EVENTS
World Champion Saddle Bronc Rider, 1970
Bareback Bronc Rider
Arena Judge
Born near Clara City, Minnesota, in 1937, Dennis Reiners was inspired as a youth to pursue a rodeo career after seeing the legendary Casey Tibbs perform. He commenced practicing on his father’s dairy calves soon thereafter. The life of a professional cowboy would be his.
Reiners qualified for 11 National Finals Rodeos in the 1960s and 1970s, winning the 1970 saddle- bronc riding championship. Nine of his NFR qualifications came in saddle bronc riding, with the other two in bareback riding in 1965 and 1966. He took the NFR bareback riding average in 1965 and the saddle bronc riding average in 1973. Reiners also worked as a rodeo judge and leased bucking stock at various venues. In his later competitive years, he won 11 consecutive senior championships, cementing his legacy as a top-notch cowboy.
Dennis Reiners appeared in the 1971 movie “J.W. Coop” with Cliff Robertson, as well as in the 1966 Casey Tibbs documentary, “Born to Buck.” He was inducted into the ProRodeo Hall of Fame in 1993.
