There was a time in history when a car was hooked up to an in-line two horse bumper pull trailer traveling from Minot, N.D. to rodeos across the United States. It was a time when bulldogging steers averaged more than seven hundred pounds and tie down calves were as big as team roping steers today. Go round wins for the National Finals Rodeo were a mere $450 and timed event contestants slept in their car seats and thought a capri camper on a pickup was like rodeoing at the Taj Mahal.

Prior to this, “There was one hundred wild horses that were trailed, not trucked, all the way from Mandaree, N.D. to Minot, N.D. for an open rodeo my dad (Wilfred Ehr) put on, where everyone got bucked off, “explained Sonny Ehr. “My dad used to take me to the Sanish Rodeo when I was a little kid and he put on some open rodeos, so I guess that’s where I really decided I wanted to rodeo and that was that,” declared the icon, that was raised outside of Minot at the Wilfred and Faye Ehr family place.

Sonny winning the National High School Finals in Lewistown, Montana in 1959 [Photo: submitted]

From the time the cowboy was a child, he said he knew he didn’t like riding broncs, in fact, he recalled, “I hated it. I just hated riding horses that bucked. I got on two bulls when I was young, and the first one was pretty easy but the second one bucked me off so hard I didn’t get my air back for a week.”

So, he picked up a rope and was forever hooked. The Ehr legacy in rodeo intertwines with wife, Mardean, and their grown daughters, Ashlee and Lizzy. To this day, Sonny and Mardean still help train horses for their granddaughters, Shyla and Braylin.

Sonny took roping so seriously that his friends would tell him that he takes all the fun out of it. “If you’re going to do something, just work hard at it. I remember hauling hay all morning in the summers, and at lunch everyone would sit around for a bit. I’d eat and jump out to the arena and tie some calves before we went back in the field,” said Sonny.

Mardean said she had the same desire to work on horses. She recalls riding her pony, Twinkle, seven miles one way to the Minot Trail Riders for their little playdays that ironically Sonny’s sister, Willa, put on. “Ashlee and Lizzy even rode to the Trail Riders Arena when they were young. Being on a horse is just part of us,” explained Mardean.

Sonny’s rodeo wins are historic. He also won the North Dakota High School Calf Roping championship in 1957 and ‘58, going on to win the National High School Rodeo Championship Calf Roper title in 1959, held in Lewistown, Montana. He brought back numerous national championships in the National Intercollegiate Rodeo Association between the bulldogging and calf roping and earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Education.

Sonny attended college in Oklahoma and Arizona but was back in North Dakota pounding the pavement and hitting the rodeo trail with Kenny Nuenes of Bismarck.

He was even given a name by the Hidatsa Tribe: Ma-nag-shiash meaning Roper.

[Image: submitted]

Malcolm Bruce of the Hidatsa tribe was one of Sonny’s good friends. Sonny loaned a horse to Bruce’s son, Quayle, for high school rodeo as his horse ended up crippled. Quayle won the next five high school rodeos and the state finals on ‘Little Jack’. Sonny said that they all just decided he needed to have an Indian name, so he said he was honored to have it.

John Irwin, his nephew from Alexander, N.D. recollected, “I grew up around Sonny, and he was the most competitive person I ever knew. It didn’t matter if it was roping calves or playing cribbage, Sonny just wanted to destroy the competition; he loved to win. Even at the dinner table, he had to be the first one done eating.”

Winning rodeos like Calgary, Houston, and Denver, the cowboy said, “Being raised in North Dakota kind of made it easier, because it gave me a lot of confidence. There weren’t as many people up here rodeoing, and I just went down the road with confidence and worked hard.”

Sonny at Ft. Worth in 1965 [Photo: submitted]

Of all the rodeos the legend competed at, he claims that his favorite rodeo of all time was the State Line Pro-rodeo that was west of Williston. “I just liked that rodeo so much, I don’t know what it was, but that rodeo is my favorite,” smiled the cowboy.

Sonny qualified for the NFR in the bulldogging in 1970, ending up 11th in the world and was the top 30 in the calf roping with the PRCA card number of C7870X. In 1971, he missed qualifying for the NFR by $20 in the tie down.

Sonny at the NFR in 1970 [Photo: submitted]

“I had a super horse named ‘Scotty’ that was owned by Walt Lindeman. He was just tough, he could run hard and let you catch the steer no matter what,” said Ehr. He won the Badlands Circuit Finals the first year it was held in Deadwood, S.D. in 1978 in the team roping and went on to win all-around, calf roping, and steer wrestling titles in the circuit.

“The horsepower and rodeos that are out there to go to now just seem endless,” said Sonny. The married couple of 54 years said they both agree that the biggest evolution of rodeo from then to now is the money, but also the horses. “People are just learning how to train better and make bad horses good and good horses great,” explained Mardean.

Sonny and Mardean raised their daughters, Ashlee and Lizzy, outside of Minot on horses. “We would have free lessons at our arena in the summers, and everyone would get a hot dog and a coke. Sonny would come home at night, and we never realized how the days would just get away from us with all those riders. Some of these kids rode their horses to the arena and home, and that just made better horses,” recalls Mardean, “When the horses showed up from riding in, they were just ready to work better.”

The couple helped coach their girls through the youth and North Dakota High School rodeo ranks. Ashlee was Miss Rodeo North Dakota in 1993 and was runner up for Miss Rodeo America, while Lizzy held reign the same year as Miss North Dakota High School Rodeo. Ashlee became the Women’s World Champion Breakaway Roper in 2000, and Lizzy won countless pro-rodeos across the nation on her barrel horses, Sam and Brazo, ending up 22nd in the world in 2013.

Ashlee Ehr, 1st runner up Miss Rodeo America 1993 [Photo: submitted]

“Sonny always told us not to let the draw take you out at any rodeo. He would say anyone can win on the good ones, we practice all the time to place on the bad ones. Sonny was ‘all in’ when it came to rodeo, competing and helping anyone else brave enough to ride with him,” said John Irwin.

Sonny put on various bulldogging clinics in Minot at the Ehr family arena with other greats, such as Frank Shepperson, Ivan Teigen, and Bob Hanson. There wasn’t a 10 or 20 below zero-degree night that someone in their family, student, or friend wasn’t working on the game of rodeo in their 50×200 indoor arena.

Mardean gave barrel racing lessons and put on numerous barrel jackpots for the public at their home place. She also co-produced the first NBHA 3-d barrel race in North Dakota. She trained many great barrel horses from the renegades Sonny once put her on such as ‘Dandy Danger’ that they had to lay down to shoe, and ‘Rink-a-dink’ that bucked her off regularly to futurity and rodeo winners like ‘PC Boy George’ and ‘Brazo’, that later Lizzy set arena records on.

The Wilfred and Faye Ehr arena was a stomping ground to countless ropers, bulldoggers, and barrel racers across the region and welcomed them all with true cowboy and cowgirl ethics. The buckles and the titles were just a mirage in the background of the genuine and life-long memories created in an arena by the Souris River.

“Sonny Ehr is not only my uncle, but a coach and a mentor to me. He played a large role in my success in the rodeo world. As a young boy, I spent a lot of time at my grandparents’ place where Sonny lived. Moving into high school, I practiced a lot at his place, he always had cattle; tie down, bull dogging, and team roping. It seemed like there was always people around, and there was always somebody to practice with. I spent my first years of college in Dickinson but continued to come home and practice at Sonny’s indoor arena whenever I could. One year, I stayed out of college to practice at Sonny’s to begin my career in professional rodeo. I traveled to PRCA rodeos with Sonny at the beginning of my career. Sonny taught me about entering, traveling and winning. The tradition continues as Sonny has found tie down horses for my son and stays connected to his rodeo career and success,” said Sonny’s nephew Poncho Irwin.

Sonny still riding colts into the sunset [Photo: submitted]

Greg Kalenze of Bismarck, N.D. worked for Sonny while he was growing up, “I didn’t just learn roping from Sonny, but he taught me how to run equipment like tractors and trucks. The things I learned about work and operating machinery from Sonny has helped me throughout my entire life.” Kalenze has since trucked hogs and cattle across America and owns his own trucking company present day.

Eventually the girls moved to Texas, and Sonny and Mardean decided they couldn’t be that far from their paths, so in the early 2000s, North Dakota gave Texas one of the biggest gifts they’ll ever get, the Ehr family.

“I didn’t realize until I left North Dakota, the shadow he cast across the rodeo world. From Whitehall, Montana visiting with a World Champion bronc rider that knew Sonny to people in Sheridan, Wyoming — when I said who was my uncle, everyone knew him and respected him,” added John Irwin.

“Sonny and Mardean Ehr have been my second set of parents, since I was a freshman in high school. If it was not for them taking me under their wing and teaching me everything from barrels, poles, to breakaway, I would not be the horse person I am today — traveling and staying with them every summer, making memories, and teaching me how to practice hard late nights under the light pole. You could always see their love for all the animals,” said Jodi Bohmbach.

Ashlee, Mardean, Sonny, & Lizzy [Photo: submitted]

Sonny, Mardean, Ashlee, and Lizzy — even though you are not trucking the Dakota highways from rodeo to rodeo or helping kids swing their ropes or train their horses, you were trailblazers that made a difference in every life up here that were fortunate enough to cross your path.