Ben Johnson Memorial Award
Born in Missouri in 1925, Don Harrington grew up in Butte, Montana, where he experienced his first association with rodeo. Following four years in the U.S. Navy, he attended the University of Montana, participating in intercollegiate rodeo as a bareback rider and calf roper, and earning a degree in business administration.
Pressed into service by stock contractor Oral Zumwalt, Don Harrington began announcing rodeo venues in the late 1940s. He joined the Rodeo Cowboys Association in 1951 and made a career of announcing the arena action into the late 1970s. During nearly 30 years, Harrington worked with major contractors including Harry Knight, the Christensen Brothers, Andy Jauregui, Cotton Rosser, Beutler Brothers, Harry Vold and Big Sky Rodeo Company. He called the action from the Dakotas to California and from Canada to New Mexico, and remains the only person ever to announce three finals events (RCA, collegiate and high school) in one year (1972). Harrington also served on the board of directors of the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association and on the board of the Rodeo Historical Society at the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum.
For his many contributions to both rodeo sport and humanity at large, Don Harrington was selected as the recipient of the Ben Johnson Memorial Award in 2002.
