Four men have been added to the Encampment/Riverside Lions Club Hall of Fame for 2015. Dave Johnson, Neal Kirk, Leonard Johnson and George Bruegman. Each have been recognized for their contributions to Woodchoppers over the years.
Dave Johnson
Dave Johnson believes that he has received the highest honor he could possibly receive when he was notified he was going to be included on the Woodchoppers Hall of Fame wall at the Encampment/Riverside Lions Club Arena.
Johnson retired in 2009 as the voice of Woodchoppers after 31 years, only to be asked to come back in 2010.
Johnson knew all of the old timers, those he calls the last of the real loggers, and as the last of them left the competition, Johnson knew it was time to retire.
He also announced the parade for many years. The only year he took time off from announcing the parade during his tenure was when he was the Grand Marshal of the parade.
That year Gov. Dave Freudenthal participated in the parade and Leonard Clark took over the announcing for Johnson.
"He was so busy telling everybody about me, he forgot to introduce the governor," said Johnson as he shared memories of his time volunteering at Woodchoppers.
When Johnson started announcing, it was just the parade, then he started doing Woodchoppers and the rodeo. Johnson knew a lot of the men in the logging trade – but admits he knew very little about rodeo. "I sure was glad to see Jimmy Hinkle take over the rodeo," Johnson said.
Johnson's voice would take its toll when he did all three events – including the rodeo slack.
He said he started announcing to help out all the people who said he talked too much.
"I proved their theory," Johnson said.
It was Mike Hammer, a friend of his, and organizer of Woodchoppers that invited Johnson to announce.
Johnson speaks highly of Hammer and believes there should be a statue in the center of Encampment for what he did for the town.
"When you shook his hand, it was a deal," Johnson said of Hammer.
"He was a dear, dear friend."
Johnson's connection to the logging industry in the Platte Valley goes back to 1970. He built the roads in French Creek for the timber sales and the Spring Creek Roads for Louisiana Pacific.
Johnson first came to Saratoga in 1968, although his Wyoming roots go back much further. In 1970 after working on a project in Hanna he decided to stay because "the Platte River Valley has the greatest people in the world".
Johnson said his biggest enjoyment being the announcer for so many years was talking about the history of the logging and timber industry.
Not only was he friends with Mike Hammer, who owned the mill in Encampment, but he was good friends with Pete Crow, who owned a mill in Saratoga.
When the Encampment/Riverside Lions Club created the women's axe throwing competition, Johnson said he was against it – but then he realized women really like to have an axe around.
Neal Kirk
Neal Kirk and his wife Carole owned the Coors Distributorship in Carbon County for 27 years. They became involved in Woodchoppers in 1965. That first year, three distributorships were invited to participate; Kirk was the only one who stayed.
The Kirks supplied the trophies for Woodchoppers until they retired in 1992. "After 20 years, we ran out of ideas and we started giving away coolers," Kirk said.
He recalled one year a man from Australia competed in Woodchoppers and won all of the events – 25 coolers. He couldn't take them back to Australia on the plane, so he was giving them away or selling them.
Kirk said the meat for the barbecue used to be cooked at the penitentiary in Rawlins. It was Gene Herring's responsibility to pick up the meat. Herring's truck broke down, so Kirk loaned him his Coor's van.
Herring told Kirk he was waved to by everybody as he drove to Encampment. He didn't know Kirk knew so many people.
Kirk distributed all over the county and sponsored nearly every event in the county.
"I didn't even know they had the Hall of Fame program until recently," Kirk said. "I know 95 percent of the people on that board."
Kirk said he was happy to see Dave Johnson being honored this year as "he did a super job announcing when we were sponsoring [Woodchoppers]".
Leonard Clark
Leonard Clark provided the sound for Woodchoppers for 38 years. He would set up the sound and was the first announcer for Woodchoppers events after moving to Encampment in 1973.
Clark was a member of the Encampment/Riverside Lions Club as well as other organization in the Platte Valley.
Clark served in the Air Force for 21 years before moving to Encampment.
Bob Merrill, of the Encampment/Riverside Lions Club, said the Lions Club is honored to have Clark as a member of the Hall of Fame.
Clark passed away in 2011.
George Bruegman
George Bruegman was a rodeo stock contractor from Albin, Wyo. He was the contractor for the first Encampment Jamboree Rodeo, in 1965 or1966, and from all accounts he probably lost money those first few years, as he was paid on a percent of the gate. However, George stuck with it until he passed the business on to his daughter and son-in-law, who continued through 1988.
In 1979 George had purchased some young bulls that had not been bucked out before and one of them jumped a gate in the arena and ended up in Riverside. It ran through a house, in through the patio door and out through the picture window.
(See story on page 6)
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