User:Cody.hoff/sandbox

Early Life
On January 25, 1968 Stan and Tootsie Rasmussen had their youngest child Flint in Havre, Montana. Flint Rasmussen grew up in Choteau, Montana where he started his career in sports  Rasmussen was an All-State football player and track star for Choteau High School. After high school Rasmussen attended college the University of Montana Western where he completed a double major in History and Math as an honor student. As the public radio sports announcer for the UMW Bulldogs, Rasmussen had his voice heard for the first time by an audience. To help with the expenses of college, Rasmussen worked as a barrel clown in western Montana. Rasmussen made his first appearance as a rodeo clown in Superior, Montana, at the age of 19. Flint had his first thoughts about being a rodeo clown when he told his father and brother that he could do better than the rodeo clowns at the time. “I just thought it needed a new energy, a young guy who could relate and get young people to get back to rodeo,” Rasmussen said on what he told his brother and father. After he completed college, Flint Rasmussen returned to the town he was born, Havre, and taught at Havre High School in addition to coaching football and track. After two years of teaching and coaching, Rasmussen grew restless and started his career as a barrel man.

Family
Flint Rasmussen comes from a rodeo family with three other siblings. He has two brothers, Will and Pete, and a sister, Linda White. Flint’s parents are Stan and Tootsie Rasmussen. Stan Rasmussen, Flint’s father was a rodeo announcer and his brother, Will, followed in his father’s footsteps as a rodeo announcer. Will still is a top PRCA rodeo announcer. Flint met his wife, Linda, who was a barrel racer, while he was touring. Flint and Linda have two daughters, Shelby and Paige, who also barrel race. In Choteau, Montana, Flint and his family run a ranch called the Cowboys Way Performance Horses.

The Rodeo Clown
“The clown of the rodeo qualifies as the clown of cowboy society, and thus in the rodeo he exaggerates, satirizes, rearranges, and challenges the assumptions upon which the social and natural relations of the cowboy world operate.” The rodeo clown goes back to the old western stories, where cowboys play tricks and tell lies (Stoeltje 159). The rodeo clown’s main act comes at the last event bull riding. During the ride the clown faces the bull and plays the bullfighter, but after the ride resumes his role and the jokester and story teller.

Achievements
“I think it’s hard to come into this sport cold at 25 and try to learn it,” (Quintana 1) Rasmussen said. But that did not stop him, Flint Rasmussen’s did his first Wrangler National Finals Rodeo (NFR) in 1998. That same year he was a barrel clown at the Pendleton Round Up, thirteen years later, in 2011, Rasmussen was induced into the Pendleton Hall of Fame. When Flint signed with the Professional Bull Riders (PBR) in 2005 the contract was exclusive and Rasmussen now only works for the PBR. Before signing with the PBR Rasmussen was the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association (PRCA) Clown of the Year for 8 consecutive years. Along with those honors he was the Coors Man in the Can 7 times. Rasmussen not only excels in the arena but also outside it to. In 2010 Rasmussen made a special appearance as the Pendleton High School Graduation Speaker.

Late 2000's
On March 11, 2009 Flint Rasmussen, at the age of 41, suffered a heart attack at his house in Choteau, Montana. After a couple of procedures Rasmussen had done he was back in the arena in a short time. “The No. 1 thing that surprised me was the coed reaction... and I’ve missed these people,” Rasmussen said on returning to the arena after his heart attack. Flint got back to the arena with only a few differences he had to wear a heart rate monitor and had to take a couple breaks when his heart rate jumped above 140.