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Welcome to the World Famous Omak Suicide Race This year marks the 78th anniversary of the World Famous Suicide Race. The Suicide Race has been run as part of the Omak Stampede nearly continously since 1935 For years a similar event was run in Keller, Wash., about 60 miles east of Omak on the Colville Indian Reservation during the annual gathering of bands for the salmon harvest. In the early 1920’s, when the Keller Rodeo was founded the races became and continued as part of the rodeo which grew in notoriety and size comparable to that of the famous Pendleton Round Up in Oregon. In 1935 after Grand
Coulee Dam was built and the waters of the Columbia River flooded the traditional race area, the rodeo grounds and the original town of Keller, so the race was brought to Omak to become part of the newly founded Omak Stampede then in its third year. It has since been known as the “Suicide Race”. The first year the race was held in Omak it was run for a total purse of $60 with a $2 entry fee added. There were six riders who entered It remains, along with the indian encampment, the pow wow and the stick games a continuation of the traditions of native peoples of this area.
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Certain aspects of the race have changed somewhat in the last 78 years but the spirit of the race remains the same. To the riders, owners, trainers and their families who compete in and support the Suicide Race it is more than just a horse race, it is an honor, it is a tradition and it is a way of life. The race is in their hearts and part of who they are. It is who our ancestors were. It was in their hearts and it lives on in our spirits when they ride The Owners & Jockeys Association is proud to be continuing our traditions by presenting the 2013 running of the World Famous Suicide Race!
The roots of the WorldFamous Suicide trace back to bands of the Colville Indians from the where the Sanpoil River meets the mighty Columbia River. The race still honors tribal traditions of the past. In the old days, local Indians gathered at prime fishing sites during the salmon runs to harvest and dry winter’s supply of fish. A favorite gathering place was the confluence of the Sanpoil and Columbia rivers, which eventually became the town site of Old Keller. With this gathering of people, horse racing was sure to be a component. A festive parade displaying the horses with their finest regalia, preceded the races. During the parade there was intense speculation and betting on the outcome of the race. Each tribe or band remained loyal to their own horse. Racers showed daring skill as they raced down mountains. When the necessity of storing up dried salmon for winter became a thing of the past, the tradition of meeting to celebrate, renew friendships and race horses continued with Salmon Days. In the 1920s Keller rodeo began In addition to roping, bronc riding and bullriding a race called the mountain race ensued. The race was nearly a halfmile long, down a boulder strewn mountainside and across a dry channel of the
Omak Stampede Collection
Riders speed down the hill during the first Suicide Race in 1935. The current course is to the right (upriver) near the building at water’s edge.
Sanpoil River and into the rodeo arena. The event became the crowd’s favorite. In 1935, with the construction of Grand Coulee Dam underway, the water of the Columbia River started to rise. By 1937, the river was rising by a few feet per month as the concrete was poured. The Old Keller Rodeo grounds were no more, buried beneath the waters of Lake Roosevelt. Recognizing that the Old Keller rodeo was being displaced, Omak Stampede Publicity Chairman Claire Pentz, searched for something exciting to add to the fledgling Omak rodeo, and patterned the Suicide Race after the Keller event. This year marks the 78th running of the now WorldFamous Suicide Race. During the Suicide Race, competitors start 100 or so feet back from the hill’s edge, then
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race down the embankment and into the Okanogan River. Depending on the water level, they either swim or gallop across the river and then race up the bank and into the Stampede Arena. In 1993, E.E. “Hoagy” Shattuck, a Stampede board member, calculated the hill at a 54.7 percent grade that runs 210 feet from top to bottom. The original race course, used from 1935-52, was slightly west of the current Suicide Hill. The present hill was rented from Mary Ogden for four years, and then the property was purchased by Omak Stampede Inc. in 1956. It now belongs to the city of Omak, as does East Side Park where the Stampede Arena is located. Riders in the 1935 Suicide Race were Leo Crossland, Leonard St. Peter, Tom Woods, Bev Connors, Mathew Dick, Pete Carden, Edward
Armstrong, Eddie Parsons, Wallace Moomaw, Alex Dick and Bert Evans. Moomaw placed first, with Connors second and Evans third. The first race attracted what has become an annual parade of news coverage – from newsreels to television and still photographers who have spread images of the Suicide Race throughout the world. has been featured twice on TV’s “You Asked for It,” and in dozens of newspapers, a fulllength Walt Disney movie, “Run, Appaloosa, Run,” and on national and international television. The young boy in the movie was Casey Nissen, a Suicide Race champion many times over. Alex Dick, a participant in the first race, became the race’s winningest rider with race victories starting in 1941 and continuing until his retirement in 1970. He died June 16, 2002, at his Omak home at age 83. Dick compiled a record of 32 firsts and 12 placings, beginning with a third in the first Suicide Race. During their heyday in the 1950s, the pair won 23 of 28 races, including 11 in a row. Brownie’s dynasty was ended by Big Jim, a powerful bay that appeared in 1966 to sweep both races. Big Jim won both races in 1968 with Omak’s Mervel Allen aboard. They made it a threerace sweep in 1969, the year Stampede added the Friday night rodeo and Suicide Race. Twice more, in 1971 under Don Wood and 1974 under Leo Bruce, Big Jim scored threerace sweeps en route to a history of 20 firsts, seven
Chronicle Photo
Colors abound in 2005 at the 70 year of the Suicide race, as riders race towards the water.
seconds and a third place finish. The last time Big Jim appeared in a Suicide Race was 1979, scoring a first and a second with Kerry Carden aboard. Since that time, several horses have launched assaults on the records of Brownie and Big Jim. Stiff competition has kept any from repeating either horse’s marks. Besides Alex Dick, other
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competitors have stayed with the race for years. Casey Nissen first raced in 1975 as a 16-year-old. He won the overall title in 1994, 1998 and 2000. Gary Waters, Jim Marchand, the Carden and Louie brothers, Les Moses, Jonathan Abrahamson, George Marchand, Tom Best and other names have appeared many times among the winners. Aaron Carden, who first raced
in 1985, won the overall title in 1991 and 1995, and again in 2007 after an eight-year hiatus. While most competitors are male, a few women have ridden down the hill, Rusty Tawes, Kathleen DickGottfriedson, Connie Sam, Deb Condon, Denise Condon, Stacy Woodward, Jody Cate and Kathy Lindquist to date. Horse owners also play a big role in the race. Some ride, others work in the background organizing the race, bankrolling the horses’ training and so on. Suicide Races have been the grand finale of each rodeo performance since 1945, with a few exceptions. The Saturday race was canceled in 1942 when cowboy Bev Connors drowned while swimming his horse across the
Okanogan River to the race’s starting line. Races were canceled in 1945 when only one entrant signed up, and in 1999 when the Colville Confederated Tribes boycotted Stampede and the race. There’s also been controversy over the years as animal rights activists protested the race as cruel to the horses. A few horses have died over the years, most recently in 2004 when two horses collided at the bottom of the hill and had to be euthanized and another collapsed in the arena after the Thursday race. Over the years, Stampede officials have instituted a number of safety measures, including requiring competitors to wear life vests, requiring horses to demonstrate ahead of the race
the ability to go over the hill and swim the river, instituting veterinary checks, placing soft sand on the hill, removing rocks from the river entry and stationing rescue boats in the river. Protests have been fewer in recent years, especially after Stampede officials turned over organization of the race to the Omak Stampede and Suicide Race Owners and Jockeys Association. Some information in this report and the first 50 years worth of winners in the accompanying chart were compiled by the late John E. Andrist, publisher of The Chronicle for many years. Dee Camp updated the chart, based on Chronicle coverage, to reflect winners during the past 25 years.
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Thank you, Billy for your years of dedication to the Suicide Race.
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Oliver Williams 2011. Oliver represents the Owners & Jockeys Association at the opening of each rodeo performance. Down the hill in 1986.
2011 coming across the river.
1989 just before the water.
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78 Years
of Native Tradition.
Omolene 500, for hard working and endurance equine athletes.
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2013 Owners & Jockeys Fundraiser Poker Ride Thank you, Gary Carden!
Kirby Vargas photo
Winners line up with their prizes after the ride. Thanks for participating.
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A big thank you gary for your hard work in making the Owners & Jockeys Fundraiser Poker Ride a success. The ride was held the morning of July 20, 2013, at Coyote Creek. This will be an annual event and volunteers and sponsors will be needed again next year, to make the ride bigger and better. We appreciate everyone who participated. We hope to see you again next year. Again, thank you gary, your time and sponsorship is deeply appreciated.
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the Suicide Race most of his It wasn’t his decision to compete in the Suicide Race life. When he was a young in the early 1960s. boy, Allen held a flashlight In fact, on the bank of the far side of Mervel Allen the Okanogan River to aid thought he the riders across the night was only water. Through the years, training a he watched great racers horse for like Alec Dick, Gene Smith Ron “R.J.” and Gary Waters. As an Jane. That adult, he learned that the was until key to winning was a good R.J. paid the Mervel Allen horse. entry fee Allen says he “lucked and informed Allen on race out” and “got to ride Big day that he was a jockey in Jim” – the athletic horse the grueling event. Taking the “railroading” raced for more than a decade. in stride, Allen took third Today, Allen speaks of place in the Sunday race of the Suicide Race in different 1963. He followed that up terms, using phrases like with third on Saturday in 1964. In 1967, another third- “too many rules” and describing place some Sunday jockeys as finish set “cry babies.” the stage “Back in for his the day, we “King of the raced for fun Hill” reign and all the in 1968 and riders got 1969. along, even During if they beat those the heck out years, Mervel roping in Chesaw 1979 of each other Allen and coming down the hill,” he horse Big Jim, owned by said. “The entry fees were Kenny Smith of Riverside, $10 and we were lucky if we dominated Suicide Hill. brought home $100 for Allen said he was lucky winning. to get such a good horse “There were no prizes or under him -- Big Jim was a powerful horse that loved to buckles, just bragging run downhill. But a “wreck” rights.” Allen, 72, is retired from in an Inchelium mountain logging and is busy on his race ended Allen’s racing ranch on Moomaw Road career. near Omak. He and his Allen had been a part of
wife, Darlene, have been married for 53 years. They raised five children – Gene, Mickey, Kevin, Robbie and Stacy.
Mervel and Big Jim 1969
Mervel King of the Hill 1969
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3 E. Dewberry, Omak • 509-826-1160 19
2012 Loren Marchand, Taz 2011 Tyler Peasley, Patch 2010 Loren Marchand, Taz 2009 Loren Marchand, Taz 2008 Loren Marchand, Taz 2007 Aaron Carden, Patch 2006 Tyler Peasley, Ruben 2005 Tyler Peasley, Ruben 2004 Montana Pakootas, Trigger 2003 Jonathan Abrahamson, Rock 2002 Leroy Abrahamson, Reuben 2001 George Marchand, Roanie 2000 Casey Nissen, Omache Arrow 1999 Race Cancelled 1998 Casey Nisen, Cowboy 1997 George Marchand, Chicken Creek 1996 George Marchand, Chicken Creek 1995 Aaron Carden, Max 1994 Casey Nissen, JD 1993 Kerry Carden, Wartah 1992 Les Moses, Ace 1991 Aaron Carden, Seymour 1990 Gary Bowling, Hobo 1989 Les Moses, Ace 1988 Les Moses, Ace 1987 Les Moses, Ace 1986 Larry Chaney, Moose 1985 Gabe Marcellay, Sir Charge 1984 Bernie Zacherle, Moose 1983 Gabe Marcellay, Sir Charge 1982 Kerry Carden, Tony 1981 Kerry Carden, Tony 1980 Walt Davisson 1979 Kerry Carden, Big Jim 1978 Danny Smith,
Sir Charge 1977 Walt Davisson, Shane 1976 Casey Nissen, Rowdy 1975 Gary Waters, Big Jim 1974 Leo Bruce, Big Jim 1973 Don Wood, Big Jim 1972 Don Wood, Big Jim 1971 Don Wood, Big Jim 1970 Gary Waters 1969 Mervel Allen, Big Jim 1968 Mervel Allen, Big Jim 1967 Gary Waters, Rowdy 1966 Mike Perry, Big Jim 1965 Alec Dick, Brownie 1964 Alec Dick, Brownie 1963 Ron Jane 1962 Alec Dick, Brownie 1961 Alec Dick, Brownie 1960 Alec Dick, Brownie 1959 Alec Dick, Brownie 1958 Kenny Smith 1957 Alec Dick, Brownie 1956 Alec Dick, Brownie 1955 Alec Dick, Brownie 1954 Alec Dick, Brownie 1953 Alec Dick, Brownie 1952 Alec Dick Ike Jack
1951Alec Dick, Brownie 1950 Alec Dick, Brownie 1949 Alec Dick, Brownie 1948 Joe Harry 1947 Sat, Ike Jack Sun. Marion Ives 1946 Sat. Abe Dick Sun., Alec Dick 1945 Race canceled: only 1 rider 1944 Sat. Paul Simon Sun, Alec Dick 1943 Sat, Alec Dick Sun, Alec Dick 1942 Sat. No Race. Sun, Marion Ives 1941 Sat., Martin Timentwa Sun., Alec Dick 1940 Martin Timentwa 1939 Aeneas Dick 1938 Bev Connors 1937 Sat. Aeneas Dick Sun., Louis Friedlander 1936 Matthew Dick 1935 Wallace Moomaw Matthew Dick
2012 Champions Taz and Loren Marchand.
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apples • cherries One of the world’s greatest sources of cherries and apples. www.gebbersfarms.com Phone 509-689-3424 Fax 509-689-2997 23
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The Boyd/Carden Family Proud sponsors of the World Famous Suicide Race, honor of family values and tradition.
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Custom made necklaces, hats, bracelets, purses, pendants and earrings Custom orders welcome!
Handcrafted Native American Artwork Novelty items and giftware Discount tobacco products
1/4 mile south of Okanogan Inn, Hwy. 97 • Okanogan
Published by The Omak-Okanogan County Chronicle Publisher Roger Harnack • Editor Julie Bock Contributing photographers Joaquim Bustamante, Al Camp, Roger Harnack, Kirby Vargas and The Omak-Okanogan County Chronicle staff. Cover photo by Roger Harnack.
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North Cascades National Bank For all of your banking and lending needs! Visit us at our two Okanogan Valley locations:
Member FDIC Equal Housing Lender
Omak branch 721 S. Okoma Drive 826-1018
Okanogan branch 188 Pine Street 422-1135 www.ncnbank.com
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Tommy ‘Baby Cakes’ Waters IV 1969-2004 The Omak Stampede and World Famous Suicide Race was a natural part of Tommy’s life. Like many young native cowboys, he followed his family’s tradition of being a Suicide racer. At age 14, Tommy began riding the hill. He was also a traditional dancer and passed this tradition to his children. Tommy was the son of Tommy Waters III and Joanne (Marchand) Spearson. Tommy is greatly missed.
The Waters family is a proud sponsor of the 2013 World Famous Suicide Race. Keeping Memories and Traditions Alive
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Hank Cate • 1961-2011
The Cate family proudly sponsors The World Famous Suicide Race in honor of Hank Cate.
Son • Brother • Husband • Father • Uncle • Grandfather • Friend
Hank Cate
What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters, compared to what lies within us. ~R. W. Emerson
2009
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Animal Hospital of Omak Dr. Tuttle DVM 509-826-5070 132 Columbia St. Omak, WA 98841
NATIONAL
SUICIDE PREVENTION
LIFELINE 41
1-800-273-8225 suicidepreventionlifeline.org
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TJ volunteerd many hours to the Suicide Race throughout the last decade. He was a main part of the rescue boat for the last few years. Thank you TJ for donating your time, we miss you, buddy.
The winning team in 2004. Hector Mendoza, Montana Pakootas, Darnell Sam and TJ Dick.
CATES & ERB INC. Building Our Future — Today General Contractor Native American Service Disabled Veteran Owned Small Business Hub Zone !
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