Lifetime Leaders of Rodeo & Ranching Rodeo Ranching Great Westerner Western Entertaiment & Arts Rodeo Producers & Livestock Special Achievement Cowboy Long Rider Legacy Award

Lifetime Leaders of Rodeo & Ranching

Earl Northrop
2001 Leader of Ranching/Rodeo Inductee

Earl Northrop was born to Theo and Mabel (Hegarty) Northrop on June 12, 1921, in Monango. He was raised on a ranch at Merricourt and, at an early age, began trailing horses with his father from Mobridge, South Dakota, to Merricourt. During this time, he acquired his life-long love of horses, story telling, laughter and respect for Native American ways.

 Earl attended the Whitestone Battlefield Grade School, graduated from high school in Fargo and attended the North Dakota Agricultural College. He served in the U.S. Navy during World War II and, after his discharge, worked for several commission firms at the Union Stockyards, West Fargo, and broke horses for use in Pennsylvania's police departments. He started trucking livestock in 1946 and was North Dakota Motor Carrier president from 1965-67, receiving the Pioneer Carrier award in 1982.

 Earl married Lois Ellenson in 1953, and they raised four children. They owned a cow/calf and feeder cattle operation near McLeod from 1958-62. Earl rode bareback and three-gaited horses, roped at amateur rodeos and began raising cutting horses. He started farming at Harwood in 1966.

 Perhaps Earl's most fulfilling life activity was his 35 years of intense involvement with high school rodeo that began in 1962. He believed that teaching youth to appreciate cowboy heritage would produce responsible, productive adults.

 He served as North Dakota director in the National High School Rodeo Association for 33 years and as NHSRA president in 1970 and 1979. Earl was the NHSRA cutting horse arena director from 1971-96 and was a NHSRA Scholarship Foundation founder, serving as chairman from 1971-96. He was honored with numerous NHSRA awards.

 Earl was active in the North Dakota Cutting Horse Association, receiving the Jim Reno Trophy four times (1959-62). He also won awards for bareback riding and roping.

 Friends say no one epitomized or believed in North Dakota's western heritage more than Earl. He died June 24, 1998, with his boots on.