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2007 Hall of Fame Inductees
From left to right, C.M. (Mort) Bishop, Jr., John S. (Jiggs) Fisk and Phillip Morris Lyne.
C.M.(Mort)Bishop, Jr.
C.M. (Mort) Bishop, Jr. was grand marshal of the Pendleton Round-Up Westward Ho! Parade in 2001 and rode horseback despite a recent knee surgery. For many years prior to this honor, he and members of his family have been associated with the Round-Up and Happy Canyon.
Bishop is being inducted into the Pendleton Round-Up and Happy Canyon Hall of Fame for his many years of service through his family and the Pendleton Woolen Mills. Mr. Bishop began working for Pendleton Woolen Mills in 1949, moving up from Secretary to President in 1969 and then to Vice Chairman in 1992. He was still active in the company until his death on July 10, 2007. He had a long list of community service in Oregon and the nation.
Each year Mr. Bishop and his wife, Mabel, who died this year March 10, attended the Round-Up and Happy Canyon and were often judges of the American Indian Beauty contest where they presented Pendleton blankets to the winners. They were judges as well at the Indian dancing in the Round-Up arena during the Round-Up events and Happy Canyon night pageants.
Mr. Bishop was born January 24, 1925 to Clarence M. Bishop and Harriet Broughton Bishop. He attended Phillips Academy, Andover, Massachusetts, 1943; served as a corporal in the United States Marine Corps from 1942-1945, and received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Yale University in 1949. He marred Mabel Livingstone August 23, 1947 and they moved to Pendleton in 1949 where their oldest child, Melinda Bishop MacColl, was born. They were the parents of four children, Melinda Bishop MacColl, C.M. Bishop, III, Rebecca Bishop Martin, and Susan Bishop Lee. There are nine grandchildren and two great grand-children.
Before their death, Mr. and Mrs. Bishop expressed their pleasure when their grand-daughter, Whitney White, was named Queen of this year’s Round-Up. Whitney was a Princess in 2006, and Mr. and Mrs. Bishop followed the Round-Up Court to as many of their rodeo run-ins as possible. Mr. Bishop said he was looking forward to her reign as Queen of the court this year.
In counting the many boards Mr. Bishop served on they include Trustee, Willamette University; Trustee, University of Oregon Foundation; Oregon Historical Society, and approximately twenty others.
He was associated with the Tucannon Ranch, Starbuck, Washington.
John S. (Jiggs) Fisk
Jiggs Fisk was a former president of the Pendleton Round-up, director of hay and barns, livestock, competitive events and arena. He was named Grand Marshal of the Round-Up and Happy Canyon Westward Ho! Parade in 2003 but he died July 7, 2003 and his rider less horse was led during the parade. He was 84. Fisk had seen many parades in his lifetime but when chosen Grand Marshal, he commented, “The westward Ho! Is number one. I’m proud to be Grand Marshal.”
During his presidency of the Round-Up, he earned the respect of his fellow directors by running the Round-Up with efficiency and honesty. His proudest moment on the Round-Up board was the completion of the north grandstand in time for the rodeo.
“It was a last-minute job,” he recalled. “We had a lot of good, fun arguments over that one.”
When tickets for the new grandstand went on sale, a line formed through Roy Raley Memorial Park and the people were rolled up in sleeping bags to buy tickets. Snoozing in one of the sleeping bags was none other than Jiggs Fisk, the president of the Round-Up.
Mr. Fisk was born April 7, 1919 at Weston to Edna Bannister and C.E. (Buzz) Fisk. He graduated from Milton-Freewater high school where he was an outstanding athlete. In his senior year he was chosen for the All-State basketball team and named most valuable player at the state tournament. He was on the Blue Mountain Conference All-Star football team.
He graduated from Oregon State University where he majored in animal husbandry. While at Oregon State University he was student body vice-president his senior year.
During World War II, Mr. Fisk had a distinguished service record. After landing at Utah Beach on D-Day, he attained the rank of lieutenant colonel and was placed on command of an infantry brigade. He was awarded a Silver Star with Oak Leaf Cluster, a Bronze Star with Oak Leaf Cluster, and the French Croix de Guerre. He was awarded two Purple Hearts but was proudest of his infantry brigade badges. He served under General George Patton.
Before his marriage, Mr. Fisk and his father managed and co-owned a wheat ranch in Morrow County for two years. In 1947, he married Maxine Worthington and they purchased a cattle ranch on the Imnaha in Wallowa County, Mr. Fisk was the recipient of the Herman Oliver District Award as Cattleman of the Year.
A native of Imnaha, he was involved in many community activities, served on the Imnaha School board, and was active in the youth rodeo program in Wallowa County. When he retired from ranching in the 1960s in the Imnaha area, he and his wife moved to Pendleton where he was a banker at the First National Bank of Oregon, Pendleton branch, from 1965 to 1969. He served on the Oregon State Fair Board and was a judge of 4-H and FFA committees.
His wife of fifty-five years, Maxine, died August 19, 2002 at St. Vincent Medical Center in Portland. She preceded in death Mr. Fisk and their son, Greg, who died in 1993, and her parents, Grace and Emery Worthington. She was born October 20, 1921 at Pendleton, graduated from Pendleton high school, attended Eastern Oregon Normal school, and during World War II, worked at Pendleton Air Field.
Mr. Fisk enjoyed leather tooling and braiding, golfing, traveling, working with livestock, and helping friends. Pendleton attorney, Steve Corey remarked that, “He had just a wonderful personality. He was soft at times when he needed to be soft and serious and firm when he needed to be firm. He had a knack for dealing with people.”
Phillip Morris Lyne
Many cowboys have said that Phil Lyne of Cotulla, Texas, is the best all-round cowboy for any era. This year Lyne is being inducted into the Pendleton Round-Up and Happy Canyon Hall of Fame as one of the rodeo’s champions. In 1979 and 1983, Lyne won the calf roping championship at Pendleton and he was named the All-Around Champion of the Round-Up in 1981 and 1983.
In February 2003, he was inducted into the 30th annual Texas Rodeo Cowboy Hall of Fame held at Temple, Texas. In 1971, Lyne was inducted into the Rodeo Hall of Fame of the Rodeo Historical Society, a support group of the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum. He won the National Finals Rodeo average in three events: bull riding, calf roping and steer roping.
Born in San Antonio, Texas, January 18, 1947 he entered his first rodeo at Alice, Texas at age four and with the aid of his father, Joe Rufus Lyne and his brother, L.J. (Poochie) Lyne, he was on his way as a rider and roper.
He was named “Rookie of the Year” in the Rodeo Cowboys Association in 1969 and two years later received the world championship in calf roping and placed sixth in bull riding. In 1971, 1972, and 1973, he won the world championship in calf roping, second in bull riding and a second All-Around title. In 1971, he won the Bill Linderman Award for the third straight year.
The Rodeo Sports News Annual reported that Lyne’s performance at Oklahoma City’s 1972 National Finals Rodeo was greatest competitive drama they have ever seen. Not only did he win both the bull riding and the calf roping but he did it while injured. He had pulled a muscle in his groin on his first bull ride.
A tie-down roper is almost totally dependent on his horse. A well-trained horse is ninety percent of the act and Lyne never owned a roping horse. One year he borrowed and rode ninety-one different horses in roping competition.
Author Gail Hughbanks Woerner once wrote Phil Lyne was part of “The new breed of his era as he had come up through the ranks of youth, high school and college rodeo competitions.” When he began professional competition, he purchased a plane and began to fly to rodeos.
This allowed him to participate in more rodeos but it meant he had to borrow someone else’s horse for each competition. The year he won his first calf roping title he rode more than forty different mounts. His era was during the time calf ropers were beginning to dismount off the right side of a house for more speed in getting to the calf; however, there were those competitors who still dismounted from the left side. It made a difference for the roper, the horse, and timing.
Lyne co-starred with Larry Mahan in 1973 in “The Great American cowboy” a Disney documentary featuring “ The Rivalry of Rodeo.” He presently runs cattle with the 4L brand at his ranch near Cotulla, Texas.
For someone who used to go to 125 rodeos a year, he now goes to about 40. Married to Sarah, they have two daughters, Amanda and Samantha who ride barrels and breakaway roping.
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