MARTIN, Tenn. – The University of Tennessee at Martin’s 2018 Spring College Rodeo runs begins tonight and runs through Saturday night. It marks 50 years of success for the university team. All three nights of competition begin at 7:30 p.m. in the Ned Ray McWherter Agricultural Complex, located to the north of Graham Stadium.
All Thursday night tickets are $6 each. General admission adult tickets are $10 for the Friday night performance and $12 for Saturday night. Child and student tickets are $7 for either night’s competition. A weekend pass – which is good for all three performances – is also available for $20.
Child and student tickets apply to children ages 6-12 and UT Martin students with valid Skyhawk ID cards. Children under six are always admitted free of charge.
Rodeo became a collegiate sport at UT Martin in 1968 and quickly developed a reputation for success, winning the UT Martin Rodeo Invitational Championship for three consecutive years (1969-1971). Cowboy Skip Emmett became UT Martin’s first national champion in 1975 after capturing the national all-around cowboy title and winning the national bareback riding championship. The UT Martin program lived up to expectations after that, consistently dominating the Ozark Region and placing well in the national rankings.
In 2014, the men’s team made history as the first collegiate rodeo team from east of the Mississippi River to win a national team title at the annual College National Finals Rodeo in Casper, Wyoming.
“In my opinion, Coach (John) Luthi and the way he runs his program there in Martin is, hands down, the best in the country,” said Jeff Askey (UT Martin ’10), a former Skyhawk cowboy from Pennsylvania. “When I was in college there were, I think, probably six or seven coaches across the country who had gone to school for Coach Luthi and had adapted some of his coaching techniques. … To me, that speaks to the level of (the) Martin (program) and the coach there, that other schools are copying him.”
“There are very few rodeo programs that I’ve seen or even heard of that can touch the impact and the unity and the professionalism that you’ll get at UT Martin,” said John Alley (’14), a former team member from Adams.
For more information, contact the UT Martin Office of Intercollegiate Athletics at 731-881-7660.
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