfortable and funny. There’s just something special about the things he does.”

It’s the reason why he’s been named the PRCA’s Clown of the Year 10 times over his relatively short career in greasepaint. Rumford’s storytelling and comedic techniques have come from a lifetime of experiences.

He utilizes all that for RümpChät, a popular podcast he does with another rodeo personality, Josh “Hambone” Hilton, who is the sound director in Guymon, Oklahoma, each May.

“It’s not just a rodeo podcast, but it’s very agriculture,” Rumford said. “We have a lot of farmers, ranchers and oilfield workers who listen. We’re a blue-collar, beer drinking-man’s podcast.”

What’s said on air sometimes transitions into the rodeo arena, and vice versa. With a personality where life imitates art, Rumford is quite at home around bucking horses and timed-event steers.

“I totally adjust everything,” he said. “You don’t want to push somebody on what they want to hear. When you’re in die-hard rodeo country, you have to feel it out and see what happens. They’re rodeo-savvy, but they like to party. They are my kind of people.”

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