story by Ruth Nicolaus
Ben James is working to make the sport of rodeo better.
The bull rider-turned bullfighter-turned rodeo clown is in his second year as the specialty act director for the Idaho Cowboys Association.
A resident of Gooding, Idaho, he has had an ICA card for the past dozen years. He got his card at age 21, after following in his dad’s footsteps. His dad, Doug James, was a bull rider for three decades, “so I wanted to play that game,” he said.
A 2008 graduate of Gooding High School, he competed in the Idaho High School Rodeo Association District 5 as a bull rider.
But it was in a practice pen in Jerome, in 2009, that his evolution from rider to bullfighter began. A couple of guys got together to get on practice bulls, but the bullfighter didn’t appear. So Ben volunteered to get in front of them, “and it was a natural click,” he said. He began doing more of it.
Then, five years ago, he transitioned to the clowning side of rodeo. After suffering the bumps and bruises of being a bullfighter, he decided to switch to rodeo clown and barrelman. It wasn’t long till the open weekends he had that weren’t filled with bullfighting duties, filled up with clowning duties.
Ben loves interacting with the crowd. One of his favorite acts involves a fishing pole and a dollar bill. He stands near the crowd with a dollar bill as his bait, attached to the pole, and makes it easy for a kid in the crowd to slip the dollar bill off. He tells fans he’s fishing for “suckers” among a “school” of fish.
He favors the old-school rodeo clown look, with Wrangler baggies, face paint, and a blue nose. “I like that traditional look. I try to dress in that older tradition.”
In addition to his rodeo schedule, he has a herd of cattle, does a bit of daywork for local ranchers, and has a fencing business. On Tuesdays, he works at the sale yard, where bullfighting is sometimes required, to step around the wild cows and calves that come in to be sold.
In addition to the ICA, Ben has memberships in the Northern Rodeo Association, the Rocky Mountain Pro Rodeo Association, and the Northwest Pro Rodeo Association.
He’s had to strap on the cleats a few times in the last few years, when a bullfighter has gotten hurt. Last year in Grangeville, Idaho, a bull ran over the bullfighter, breaking his foot. Ben jumped out of the barrel, put on the injured bullfighter’s vest, and fought that performance. “It had been a few years, but it clicked,” he said.
And in Livingston, Montana, last year, a bullfighter was a no-show, so Ben took on the duties.
He misses the adrenaline rush bullfighting provided, but he likes working the barrel. “I’ve taken a few good shots in it,” he said, “and I’ve saved some guys. You can get beat up in that barrel, too. I like to say (to the bull), ‘hey, I’m right here, come and hit me,’ so I can save my fellow bullfighter.”
He has enjoyed his service as an ICA director. “Being on the board has gotten me more involved, and it’s been a wake-up call. There are some people out here trying to build our sport up. That has humbled me, to want to be better for the future of rodeo. To me, that’s the big picture. It’s made me look at things a little differently.”
Being on the ICA board has given him an inside look at the work committees do to produce a rodeo. “It gives you insight to what they’re going through, and what they have to do. It’s made it easier to talk to committees.”
In his spare time, Ben likes to fish and hunt and play with his and his girlfriend Becca Bradbury’s eleven-month-old son Jeremiah.
Jeremiah is the light of his daddy’s eyes. “He’s the happiest, smiling-est little guy you’ve ever seen in your life. He’s never mad, always happy. He’s a real joy.”
In addition to rodeo clowning, he’s announced some Idaho High School rodeos and has paid for the ICA membership of high school roughstock cowboys.
Ben is a three-time ICA Bullfighter of the Year and is the 2022 ICA Rodeo Clown of the Year.
