WEDNESDAY, JUNE 9, 2004
JUNE GUIDE
1
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN 13
Cabela's Classic features elite riders
By Erik Johnson
ejohnson@kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
This weekend 45 of the word's elite bull riders will buck into Kansas City for the Professional Bull Riders Cabela's Classic.
The event is scheduled for Saturday at 7 p.m. and June 13th, at 2 p.m. at Kemper Arena in Kansas City, Mo. The Cabela's Classic is the 21st official stop on the 2004 Built Ford Tough Series season 29-city tour, leading up to the million dollar World Bullriding Championship in Las Vegas.
Riders will test their courage and
strength in a season-long quest for the ultimate crown in professional bull riding. Athletes engage in battles against 2,000-pound raging bulls who test the riders' stamina and determination.
Michael Gaffney, 34, is a 10-year veteran on the bull riding tour and played an integral role in the development of the PBR. Gaffney, along with 19 other riders, broke away from the traditional rodeo scene in 1992 and started a tour for bull riders only. They felt bull riding deserved a larger share of the spotlight and could easily stand on its own.
"In the PBR, there's only one event: bull riding." Gaffney said. "So as opposed to
going to a rodeo and waiting until the end to see 15 guys ride bulls for a short time, you get to see the best in the country — the best in the world — ride bulls for a few hours."
PBR's headquarters is in Colorado Springs, Colo., and has more than 600 athletes competing in about 100 PBR competitions. PBR's national popularity has grown significantly in ten years, and more than one million spectators now attend events each year.
Bull riding action will be capped each day by a bullfighting competition, where five athletes engage in a 70-second freestyle display of skills and face equally Mexican fighting bulls.
Bullfighters are scored based on the ability to control and maneuver his one-on- opponent.
The best bullfighter is awarded $10,000 in prize money at each World Bullfighting Championships Qualifier.
This is the fourth chance for the world's top bullfighters to qualify for the 2004 World Bullfighting Championships, held in conjunction with the PBR's 2004 Built Ford Tough World Finals in Las Vegas, which will begin October 22.
The Cabela's Classic will be aired live on the Outdoor Life Network.
Leavenworth man honored 95 years after death
—Edited by Amanda O'Toole
The Associated Press
LEAVENWORTH, Kan. — He helped to found Kansas' first town and served as territorial attorney general.
He fought pro-slavery forces during the "Bleeding Kansas" years — three times escaping hanging — and, later, in the Civil War.
Now, 95 years after his death, H. Miles Moore is finally getting a grave marker.
The marker will be dedicated Sunday afternoon at the Mount Muncie Cemetery in nearby Lansing.
The ceremony will also mark the 150th anniversary of the founding of Leavenworth, established just days after President Franklin Pierce signed the Kansas-Nebraska Act creating the two territories.
Moore, a lawyer born in New York, was 27 when Leavenworth was established. Before the Civil War, he served as an assistant U.S. attorney, Leavenworth city attorney and judge.
He died in 1909 when he was struck by a runaway bakery wagon.
He was caring for an ailing wife at the time, leading historians speculate that the
family could not afford a marker.
Historians remembered Moore over the years, but his gravesite was overlooked until a Leavenworth history buff, the late John Will, made it a priority in his research.
When Will died last year, his widow, Jean, suggested memorial donations to the Leavenworth County Historical Society. Not long after that, it was decided to spend the money honoring Moore.
"I think if we're going to preserve our history we have to start right here in our little communities and let people know
about our history and how important this is." Jean Moore said.
The ceremony, set for 2 p.m. Sunday, is open to the public. The rector of St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Leavenworth, where Moore attended, will preside.
"We just want it to be dignified," said Mark Bureman, the historical society's administrator.
He served as an assistant U.S. attorney, Leavenworth city attorney and judge, and then fought in the Civil War.
Information from The Kansas City Star