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SDRA Spotlight on Sue Golliher February 2005 - The old adage “Behind every successful man you will find a good woman,” should probably be changed to “Behind every successful person you will find a 'good family.'” Family is the core of the SDRA and the Gollihers are proof of that! Sue and Jerry Golliher were married in 1972 and their family time was spent rodeoing with great success. Sue Golliher was the 1973 Barrel Racing Champion in both the SDRA and the NRCA, she captured several more titles before she was done though! Ladies All Around Champion in 1974 and 1976, Runner up All Around 1975, along with Runner up in Goat Tying in 1974 and 1979. Jerry was also busy winning his Calf Roping Title in 1978, Team Roping Championship in 1980 and was All Around Runner up in 1978. Not only did Sue and Jerry prove to be a great contenders in the arena, they were also a huge asset to the association, Sue served as the Executive Secretary from 1978-1979, Jerry served as President from 1981-1982, and both were Event Directors for several years. One of the highlights of their rodeo career was going to the 1979 Team Rodeo in Calgary. Their team ended up winning that year. Sue won the Barrel Racing taking home a nice bronze. One of the other team members, Gary Zilverberg, won the All-Around, along with a bronze and a pickup. He beat Sue out of the All-Around by only $100! Sue was instrumental in getting Goat Tying into the SDRA. The girls were wanting to have some more events, and at that time, there were not a lot of girl ropers. Goat Tying was added in 1973 on a trial basis and was then approved in 1974 for an event. Sue states, “When we first started, there was a lot to be said for the luck of the draw! The goats we used were quite a wide variety of goats; we had Billy Goats and then we had BIG Billy Goats, long hair goats, some small ones and of course the “fainters”. Because of the large size, the goats had to be legged instead of flanked like they do now.” As their family became larger, Sue slowed down with her rodeoing, “It was not as easy with 3 little ones along”. ZeAnn, their first child, apparently caught the rodeo fever from her parents, ZeAnn has been a top 12 finalist at the SDRA Finals in the Ladies Breakaway and Barrel Racing! The boys in the family are Lane, who lives in Loveland Colorado and works at the Art Castings of Colorado where they make bronze sculptures. Ross is in his 2nd year at the Western Tech in Rapid City in the welding program. Sue and Jerry would like to congratulate the SDRA on 50 years, “There of course has been a lot of changes in the 50 years, but one of the biggest changes in the SDRA was adding the central entry system; you could be on the phone for hours prior to having it. It was a great timesaver for everyone in the SDRA. Also, the rodeos used to just be mostly West River; now they are statewide. The thing we like most about the SDRA, though, is that it is a family organization. I like to see it when families go together. One of the most impressive families when we were rodeoing in the 70’s was Jack and Bette Smeenk with their 3 kids all rodeoing together. They were always a lot of fun to be around!” It's families like the Gollihers that help keep the SDRA going strong. We congratulate the Gollihers on their many achievements and thank them for their support! |