Courtesy Photo/Image Lehmkuhler, then age 50, soars high above a crowd in 2005 in Gerome, Idaho as he hams it up on the trampoline.

One of the West's most respected rodeo clowns, Butch Lehmkuhler of North Platte, has been named to the Ellensburg, Wash. Rodeo Hall of Fame.

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Lehmkuhler, a mechanical drafting instructor at North Platte High School, traveled to Washington state Sept. 3 to accept the award.

"It is very flattering and humbling to be appreciated by a community this way," he told the audience.

Ellenberg takes rodeo seriously, attracting top cowboys to the annual competition. City officials claim the rodeo is one of the top 25 in the nation. It is the biggest Labor Day rodeo in the United States and the largest rodeo in the state of Washington. Lehmkuhler was a clown there for nearly 10 years, mostly during the 1990s.

Lehmkuhler has entertained at a lot of rodeos during a 30-year career that is still continuing.

In 1974, he and North Platte School Activities Director Rich Reinert starting clowning at local rodeos -- college, little britches and amateur rodeos.

Lehmkuler, a 1972 graduate of Stapleton High School, was a gymnastics athlete at Chadron State College. He later became the first coach of the North Platte High School swim team, and taught woodworking and drafting.

He got serious about rodeo in 1988, taking a year's leave of absence from teaching to pursue his goal of becoming a clown at the National Finals Rodeo.

He took his grade-school-age son with him on the road and home-schooled him as he went. He clowned at rodeos throughout the central and western states and Canada. Although it took him two years, he made it to the National Finals. In 1990, the top bull riders in the nation voted him to be the barrel man for the National Finals.

He was named the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association Clown of the Year in 1989, 1990 and 1991.

And, he repeated as the Clown of the Year in 1993 and 1997.

His trademark act was conducted on a trampoline.

At first, the act was a two-man production, he said. One man did authentic gymnastics on the trampoline, and not to be outdone, the clown did them too with comical results.

Later it became a one-man show. A rodeo announcer would tell Lehmkuhler how the trampoline routine should be done, and the clown would attempt it, make a travesty of it, chattering all the while on a wireless microphone.

It kept him in good shape, he said. He was still jumping past age 50, but finally retired the trampoline act a couple years ago.

"I figured it was retire it, or it would eventually retire me," he said.

He resumed teaching in North Platte after retiring from the road in 1997, when friend and teaching colleague Al Miller passed away unexpectedly. Lehmkuhler became his substitute, teaching architectural drawing and drafting courses. He is still at the high school.

During his prestigious career, Lehmkuhler was named the Coors "Man in the Can" in 1989 and again in 1992, which honored him as the best barrel man of the rodeo season, as voted by the members of the PRCA.

Throughout his career, Lehmkuhler has strived to bring a high level of professionalism and showmanship to his work. He has endured broken ribs, crushed vertebrae, a smashed cheekbone, knee, ankle, wrist and finger damage.

"That's just part of it," he said. "If you put yourself out there as the first line of protection between a cowboy and bull, you'd better be ready to do the job, regardless."

Lehmkuhler lives in North Platte with his wife Melanie. They have two children, Bailey and Dean, and two grandchildren.