40 ride in Donny Martin memorial event, scholarship funds raised

RIDING FOR MEMORIES: A bull rider makes the first ride of the night at the Donny Martin Memorial Bull ride in Penn Valley.

On a hot day in Donny Martin's home town of Penn Valley, 40 dedicated bull riders and an arena full of Martin's family, friends and fans paid tribute to a great man and bull fighter.

They also came to raise money in his honor as their way of keeping the Donny Martin Memorial Scholarship alive for many years to come.

One of the bulls that was used in the short go-round was a bull named Donny Rotten. The animal is owned by Travis Moniz, 7, who named the bull in honor of Martin, his hero.

In the bull riding, DJ Cooper of Cottonwood won fourth place riding a bull named Red Velvet for a score of 75 points. Cooper was bucked off a bull named Hang Man in the short go-round. The bull Red Velvet is owned by Billy Soksoda of Campbell and of Happy Valley.

The best bullfighter award was given to JT Davis of Cottonwood who is a newcomer to the sport of bullfighting. The Cottonwood Kid, Hudson Spalti, was able to go out and entertain the crowd during the mutton event and took part in the best dressed rodeo clown contest. He placed within the top four young rodeo clowns.

At intermission, when the stock contractors were loading the chutes for the final event of the night, a calf dressing contest was held. The team of three members that could flank the calf and put a pair of underwear on it and get it to the line first won $150. Logan Martin, Donny's younger brother, and his team won first place and donated the money back to the scholarship foundation.

The amount raised for the scholarship will be announced after an organizers' meeting later this week. The goal of the foundation is to be able to award a total of four scholarships each year to rodeo athletes in California and Nevada with scholarship awards going to a boy and a girl in each of the two states. The memorial event was put together by family and friends of Donny Martin. Outlaw Rodeo Company of Vina supplied the livestock.

"The bull ride for Donny had a great pen of bulls there and 40 dedicated riders. It was great to be a part of it," Cooper said.

If you would like to read more about Donny Martin and his achievements, a Web site put together in his honor can be found at www.donny-martin.com.