Mel Potter passed away on Feb. 22 at the age of 90 years old after living a notable, remarkable life as one of rodeo’s best cowboys.
Potter’s list of rodeo accomplishments is nothing short of amazing. The Missouri-born cowboy spent over a decade as a stock contractor and over six decades as a PRCA competitor, including participating in the inaugural National Finals Rodeo in Dallas, Texas, in 1959.
Among the rodeos Potter won are the Calgary Stampede, National Western Stock Show and Rodeo, Sandhills Stock Show and Rodeo and his most recent entry was the Great Lakes Circuit Finals in 2017.
In 2022, Potter claimed his place in the ProRodeo Hall of Fame after he was named a Legend of ProRodeo in 2015.
Potter kept the family cranberry business in Wisconsin going even while living in Arizona where is family thrived raising some of rodeo’s most legendary horses. He will be remembered for his passion for rodeo and horses and he is survived by his wife, Wendy, daughter and son-in-law Jo Lynn and George Alexander and their children Patsy, Roy and Ryan, daughter and son-in-law Sherry Potter and Cory Petska and his grandchildren.
