Bio

In his first year at Dawson, Chuck Simonson won the NIRA Big Sky Region Rookie of the Year Award in 1978-1979 and helped the Bucs finish 4th in the nation as a team. He finished 3rd overall in the bareback and 5th overall in the men’s all-around. In the 1979-1980 season he won the bull riding national championship. His third year was a year that the DCC community will never forget. Simonson helped make history as a member of Coach Tom Ree’s 1981 National Champion Men’s Rodeo Team—the only national championship team Dawson Community College has ever produced. The team scored 1,077 points at Nationals – over 300 more than 2nd place finisher. They won that title before a crowd of 5,400 people at Montana State University and ended Southeastern Oklahoma’s five consecutive national championship streak. Individually, he won the bull-riding title for the second straight year and finished second in the Men’s All-Around.

After leaving Dawson. Simonson had an outstanding professional career. A true cowboy, Chuck made three trips to the National Finals Rodeo and claimed victories at some of the biggest rodeos in the country, including Calgary, Fort Worth, San Antonio, San Angelo, Tucson, El Paso, Pueblo, Albuquerque, and Walla Walla. Simonson was known as one of Montana’s best roughstock riders, excelling in bull riding, saddle bronc riding, and bareback riding. His career was tragically cut short when he was paralyzed with a spinal injury while competing, but his accomplishments are undisputed.  

Simonson now lives in Oklahoma and braids rawhide.