There has never been a cowboy who loved his family, rodeo and good horses more than Mel Potter. This legendary Wisconsin native, who roped calves at the first National Finals Rodeo ever held in 1959 and has called Marana, Arizona home most of his life, headed to Heaven today, February 22, at 90.
Some called Mel the cowboy cranberry farmer, and he was proud to wear both hats. His grandfather started their booming family business back in 1880, and thanks to work ethic being a trait all Potters are famous for they are to this day one of the largest producers for the Ocean Spray growers' co-op.
ProRodeo Hall of Famer Mel and the love of his life, Wendy, raised two real-deal cowgirls in two-time National High School Rodeo Association All-Around Cowgirl Jo Lynn Alexander and four-time World Champion Barrel Racer Sherry Cervi.
Mel's asthma forced him to a drier climate for much of his life. His mom took him to his first rodeo—La Fiesta de los Vaqueros in Tucson, Arizona—when he was 9.
Potter joined the Rodeo Cowboys Association at 16, when RCA Team Roping Director Fred Darnell told the tall, lanky kid it was time. Mel was an all-around hand, but his favorite event as a young cowboy was calf roping. And he was clearly good at it, winning Odessa, Denver, Calgary and Tucson, to name a few.
"I won the fifth go round (at that inaugural NFR in Dallas in 1959) in 14.4, and it paid $434," Mel told me one time. "We roped 400-pound crossbred Brahmas that weren't like the little goats they rope today."
Mel learned how to pilot a plane that same year, and it allowed him to split his time between the cranberry bogs of Wisconsin and his beloved Potter Ranch in Arizona.
"Learning how to fly an airplane allowed me to live two lives," said Mel, who graduated from the University of Arizona in Tucson. "I could take care of my business in Wisconsin, and still make some good rodeos in the West. When I got home from the Finals in 1959, I had a worn-out station wagon, needed new tires for my horse trailer and one of my two calf horses was crippled. I knew I needed to learn to raise cranberries."
Back in Mel's prime, all the big rodeos in Arizona had team tying instead of dally team roping, which started in California. Mel headed for the likes of Dale Smith, Eddie Schell and Cliff Whatley in the team tying. Mel entered his first dally team roping at the Clovis (California) Rodeo with World Champion Steer Wrestler Harley May. They won second.
Mel's rodeo repertoire also included the role of stock contractor with his Rodeos Inc. The outfit owned four straight Saddle Broncs of the NFR in Tea Trader (1966), Sheep Mountain (1967), and Major Reno (1968-69).
Mel started roping when he was 13, and loved it for 70 years. Even having the shoulder on his roping arm replaced couldn't stop him. Father Time finally told him it was time to hang up his ropes, but Mel followed the cowboy sport with his last breath and truly loved it. Mel roped at his last Great Lakes Circuit Finals when he was 75 in 2010. Always a consummate competitor, he won his last team roping check 10 years ago at 80.
The Potter Ranch horse program is based on Driftwood bloodlines.
"One drop of Driftwood blood is all it takes to make a great one," Mel always said. "As Walt Arnold put it, 'Those Driftwoods are so natural they'll make you think you're a horse trainer.'"
In one of our most recent visits, I made Mel name his all-time favorite horse.
"The most famous is that little mare of Sherry's, Stingray," he said. "Her sire, Dinero, is the best horse I ever bought. He's raised a whole bunch of them, including Hailey Kinsel's palomino mare, Sister. Dinero's had 18 horses go to the Finals in three events—barrel racing, team roping and steer wrestling. Sherry and Cory won $400,000 on Dinero."
Mel's rodeo accolades are many, and in addition to being inducted into the ProRodeo Hall of Fame in Colorado Springs as a rodeo notable in 2022, he was honored at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City with induction and the prestigious Ben Johnson Memorial Award in 2005. Potter was inducted into the Cheyenne Frontier Days Hall of Fame in 2003, and named the 2015 Legend of Pro Rodeo.
Mel's memorial service will be held at 11 a.m. on Thursday, February 27 at The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Marana. Mel is survived by his wife of 67 years, Wendy; daughter Jo Lynn Alexander, her husband, George, and their three kids, Patsy, Ryan and Roy (Patsy is named after Mel and Wendy's first-born daughter, Patty, who died when she was 4); and daughter Sherry Cervi and her World Champion Team Roper husband, Cory Petska.
