The greatest chuckwagon driver in history might not be where he is today without some sage advice from the late Lloyd Nelson of High River.
Twelve-time Stampede champion Kelly “The King” Sutherland learned he didn’t need a tight grip on the bottle to have a solid grip on the reins.
“He (Lloyd) talked to me early in my career when I was in trouble with alcohol,” Sutherland said. “He talked about alcohol when he was growing up and that he couldn’t be a social drinker, much like me.”
Nelson, who won two Calgary Stampede championships in 1956, quit competing in Calgary in 1974, which was the year the then 22-year-old Sutherland won his first of 12 Stampede titles.
With Nelson’s help Sutherland was able to win his battle against the bottle.
“He had a lot of influence on me,” Sutherland said. “We used to go riding back in the hills, him and I took my eldest daughter Tara, and my son Mark and we would pack a lunch, get up early, get out of High River and we would chat for most of the day.
“To me he was just a very strong individual and a very principled man. I had a lot of admiration and respect for him.”
The conversations would range from family, ranching and the odd time about wagon racing.
“I used to ask him a lot of questions about different things,” Sutherland said. “We had a lot of good long chats. I quite enjoyed our time together and I think he did too.”
Their relationship was downright neighbourly.
“I just about became a High River resident about 25 years ago,” Sutherland said. “I was considering moving on out of the northern location (Grande Prairie) and Lloyd called me on a couple of occasions, but they were bigger ranches than I needed.
“I just about became a neighbour of Ralph, Doug and Lloyd.”
Ralph and Doug are two of Lloyd’s sons.
Lloyd Nelson died in 1998 at the age of 81.
