Native American Rodeo Champion: Jackson Sundown, Nez-Perce

 Jackson Sundown is best known as a rodeo star.  He was a bronco and bull rider.  He would even ride buffalo.  He would participate in the Northwest, including Lewiston rodeo and Pendleton Round-Up.  He is Nez-Perce, a grou known for their horsemanship and breeding of Appaloosa horses.  As a young man he participated in the Nez Perce War with Chief Joseph.  He was able to escape the American troops into Canada.  He returned to the reservation in Washington a few years later.  He then moved to Montana.  He was an expert horse breeder and horseman.  He did not become involved in rodeo until he was older.  He quickly became the best.  Often people would drop out if they knew he was competing.  He also became the best dressed with colorful chaps and polka dotted shirts.  There was a book written about his incredible victory in the Pendleton Round-Up, The Last Go 'Round.  This helped cement his legacy.  He is a Hall of Fame member: Idaho Rodeo, Pendleton Found-Up, Rodeo, National Cowboy and Western Heritage, American Indian Athletic, National Multicultural Western Heritage Museum and National Day of the Cowboy.

A video of Jackson Sundown.