When Kelly Sutherland’s tarp sold for $300,000 at the Calgary Stampede auction in March, it was exactly $300,000 more than a High River area driver received for the name on his canvas when he won the Rangeland Derby more than 50 years ago.
Lloyd Nelson was the last non-sponsored champion at the Calgary Stampede when he won the Rangeland Derby in 1956.
“At that time, I think my dad felt that having a sponsor meant there was too much pressure to perform for someone else rather than for himself,” said Lloyd’s son Ralph Nelson, a councillor with the MD of Foothills. “He felt that there were just some added expectations with having a sponsor.
“Dad was a social guy, but he wasn’t a party guy. He didn’t drink and he wasn’t one to get involved in hosting people which can happen with sponsors.”
As a result, it was just a simple “L.O. Nelson” written across his tarp in 1956.
Lloyd’s win in 1956 was the talk of the foothills area, according to his oldest son, 62-year-old Doug Nelson.
“I vaguely remember dad winning, I just started school that year,” said Doug, a chuckwagon historian who wrote “Hot Cakes to High Stakes”.
“What I do remember is going to school and it was a very big deal. High River was very proud that they had a world champion.”
Nelson was a mainstay at the Calgary Stampede. He also won the 1949 world championship when he had the name Nelson-Willard on his canvas. Willard being his partners Ole and Hank Willard from Milo.
It was the first world championship ever in what would become the World Professional Chuckwagon Association.
Lloyd last raced at the Calgary Stampede in 1974 at the age of 58. He never had a sponsor.
“In some ways he begrudged the sponsorships, he felt it gave those drivers an unfair advantage,” said Doug.
However, the sponsored drivers had the financial wherewithal to buy proven horses whereas Lloyd preferred to take his raw stable and develop them into championship caliber chuckwagon teams.
“Some drivers would have $1,000 horses while he had $100 or $200 horses,” Doug said. “Dad would take that $100 horse and turn him into $1,000 horse. He and (fellow High Riverite) Ron Glass were similar that way. They were such good teamsters they got the most out of their horses.
“We were just ranchers and farmers, we didn’t have a lot of money to spend on horses.”
Wagons were always a family affair for the Nelsons when they weren’t working on the ranch.
Doug took over the reins from Lloyd in 1975 and he drove a wagon in Calgary until 1978.
“I thought I should have won my first year in 1975,” Doug said. “I was a relatively competent driver but they put me in what was called a soft heat — there wasn’t a lot of competition. I had a real good turning team and got the rail every night. The last night I had to go against some of the top drivers — Tommy Glass and Garry Dorchester. I came up against some tougher outfits.”
Doug was also a much sought after outrider in Calgary both before and after jumping into the wagonbox. However, Doug’s dad didn’t hire him when he started outriding in the 1960s.
“Dad wouldn’t hire me,” Doug said with a chuckle. “Sometimes in family situations you go somewhere else for your first job. I was first hired by Hally Walgenbach. Even though Hally would run against dad, Hally hired me. Once dad saw how well I did with Hally, he hired me the next year.”
Sometimes it would be a full complement of Nelsons chasing Lloyd’s wagon.
“Ralph and I both rode for dad and we had a cousin, Ross, who also rode,” Doug said. “We also had a brother-in-law at that time. It was family affair for us when it came to outriding.”
Team Nelson would also ride for other outfits.
Although the Nelson’s bread-and-butter was ranching and farming on their land west of High River, the wagons were in their blood.
“It was our life,” Doug said. “Dad won the world in 1949 and I was born in 1950. I grew up looking after horses, cleaning barns and when I was 16 dad bought me a shoeing kit.
“Dad was a very powerful, big man, so it was difficult for him to bend down to shoe… I had a lot of horses to shoe. We always shod our own horses.”
Lloyd’s three daughters, Deb, Pat, Wendy, also worked on the family team. His third son, Ted, didn’t ride the horses or the wagons, but was an important member of the team by fixing equipment, ranging from trucks to wagons.
Pat did a painting of Lloyd’s 1956 winning team when she was 19. Her artistic talent also took her to the Calgary Stampede where she won the art show in the early 1990s.
Ralph still ranches near the Nelson original homestead, which Lloyd purchased in the 1940s. He said he can still see remnants of the track the family used to train their horses.
“I still get sentimental when I got out there to check cattle,” Ralph said. Ralph is still involved in racing as the director of the Guy Weadick Chuckwagon Races in High River.
Doug also gets sentimental as a “Stampede teacher”. He makes a point of showing the students the display of his father and the L.O. Nelson wagon at the Round-Up Centre in Calgary. The wagon is the one both Lloyd and Doug drove in Calgary.
“That exhibit came from the Museum of the Highwood and I helped create it,” Doug said. “I do Calgary Stampede School and when we go through that exhibit, I always point out he was the last person to win the Calgary Stampede under his own name.”
It is a name that will remain synonymous with Calgary Stampede and chuckwagon championships for generations to come.
