Dreams die hard and Howdy Fowler was a dreamer extraordinaire.
I met this wild cowboy in Deming, N.M. when I was Bureau Chief for a daily newspaper based in Las Cruces. Remember the movie 'Bronco Billy,' starring Clint Eastwood as a rough and tumble owner of a wild west show? That was Howdy who with his Paiute Indian wife Yahooskin operated their own wild west show in small towns across the Southwestern United States.
The couple lived in a mobile home on a small ranch halfway between Deming and Columbus, which sits next to the Mexican border. There they ran a Christian ministry focused on their donkeys, half a dozen sturdy beasts they used to transport children and adults as their unique way of spreading the Gospel.
One Tuesday afternoon, Howdy strode into my office with a story. He wore a Western outfit, Stetson, Larry Mahan boots, and carried a holstered gun. Yahooskin in a white deerskin dress was with him.
They were helping celebrate the annual Pancho Villa Days celebration in Columbus by staging a 20-mile donkey race. Villa was a Mexican revolutionary who led an outlaw army across the border to attack Columbus on March 9, 1916. During the assault, Villa and his men set fire to the bank and killed several soldiers while suffering many casualties of their own.
'Are you a horseback rider?' Yahooskin suddenly asked. I told her I was.
'Then you should compete in the race,' she said firmly. 'I even have a donkey for you to ride. It's a Christian donkey named Issac and it will knock the hell out of you.'
The joke hooked me. I found an auto parts store in Deming that agreed to sponsor me by paying the entry fee. There were eight entries in the race -- and unbelievably, I won the event when Yahooskin's donkey stopped just short of the finish line and refused to cross it.
I was so sore and worn out after riding 20 miles on the donkey that I went home and stayed in bed two days while Yahooskin and Howdy went dancing.
I attended one of Howdy's wild west shows. It featured cowboys, Indians, galloping horses, a stagecoach, trick riding and shooting, knife-throwing and a giant American flag. It was a hoot.
Howdy, Yahooskin and I became friends during my year in Deming. I often visited their ranch and went riding with them. Before he became a Christian, he was a drinker and a gambler. He still enjoyed a good game of poker and we played poker in several private homes in Deming and Columbus.
Unfortunately, their marriage ended up in divorce court. Yahooskin began writing poetry and Christian literature, while Howdy moved to Texas and went to work for a rancher who raised cattle and donkeys. He put Howdy in charge of the donkey breeding program.
A couple of months ago I received an email from Howdy. He had just seen the movie 'Hidalgo,' about a long horse race across the Saudi Arabian desert, and came up with an inspiration. He told me he wanted to stage a 1,000-mile donkey race from the Idaho border to Las Vegas. He intends to get the casinos involved and offer $100,000 to the winner.
'We'll have checkpoints along the way so there will be no cheating,' he said. 'Do you want to get involved? You can be my Ned Bunting and handle the publicity.'
I told him his idea was incredible and that I certainly wanted to do the publicity. I am still waiting for him to finalize the details.
Author: Geno Lawrenzi Jr.
(Geno Lawrenzi Jr. is an international journalist, magazine author and ghostwriter and poker player who lives in Phoenx, AZ. He has published 2,000 articles in 50 magazines and 125 newspapers. If you want to share a gambling story or book idea with him, send an email to glawrenzi@gmail.com ).
