Ritzville Rodeo Giant Donnie Hutsell Passes Away at 80

An industry-dominating livestock contractor is longer with us.

Donnie Hutsell is said to have loved and intuitively understood bucking stock. His career spanned half a century and in that time he amassed vast reserves of goodwill. Hutsell died on Tuesday; he was 80 years old.

The Ritzville resident founded Flying 5 Rodeo Company way back in 1974. By 1992 his legacy was practically irreproachable in rodeo circles, but Hutsell was never one to rest on his laurels, so he teamed up with Walter "Sonny" Riley to establish Big Bend Rodeo Company.

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Talk about a record of achievement! Under his leadership, Big Bend produced the PRCA Bull of the Year not once but four times: Rapid Fire (1997), Unforgiven (2002) and Tanhanta (2003, 2004). All the while Flying 5 Rodeo was doing great things in its own right. The company's Yellow Jacket earned Bull of the Year honors in 1999.

Yet Hutsell was by most accounts eternally humble. His companies were steeped in accolades, but each award caught him by surprise, according to son Chad, a fellow stock contractor.

Chad is on record as saying, "I won't ever fill his boots. The only thing I can follow in his footsteps in, is that I love great bucking horses. Dad had an eye for bucking horses and he loved the great ones."

Chad says the elder Hutsell viewed his animals not as, well, livestock, but as family.

The family patriarch is gone but not forgotten. At noon sharp on Nov. 23, a Saturday, the whole Hutsell clan will gather for a remembrance at the American Legion Hall in Ritzville.