Phil Baird knew how to cowboy up

 

RAPID CITY—While people acknowledge and understand the deep spiritual and historical connection Lakota people have with the land, it is the Indian cowboy who still retains the direct connection to the land and the horse. Whether he is a working cowboy or a rodeo cowboy, or both, the Indian cowboy has left his mark on Lakota country, establishing a gritty reputation for cowboy “try,” second to none.

A couple weeks back, Phil Baird (Wanbli Wicasa) made his journey to the spirit world, at Rapid City, at the age of 68. From humble beginnings, Baird epitomized all aspects of being an Indian cowboy, but he went one step further; as explained by Tad Hamilton of Sinte Gleska University: “Baird focused on helping young people navigate their education and championed tribal land restoration and agriculture, including working with bison restoration. Baird understood that our prosperity as tribal people was tied to our ability to stay in relationship with the land. Besides education, he worked with cultural diversity, economic development, tribal gaming, and student leadership”

When still a young man, adrift and rudderless, Baird was mentored by the late Charlie Colome, who was the first to recognize his potential. From Colome he learned all about hard work, about working the land, about revering T’shunka, and about how important it was to teach more young people the same. Like Colome, Baird became skilled at saddle bronc and took to the rodeo circuit. Colome had stepped up and served the Rosebud Sioux Tribe as chairman, and developed a program to put young people into a setting where they could learn about the horse, how to ride, how to care for livestock. Baird would take his mentor’s message to a much larger audience. Baird left the reservation and became a cowboy fixture all across West River, from Nebraska to the Canadian border.

This excerpt from his obituary sums up his lifetime achievements: “He graduated from Todd County High School in Mission, S.D. and earned his bachelor’s degree from South Dakota State University. He received a master’s degree from Iowa State University and an honorary doctorate from Sinte Gleska University.

During his professional career, Phil’s work experiences included education, agriculture, bison restoration, cultural diversity, economic development, Tribal gaming, and student leadership. He held administrative positions with Sinte Gleska University in South Dakota and United Tribes Technical College in North Dakota.

For his contributions in education, Phil was recognized in 1997 with an SDSU Distinguished Alumnus Service to Education award. The same year, he was honored with the Bismarck Tribune Community Service award. In 1999, he received the SDSU Distinguished American Indian Alumnus award.

Phil served in leadership positions, most notably with the American Indian Higher Education Consortium, National Congress of American Indians, National Indian Education Association, North Dakota Indian Affairs Commission, and the South Dakota Indian Education Association.”

While driving home from a rodeo conference, Baird had the idea to start a hall of fame for North Dakota cowboys, and in 1995 the North Dakota Cowboy Hall of Fame became a reality, located in the Badlands town of Medora. Baird served as president and vice president. He was the sixth cowboy to receive the HOF’s Legacy Award in 2016.

Baird was a walking, talking history textbook on all things rodeo, not just Indian rodeo, but being the guy who thought up the idea of the ND Rodeo HOF, Baird made sure Indian cowboys were well represented, as well as out-of-state cowboys, to whatever extent they contributed to ND rodeo or were too integral a part of rodeo history to go unmentioned.

Dakota Goodhouse wrote in the Bismark Tribune: “Anyone who has met the late Phil Baird left their conversation with him with a deeper appreciation for horses, bison, education, and the Lakota Way of Life. A wonderful listener, the flow of conversation was never about him. Lekshí Phil cultivated mutual interests in art, music, the pursuit of higher education, and history most of all.

Lekshí loved family. He spoke of his daughters with soaring pride and held his grandchildren with such a great abiding affection his warmth was like a fire. Lekshí loved making relatives. If anyone knew him a winter or longer, he was happy to call one friend or family. His self-assuredness was not boastful. The respect he held for others was like the very Breath of Life he shared with horses, somehow wild, electric, sudden and forever.”

Baird was also a fine writer, and this excerpt from his guest column in the October 2022 Native Sun News gives an indication of how deeply he understood the political landscape and the threats to Indian country: “Governor Noem’s executive order to prevent “revisionist” efforts (in education curriculum) is an attempt at control and domination. She claims she is using a political platform to protect the welfare of the citizens of South Dakota. Which citizens?”

In a January 2018 article in NSNT, Baird mentioned great cowboys for a perspective Sioux Indian Rodeo Hall of Fame which never came about. However, he talked of the South Dakota Hall of Fame: “The S.D. Hall of Fame, established in 1974 as the S.D. Cowboy & Western Heritage Hall of Fame, began honoring notable Lakota cowboys such as George Defender (1891-1933), Chester Armstrong Four Bear (1889-1970), and Jake Herman (1890-1969). In more than thirty-six editions, the Sioux Nation Cowboy News described the stories of another generation including Chauncey Mandan (1918-2010), Jumbo Montileaux (b. 1921), Freddie LeBeau (b.1922), John “Buddy” White Eyes (1921-1999), Earl Charging Thunder (1930-2012), Don Little (b. 1931), Dick Ward (1931-1994) Pete Longbrake (b. 1932) and Theresa Sully- Humphrey (b. 1932).”

Baird ended the article with these words, and it is fitting he be included in the roll call of all these great Indian cowboys: “Somehow, somewhere, these cowboys need to be honored.”

For his contributions as an historian, educator and unique storyteller, Phil Baird will be long remembered in Indian Cowboy country.

(Contact James Giago Davies at skindiesel@msn.com)

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