Neal Driscoll, left, and his brother Mike
photo/Matt Cashore

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Collegiate Rodeo Association

Four students from Montana received tentative approval from the RecSports department in 1999 to launch what's believed to the first Notre Dame Rodeo Club.

Freshman Neal Driscoll of Butte, whose brother Mike, a senior, got the group off the ground last year, said in January 1999 that about 16 students had expressed interest in giving the sport a try. The club's other organizers are junior Rory Fanning from Prey and sophomore Claire Peterson of Whitefish.

Don't expect to see bucking broncos or raging bulls inside Notre Dame Stadium or the Joyce Center, though. The closest rodeo venue is the D-Bar-S indoor arena in Elkhart. Club members plan to practice there individually and possibly compete in local rodeos, which are held at the arena every few weeks.

The club will compete under the Notre Dame banner in the Ozark (East Coast) Division of the National Intercollegiate Rodeo Association. Some of the top teams in college rodeo this year are Dickinson State University (North Dakota), Weber State University (Utah), Panhandle State University (Oklahoma), the University of Wyoming, California Polytechnic State University, Central Arizona College and the University of Tennessee-Martin.

Individuals must be NIRA members to compete in the association's rodeos. The membership fee of $150 a year covers insurance against injury at competitions.

Most students who've expressed interest in the Notre Dame club have experience riding horses, but only about a third have actually participated in a rodeo, said Neal Driscoll, who tried the sport for the first time in eighth grade.

Certain events like barrel racing are reserved for women-only competition, but women may enter any rodeo event. Neal Driscoll said a Saint Mary's student has told him she wants to try the most dangerous event of all, bull riding.

The club has received probationary approval from RecSports, meaning it receives no monetary support. It could receive full approval -- joining 21 current club sports -- in a year if it demonstrates continuing interest from students and adherence to University policies. One of those policies concerns fund-raising. Rodeos are sponsored by tobacco companies, but the University prohibits student groups from receiving money from such sources.

-- Ed Cohen