Dr. Justin Janssen was presented the 2022 Bud Newell Award by the Kansas Horse Council (KHC) during the EquiFest of Kansas in Salina.
Honoring KHC founder Bud Newell, the award recognizes an individual who “has gone above and beyond for the equine industry of Kansas.” KHC Board President Kallie Emig made the presentation.
Dr. Janssen grew up in central Kansas and graduated from Kansas State University with his Bachelors in 1970 and finished his doctorate of veterinary medicine in 1972.
He opened Janssen Veterinary Clinic in Sheridan, Indiana, in 1977 with his wife Mary Janssen. He sold his clinic and moved his family back to Kansas in 2007. Throughout his career, Dr. Janssen has remained involved in several national and regional equine organizations.
He’s been chairman of the Hoosier Horse Fair, the Indiana High School Rodeo Association, and the Indiana Veterinary Medical Association. Dr. Janssen been an active member and contributing leader of the American Association of Equine Practitioners and the American Quarter Horse Association to just name a few.
“I could list a great number of other organizations and committees in which Dr. Janssen has dedicated his time and years of wisdom to, but we are here today to recognize his efforts within our very own Kansas equine industry,” Emig said.
First and foremost, Dr. Janssen served six years on the Board of Directors for the Kansas Horse Council including two years as president.
“He served as chairman for EquiFest of Kansas for five years and under his direction guided the KHC to bring the entire planning and execution of the event in house, as well as, guided the move of EquiFest to Salina.
“The impact and the changes Dr. Janssen made to the KHC are still present as we continue to pursue the direction and goals he selflessly guided us towards for several years, including the Legendary Horseman,” Emig said.
In addition to his time with the KHC and EquiFest, Dr. Janssen has served on the Livestock and Meat Industry Council, or the LMIC, for the last 13 years and is currently serving as the Vice President.
The LMIC is a Kansas organization working primarily with Kansas State University in which they are dedicated to promoting the development and growth of all segments of the livestock industry.
Through the LMIC, Dr. Janssen is heavily involved with the production of hosting the Stockmen’s Dinner the night before Cattlemen’s Day as well the Family and Friends Reunion in the fall, both events promoting involvement with the Animal Science Department at K-State.
Most recently, Dr. Janssen has spearheaded the campaign to build a new multipurpose Equine Facility at K-State. Not only has he been a key part in formatting the building plans, Dr. Janssen has spent time enlisting significant donations for this project, as well as, presenting the campaign on behalf of the LMIC at the Annual Governor’s Ag Summit meeting hosted by the Kansas Department of Agriculture in 2022.
Among his heavy involvement with the KHC and the LMIC, Dr. Janssen also helped establish the Kansas Equine Practitioners Group, to share in continuing education within equine veterinary medicine.
In addition, he is a veterinary mentor for the Future Equine Veterinarians at Kansas State. “You may be thinking that Dr. Janssen must spend most of his time volunteering on these committees and working towards the betterment of the equine industry of Kansas…. and he does,” Emig said.
“But I will now convince you that in fact serving the equine industry of Kansas seems to be the only thing Dr. Janssen does.”
In his spare time, he would tell you that he works on his hobbies, but even his hobbies are targeted at serving, volunteering, and donating to the equine industry.
Dr. Janssen has designed and continues to fabricate multiple portable equine stocks for veterinary medicine practice and sells them to veterinarians locally and across the United States.
The KSU Veterinary Health Center Equine Field Service Team has benefited from Dr. Janssen’s portable stocks for several years as they’re individually made by Dr. Janssen in his shop right outside his home.
In addition, he uses his skills in metal work and woodwork by donating items every year to the Kansas Horse Council Foundation such as hat racks, jewelry racks, bridle hangers, and saddle stands.
He also has built the rocking horses, teeter totters, and other toys used in the Kiddie Korral and generously donates the use of them each year for EquiFest.
“I could keep going about all the great things Dr. Janssen does, but I believe it is already undisputed the amount of time, effort and ultimately the effect Dr. Janssen has had on the equine industry of Kansas and that it is quite substantial,” Emig said.
“Thank you, Dr., Janssen for your commitment to the betterment of the Kansas equine industry with the Kansas Horse Council, as recipient of the 2022 Bud Newell Outstanding Service Award.”

CUTLINE
Dr. Justin Janssen was presented the 2022 Bud Newell Outstanding Service by Kallie Emig, president of the Kansas Horse Council, during the EquiFest of Kansas in Salina.

Justin Rumford is a ten-time Professional Rodeo Cowboy’s Association (PRCA) Clown of the Year who grew up in the rodeo business.
He attended his first National Finals Rodeo when he was six years old. Rumford knew then and there that he was destined to be in the rodeo arena.
Rumford’s rodeo career is long and distinguished before he became a clown. He went to the National High School Finals and competed in the Central Plains Region for college rodeo. He made the college finals in both saddle bronc riding and steer wrestling.
Rumford went on to compete in pro rodeo where he made the Prairie Circuit Finals in the steer wrestling multiple times.
Rumford’s clown career happened quick. After a clown was unable to make it last minute, Rumford was asked to “just give it a shot” in Pretty Prairie, Kansas. He borrowed a barrel and a wireless microphone for one performance.
“I was like wow this a thing, man this is maybe something I want to do,” Rumford said.
In 2011, he made the decision to go forward with being a rodeo clown. It kept him involved with rodeo where he already had a relationship with a lot of people that he would end up working with.
Rumford’s career took off quickly after he got his card in 2011. He won PRCA Clown of the Year in 2012 and for the next nine consecutive years.
“I think that my career just hit when it was supposed to. I’m pretty blessed to just be there when I was supposed to be there,” he said.
Rodeo has been a part of Rumford’s life forever. It is full of friends turned family and his memories and stories are worth more than the buckles.
His grandpa Floyd Rumford Jr. started in the rodeo contracting business in 1946 and annually produced rodeos throughout the Midwest.
Justin Rumford’s dad, Bronc Rumford was the world’s youngest champion bareback bronc rider when three-years-old. Bronc went on to an illustrious career in every phase of rodeo from diverse competition championships, to stock contracting, to picking up, and well beyond.
Justin Rumford is the most decorated rodeo clown in the PRCA with many unforgettable moments.
Peering through the reflective glass at his past, Justin Rumford was a comedy act waiting to happen.
As a high schooler in south-central Kansas, his actions oftentimes proved to be a mix of his small-town raising. A life lived on the rodeo trail and a hunger for a good time.
He carried that on to the next level when he attended Northwestern Oklahoma State University in Alva. And it was a big part of his lifestyle in the early stages of his rodeo career.
There isn’t anything in rodeo that the man hasn’t done. He’s been a bullfighter and a pickup man and a bronc rider and a bulldogger.
He’s roped calves and roped steers, and through every layer of his life, he told funny tales, oftentimes about his own life. It made his transition into a popular rodeo clown that much easier.
Rumford, lives in Ponca City, Oklahoma, with his wife and their triplets,
“We like having Rump around, because he’s funny and he’s a lot like the rest of us,” said Jeremy Carman, chairman of the volunteer committee that produces the annual Guymon, Oklahoma, rodeo. “He is a great fit for our rodeo and the people who live out here in the Panhandle. He’s really one of us.”
Whether he’s telling reride stories behind the chutes or entertaining the crowds who pile into rodeo arena, it’s Rumford being Rumford.
It’s the way he was as a 16-year-old in Abbyville, Kansas; it’s the way he is in his mid-40s. The stories are different, but they’re still comical.
“He’s very easy to work with, because he understands rodeo so well,” said Ken Stonecipher, a longtime committee member and one of the announcers who calls the action in Guymon. “He understands what we need as a rodeo production, and he knows the right times to turn on his microphone and entertain the fans.
“It’s almost like he’s visiting with each person in the stands. He makes it comfortable and funny. There’s just something special about the things he does.”
It’s the reason why he’s been named the PRCA’s Clown of the Year 10 times over his relatively short career in greasepaint. Rumford’s storytelling and comedic techniques have come from a lifetime of experiences.
He utilizes all that for RümpChät, a popular podcast he does with another rodeo personality, Josh “Hambone” Hilton, who is the sound director in Guymon, Oklahoma, each May.
“It’s not just a rodeo podcast, but it’s very agriculture,” Rumford said. “We have a lot of farmers, ranchers and oilfield workers who listen. We’re a blue-collar, beer drinking-man’s podcast.”
What’s said on air sometimes transitions into the rodeo arena, and vice versa. With a personality where life imitates art, Rumford is quite at home around bucking horses and timed-event steers.
“I totally adjust everything,” he said. “You don’t want to push somebody on what they want to hear. When you’re in die-hard rodeo country, you have to feel it out and see what happens. They’re rodeo-savvy, but they like to party. They are my kind of people.”

CUTLINES
Justin Rumford is a 10-time PRCA Clown of the Year, but what he does in the arena is what he does in his everyday life. He’s simply an entertaining person, and he will prove it again at the Guymon, Oklahoma, Pioneer Days Rodeo in May.
(Ted Harbin photo)

Before he ever became a clown, Justin Rumford was entertaining folks in Guymon, just doing so behind the scenes. He and his vibrant personality return to for the Pioneer Days Rodeo, May 5-7.(Ted Harbin photo)