Buffalo Bill Rodeo leaders have experience as competitors during rodeo production – KCSR/KBPY

Levi Fisher and Justin Thompson, President and Vice President respectively, are professional rodeo competitors who leverage their experience as rodeo cowboys.

Fisher is a tie-down rope access technician who still competes and lives in Hershey. Thompson is a former steer wrestler who lives in North Platte.

Together they lead the Buffalo Bill Rodeo team.

Fisher grew up in Crawford and didn’t start competing until high school. He attended Chadron State College, where he competed collegiately, then after graduation he worked at a feedlot near Kearney, at a bank in St. Paul, Neb., at a bank in North Platte, and in 2005 he and a group started a branch of Equitable. Bank in North Platte. Fisher is president of Equitable Community Bank.

Thompson grew up in North Platte, the son of Jerry Thompson, DVM. He enjoyed wrestling and football in high school; Rodeo was never on the radar.

But while he was a student at Colby (Kan.) Community College, the college rodeo coach asked him if he would like to try steer riding.

He did it and he loved it. He competed collegiately at Colby and then at Northwestern Oklahoma State University in Alva.

After college, he competed professionally from 1996 to 2008, traveling across the country.

In 2008, when he tore his ACL, he opened his insurance agency in North Platte, and his competitive rodeo days were over.

Fisher never stopped rodeoing, although there were years when he didn’t rodeo much while he ferried himself and his two daughters, wife Keri, to middle and high school rodeos. An injured knee and broken leg also slowed him down, but he continues to compete, “as long as the girls let me have a horse,” he joked.

Thompson slaughtered his last steer in 2009; He and his wife Missy have three children, ages 18, 16 and 11. Their children do not participate in the rodeo, but ride horses and work with the family cattle herd.

Being a competitor, and now a member of the rodeo committee, is an advantage, both men believe.

“You’ve been to other rodeos,” Fisher said, “and you’ve seen other ways of doing things.”

Thompson agrees. “We have been on the side of the candidates and you know the needs. This helps us see more deeply. You see how much of a difference livestock makes, and the purse money comes into play as well.”

According to them, Fisher and Thompson are similar in the way they manage business.

“The team atmosphere, the work ethic, the personal responsibility, all of that works in a business, as well as in a rodeo committee,” Fisher said. “It’s a business mindset. You absolutely need to understand an income statement. The rodeo must be self-financing or it will not be sustainable in the long term.

Both men appreciate the hard work of the other committee members.

“Everyone on the committee has a lot of experience,” Fisher said.

“We have people on the committee who see things differently because they come from different sectors. This helps with all the things that need to be done.

“We have a fantastic committee that gets things done. »

Fisher has been on the Buffalo Bill Rodeo committee since 2007; Thompson served on the NebraskalandDays board of directors from 2013 to 2017, then became a member of the rodeo board of directors.

This year’s Buffalo Bill Rodeo will take place June 12-15 at the Wild West Arena in North Platte. Shows start at 8 p.m. each night at the Wild West Arena in North Platte.

Ticket prices range from $11 to $24 and can be purchased online at NebraskalandDays.com, at the NebraskalandDays office and at the door.

For more information and a complete schedule of NebraskalandDays events, visit the website or call the office at 308.532.7939.