from Conrad received the award ….

from Conrad received the award in 1957. In the years after Bearskin’s death, it was bestowed by Vic’s parents, Claude and Minnie Bearskin themselves — traveling over 400 miles from Wolf Point to grant the honor.

Bearskin’s death stunned Montana fans. “I remember when it happened,” recalled Haugen, who graduated from Sidney High School in 1954. “I really do.” Haugen recollects multiple state media outlets covering the Bearskin tragedy.

Future professional bull rider, LeeRoy Mann, just a Wolf Point eighth grader at the time, remembers viewing Bearskin’s body at the local funeral home, just across the street from the Liberty Theater. The viewing was part of the four-day traditional Assiniboine wake. Bearskin had such an influence on reservation youth that four Wolf Pointers qualified for the 1956 National High School Rodeo finals in Reno, Nev. The Wolf Point cowboys hopped in an orange and white 1956 Ford Victoria two-door hardtop. Hitched behind them was a horse trailer with Victor’s mount, Spade — by this time, a mystical vestige of the Bearskin legend. Riding Spade, Earl Babcock claimed third place in the nation in bulldogging. Sitting in second place in bull riding on the second day was Larry Granbois of Turtle Mountain Chippewa heritage. Granbois was on his way to a possible national title when he “got hooked by a horn” after completing his second ride. He ended up in a Reno hospital and was unable to compete on day three. Mann remembers the 2,500-mile round trip and connects Bearskin’s influence and Spade’s companionship as a special life experience.

At a place they call the “Tall Trees” They buried Vic Bearskin in the treeless Chicken Hill Cemetery — just north of the Missouri River bottom of the Fort Peck Reservation. He rests with 167 Assiniboine, Sioux, Metis and Chippewa- Cree people. Some of the community’s names have vanished — Swings the Thigh, First Sound, Pointing Iron. Gone are the original houses of the Prairie Chicken Clan.

One home remains — next to some auto and agricultural boneyards. If Victor had passed a few decades earlier, they would have raised his body into the high limbs of the cottonwoods in a place they called the “Tall Trees.” Mourning that day was Bearskin’s 10-year-old nephew, Ken Ryan (His Black Horse). Ryan would go on to be a leader of the Assiniboine people. He eventually became a pipe keeper and Medicine Lodge leader. He would be instrumental in founding Fort Peck Community College and helping to preserve the Assiniboine language. Ryan was awarded an honorary doctorate in humane letters by the University of Montana in 1995. He was proud to call Victor Bearskin his uncle. Ryan was also active in gathering information for his uncle’s rightful place in the Montana Indian Athletic Hall of Fame in 2016.

Precious Memories: “Tomorrow is Never Promised” Important to Bearskin’s legacy is that he was wellliked. He was a natural unifier of the state’s sports fans. For example, in a high school that was 80 percent non-Native, he was fondly called “Hot Toddy.” The class of 1955 dedicated their annual — The Fang — to him. Although a fierce competitor, it wasn’t like Bearskin’s opponents were begging for 10 uppercuts. Instead, they respected him. In the 1954 MSC annual, Bearskin sits for the rodeo club’s photo. He is in the middle of smiling cowboys and cowgirls. In a college that had few students of color, he remains striking, confident and beaming. The rodeo club was on a sugar-high of possibilities, with many talented underclassmen, including a favorite, Hot Toddy Bearskin.

In 1997, Marvin Presser wrote in his 350-page book, Wolf Point: A City of Destiny,

“One of 1954’s saddest moments occurred in late May. Victor Bearskin was killed in an automobile accident... near Bozeman... [Bearskin] won the friendship and acclaim of his teammates, coaches, opposing coaches and... Montana sports fans… The whole community mourned his death.” During Bearskin’s athletic tenure, another local historian, Sid Peterson, considered Bearskin to be the best Wolf Point athlete of all time, just ahead of another Assiniboine, Everett Redstone.

Just for a flicker of time, strangers from different races and opposing schools were united, cheering “the Indian lad” on. With a magical flip of the rope in a Bozeman rodeo arena, or a deadeye swish in Anaconda’s Snake Pit, or a long touchdown on a sunny day on Moccasin Flats — powdered dust rising and falling behind his cleats, Vic Bearskin created phantom visions for fans and opponents alike.

Vic Bearskin galloping Spade across the dry prairie. The wind at their back. Dust rising and falling, forever. Precious memories of Victor Bearskin, rising and falling forever.