Today is the birthday of Jim Johnston, who was born north of Watford City on this date in 1937. Jim was only two years old when his father, Andy, died. After that, Jim and his brothers went to live with their bachelor uncle, Ben Johnston, who also ranched near Watford City.

Jim quit school when he finished eighth grade and went back to work on his uncle’s ranch. Ben raised bucking horses and produced rodeos. He was also tough, a trait he passed on to his nephews. Jim remembers helping his uncle trail horses from the ranch to a rodeo in White Earth. En route, they had to swim the herd across the Missouri River.

Jim started trying out practice horses, sometimes getting up on a semi-load a day. “Whenever new horses came to the ranch,” Jim says, “my brother, Carroll, and I headed to the arena.”

Soon, he was ready to compete and entered a rodeo at the Badlands Saddle Club Arena. His uncle told him he would pay the entrance fee for him, but said, “It’s all up to you from here on.”

Pretty soon, Jim was competing in rodeos throughout the region. In the late 1950s, he learned the rodeo business inside and out while working for the Fettig Rodeo Company, in Killdeer. He drove truck, flanked bucking stock, sorted horses, worked as a pickup man and, of course, competed.

Almit Breuer, of Garrison, said Johnston worked hard. “It didn’t make any difference what type of work it was, he’d be right there to get ‘er done.” But Johnston also competed hard. “He’d be right there to help you,” Breuer said, “then of course he’d turn right around and beat you, too. You never counted him out because he could jump up and get you at any time. But he did it gracefully.”

Johnston competed in North Dakota Rodeo Association rodeos for more than 20 years, winning at least 23 trophy buckles for bareback riding, steer wrestling, bull riding, team roping and the all-around. He was the Association’s bull riding champ in ‘60, ‘61 and ‘62, and was the champion in bareback riding and all-around in ‘61, ‘62 and ‘63.
In ‘64, Johnston bought his Rodeo Cowboys Association card, adding South Dakota, Nebraska, Montana and Canada to his competition circuit. His first preference was bareback riding. “Bull riding wasn’t my favorite event,” he says, “but when I was getting broke, I’d enter and always seemed to win some money.”

Within RCA rodeos, Johnston was state riding and all-around champion in 1966, and was state bareback champion in ‘68. Some of the more memorable horses he rode were Sunburnt, Sleeper, Figure Four, Defender and Trails End. Among the bulls he rode were Dark Angel, Bull Durham, Jamboree and the deceptively named Pinky.

Among his career highlights was a competition in Nemo SD in the late 1950s. He was up against some of the biggest names in rodeo, including Dean Armstrong, Bob Abernethy, Jack Buschbom and Lowell James. Although he came in second, he lost the match by just one point to the legendary Casey Tibbs, which, in rodeo circles, was good enough for bragging rights.

Johnston was also an accomplished bull-dogger and owned an excellent horse named Joe. “Joe was solid, scored excellent and you hardly ever broke out on him,” Jim says.
Joe was named Horse of the Year at the National College Rodeo Finals in 1970, and in 2004, his owner was inducted into the North Dakota Cowboy Hall of Fame. Happy birthday, Jim!

Source: North Dakota Cowboy Hall of Fame. <http://northdakotacowboy.com/Hall_of_Fame/details.asp?ID=82>

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