Latest news with #JoeCarbury
National Post
04-07-2025
- Entertainment
- National Post
After stepping down for Poilievre to run, Alberta MP lands role at government relations, lobbying firm
Les McIntyre had aspirations of one day competing at the Calgary Stampede rodeo as either a tie-down roper or a bronc rider. Article content Little did he know that he would instead become the voice of the Rangeland Derby, calling all 10 nights of chuckwagon racing action for fans in the stands at GMC Stadium. Article content Article content After life threw some curveballs his way, McIntyre wound up hitting it out of the park when he took over from the legendary Joe Carbury as the Stampede's track announcer in 2009. Article content Article content 'I'm fortunate because I was blessed with a strong voice,' said McIntyre, who's also celebrating his 40th anniversary as a track announcer on the World Professional Chuckwagon Association circuit. 'I try to make it entertaining and exciting. Wagon racing can make itself exciting. I've been at shows where the power went off and (fans) didn't hear me at all and it was still exciting. I'm fortunate to be involved in the sport.' Article content Article content Growing up east of Vulcan, Alta., McIntyre has vivid memories of watching rodeo events and chuckwagon races at the Stampede with his family. Article content 'We, as kids, got to go to the Calgary Stampede maybe every other year, every third year, or whatever,' McIntyre recalled. 'We watched it back in the old wooden grandstand with the pillars up the middle.' Article content Article content 'I would like to have been a tie-down roper. I would like to have been a bronc rider, but when you're 14 years old and you're six foot two, that's not happening. And when you're 18 years old and you're six foot four, it's really not happening. I would like to have gone down that road just because I grew up at home riding and ranching and stuff.' Article content Article content Although his rodeo aspirations didn't pan out, McIntyre turned his attentions toward the chucks, travelling down the road with the likes of Ross Nelson and Ward Willard. Article content 'Everything happens for a reason and when I got to be older, I got involved in the wagons with a couple of neighbours of mine and then they give me the opportunity to drive a little bit,' said McIntyre, who unfortunately suffered a bad back injury in the mid-1980s that derailed his driving desires. Article content His announcing career started in 1984, when he called accepted the opportunity to call some races at a fundraising show in Vulcan. 'I did this little fun show at Willard's place down here,' said McIntyre, while noting he must have done something right because he was asked to work at a show in Trochu. 'So anyway, I started there in '85 that spring in Trochu and then over the summer High River got a hold of me and wanted to come do the High River show.' Article content Eventually, McIntyre was a regular calling races on the WPCA Pro Tour and also worked as a radio and then television announcer at the Calgary Stampede before eventually taking over from Carbury in the Eye In The Sky. Article content 'I thought someday Joe will probably retire and I would like to be in a position to take that job,' he said. 'It's pretty special to me because it's been a dream of mine. I was fortunate enough to have it come into fruition.' Article content After Chad Harden won it all in Calgary in '09, McIntyre called Kelly Sutherland's record-breaking 11th Rangeland Derby title the following year. Article content 'Dick Cosgrave held that record and then when Kelly broke it, I was fortunate enough to be there,' said McIntyre, who described the action when the King (one of Sutherland's nicknames) claimed his 12th crown in 2012. Article content Without the endeavours of the drivers thrilling the fans below him, McIntyre wouldn't be able to do what he loves. Article content 'Every time somebody wins that Calgary Stampede, it's a challenge,' he said. 'The hardest cup in sports to win in my opinion is Stanley Cup, and I don't know anything about hockey, but as far as wagon racing goes, this is the toughest one to win just because of the level of competition that's here and the pressure that's on you. Article content Article content 'It's a 10-day endurance test and it takes some horsepower and some skill at managing a business and driving and all the rest of it. There's a lot of things that you have to be on top of if you're going to be successful in Calgary.' Article content Article content Top 10 Les McIntyre calls, which you may hear during Rangeland Derby Article content 10. He's rounding the fourth turn on a burn. Article content 9. Are you ready for another thriller from Bensmiller? Article content 8. Rein to rein, like a runaway freight train. Article content 7. On the homestretch drive, Calgary it's your turn to come alive. Article content 6. Outriders, hit the showers. Mothers, hide your daughters. Article content 5. Let 'er rip chip dip. Article content 4. Quiet on the set. Article content 3. There's the horn and the charge is under way. Article content 2. Wire to wire with his wheels on fire. Article content 1. The louder you cheer, the quicker they'll get here. Article content
CBC
03-07-2025
- Sport
- CBC
Calgary Stampede announcer's career turns 40: 'Might as well do another 40'
It was August 1983 at the Hand Hills Lake Stampede and Les McIntyre had just fallen out of his chuckwagon. As he remembers it, McIntyre had made a sharp turn, hit a competitor's wagon and tumbled to the ground at no less than 40 kilometres an hour. When he hit the ground, another wagon following behind hit him, knocking McIntyre out cold and resulting in a career-ending back injury before the age of 30. He spent the next week in a Calgary hospital bed. "That was the end of that party," says McIntyre, now 71. He'd dreamt as a child to one day compete in the chucks at the Calgary Stampede. Two years later, just as he was preparing to begin schooling to become an auctioneer, he was asked if he'd be able to call the upcoming chuckwagon races in Trochu, Alta. "I lied through my teeth and said, 'Oh yeah, you bet.' I'd never called one in my life." So began a career calling rodeos and chuckwagon races across Alberta, and eventually at the Calgary Stampede — a career that reaches the 40-year milestone this summer. "I fell out of a wagon and fell into announcing," says McIntyre, reflecting on his career-ending injury. "Looking back, it was probably the best thing that ever happened to me." 17th year calling the Stampede McIntyre's voice will flood the speakers at GMC Stadium this year for every chuckwagon race at the Calgary Stampede, which begins Friday. It will be his 17th year calling the Stampede after taking up the mantle from legendary Stampede announcer Joe Carbury in 2008. In doing so, the lifelong resident of Vulcan, Alta., and longtime auctioneer will continue a four-decade-long streak in which he's never missed a job, whether it's for the Greatest Outdoor Show on Earth or an early spring race in northern Alberta. Early in his career, he would call more than 120 chuckwagon races and rodeos per summer, a number that has dropped to about 80 annually. One of his first lapses came just a few weeks ago when he slept through a morning production meeting in Medicine Hat, Alta. "I missed my first production meeting in 40 years, but I've never missed a performance," he says. McIntyre credits his longevity to a few key principles. He's never been a smoker and rarely drinks alcohol and coffee, to keep his vocal cords healthy. As for his natural ability to call such a fast-paced sport, McIntyre says his success is partly owed to his background in auctioneering. He grew up on a cattle farm and frequently delivered livestock to the High River auction market and Calgary stockyards, where he first witnessed auctioneers at work. He got into the business himself in 1986 after going to auction school in Billings, Mont., and was a livestock auctioneer until 2001. The career gifted him with the ability to think and speak fast, he says. "If you never sell anything in your life, I always say the best public speaking and public relations course would be to go to auction school ... They take the shyness out of you." Every rodeo he calls is slightly different from the other. At the Calgary Stampede, he says, most spectators know little about the sport, so he often provides a brief commentary on the sport's history. "[Spectators] think, 'What on earth are these coconuts doing out there?"' He's also more keen in Calgary to explain to spectators what happens when a horse gets injured, or those horses' backgrounds prior to chuckwagon racing. He describes the circuit as "the largest horse rescue society" in Western Canada, as most chuck breeds are retired from horse racing. "I guarantee you that we can get a horse into the hospital and treat it a lot quicker than you can get a human being into the hospital today," he says. Explaining the sport isn't a problem at rural rodeos around Alberta such as the Ponoka Stampede, the final prelude to the Calgary Stampede that happens the week before in central Alberta, he says. "It's not as much explaining in Ponoka," he says. McIntyre says he has slowed down his life in small ways. He's trimmed his workload in recent years by handing off the early afternoon rodeo job to young announcers. But he believes there's no reason his vocal cords can't last as long as his brain. He credits his wife, Kelly, with keeping him in shape and eating healthy. And when asked if he plans to quit any time soon, he gives a flat answer: no.
