A bull rider from rural Kansas died Thursday on Interstate 84 outside Pendleton after the car he was riding in slammed into a commercial truck carrying a load of potatoes, the Oregon State Police said.
Richard Schleicher, 24, of Stockton, was a contestant at this year’s Pendleton Round-Up, which concludes Saturday.
He was in the front seat of an eastbound Volkswagen Jetta driven by Jate Frost, 20, of Randlett, Utah, when it rear-ended a truck driven by Ediberto Carrillo, 31, of Hermiston, police said. The collision occurred east of the town of Echo about 8:15 p.m.
Frost was seriously injured and flown to a Richland, Washington, hospital. A second passenger, Jesse Hopper, 21, of Magnum, Oklahoma, was also seriously injured and was taken to Oregon Health & Science University Hospital. Frost and Hopper, both bull riders as well, were also contestants at the Pendleton rodeo.
Carrillo was not injured.
According to police, the Jetta approached the truck in the slow lane, drove into it and became wedged underneath. A chute extending from the back of the potato truck struck Schleicher.
According to Schleicher’s hometown newspaper, the Stockton Sentinel, he had been on the professional rodeo circuit since he was 19.
Schleicher competed in Wednesday’s Round-Up events and was captured by an Eastern Oregonian photographer as he rode out of the chute.
Schleicher’s father, Harold Schleicher, said his son kept a busy rodeo schedule. This was his first time riding at Pendleton and he planned to hit another rodeo in Washington on Friday, followed by one in Utah on Saturday.
“His schedule was pretty hard to keep up with,” Schleicher said.
He said his son loved the rodeo.
“He loved riding bulls,” he said. “He loved to laugh. He loved his friends, the rodeo community. It’s what he loved and I guess we should all be so lucky to be able to do what we love to do.”
Randy Corley, a veteran rodeo announcer, told The Oregonian/OregonLive on Saturday that news of Schleicher’s death spread quickly through the rodeo world.
He said all three men were regulars on this year’s rodeo circuit. He said he didn’t know Schleicher well but had announced his events at multiple rodeos.
“I have had him all this year showing up at rodeos and seemed like an awfully good young talent,” said Corley, who is based in Puyallup, Washington.
Corley said cowboys like Schleicher, Frost and Hopper travel a circuit, hitting rodeos in one town after another with the hope of winning $1,200 to $4,000 per show. He said the work is demanding, requires a lot of driving and isn’t lucrative.
“They take turns driving, a couple of them sleep, they get to where they are going and a lot of places have showers on the grounds and they freshen up and compete,” he said.
Once they finish, it’s off to the next rodeo, he said.
“It’s just a lot of travel and in Richard’s case and in Jate’s case and those who were with them, it’s fun,” he said. “They love it.”
-- Noelle Crombie; ncrombie@oregonian.com; 503-276-7184; @noellecrombie
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