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Mel Hansen’s lifelong love of Angus
cattle began with a Hereford. The year was 1952 and a 12-year
old Mel was growing up on the family ranch in California’s San
Joaquin Valley. As his teen years passed Mel kept busy showing
cattle; pulling wicked pranks with his brother Jerry and
rambunctious others including a local boy named Darrell Silveira;
worrying the parents of the girls he dated; and racing cars with
his friend Ronny Torrano, both on the track and anywhere there
was a good, long, flat stretch of road. He was also nearing the
end of his junior show career and he decided that he wasn’t
going to leave anything to chance: he wanted to win the county
fair in this final year and he wanted to win big. He asked a
friend - a quiet young boy named Ralph Clark - where he could
find the one that would give him the competitive edge and the
purple ribbon. Ralph’s
answer was simple; buy an Angus. Mel purchased that steer for
about the same price as what he currently spends on a dinner out
and brought home both the Champion honor and a new found respect
for this breed of cattle. Soon the bovine faces in the Hansen
Ranch barn changed from red and white to black and Mel began an
Angus show career that continues to this day.
Mel’s early years in the Angus
businesses were spent working with some of the best and
brightest names in the industry – including Twin Valley Ranch,
El Capitan, and Silveira Brothers. Along the way, Mel met and
married Nancy (now his former wife but still his dear friend)
and had two children – Jeri Lynn and Darrell. In the late 1970’s
the family started Hansen Angus which also included a custom
fitting service located in Healdsburg, CA. Angus breeders from
all over sent their show ring prospects to be fed, fit and
shown. While Mel’s name wasn’t on the American Angus Association
registration papers of the many winners this fitting service
helped produce – Mel’s fingerprints were all over the results.
In 1993, Mel joined forces with
his son Darrell and longtime friend Jim Vietheer (also known to
many as Big Jim) to start HAVE Angus; for those wondering if the
boys are suggesting that everyone must have Angus the initials
actually stand for Hansen and Vietheer Enterprises. Like others
in the business, HAVE Angus has seen its share of mediocre show
days and a disappointment or two. But they have also had highly
sought after victories that run deeper than the banners and
prize money - such as winning Champion Bull at the CA State Fair
ROV show with a direct descendent of the cow that started HAVE
Angus; and being a part of the Champion Bull win at the National
Western Stock Show in Denver. HAVE Angus is not only the
culmination of hard work, perseverance, experience, and pride –
it’s what happens when friendship, admiration, honesty and
shared dreams come together in a handshake that changes
everything.
Mel’s history with the Western
National Angus Futurity (WNAF) is nearly as long. Since the
show’s inception Mel has missed the annual event only twice –
when the show was held in Las Vegas. He’s seen the location
moved around California including stops in Santa Rosa, Paso
Robles and Sacramento - finally landing in Reno. Mel’s been
around the WNAF for so long he remembers when folks used to
arrive more than a week in advance to get the cattle ready and
sprint from the just opened grounds gate to snag the first
come-first-served spot in the barn. He always got the coveted
spot he wanted; the highly visible, outside, front corner
despite the fact that this was furthest spot from the tie outs,
and the least appealing location when the rain poured, the snow
fell, the sun beat down, the dust swirled, and a strong wind
once knocked over his six year old kid.
Memories of Mel Hansen and the
WNAF include many special times: such as when he won the
Herdsman Award in 1974 and then watched as Big Jim won it in
2004 and Darrell receive the honor in 2008; when he narrated the
show’s 50th anniversary pictorial; and when Jeri Lynn was
crowned Western States Angus Queen in 1988. There were also the
other times, special in a different kind of way: his unique
roles in many years of Ladies Day programs - when Mel and his
teammates wore diapers while playing a mean game of Whiffle ball
in the show ring; when he and a select, brave (and most
certainly impaired) group of men donned wigs, lipstick, skirts
and cowboy boots to dance to the L’Eggs pantyhose theme song;
when he dressed up like a circus ringmaster in white tuxedo
tails and red spangled top hat, or when he ran into the barns as
Melvis with his blonde hair covered in Slick Black; and the
years he loaned out his custom forged water buckets to hold
gallons upon gallons of Tonka Juice and liquor soaked fruit for
the barn parties – back in the good days when you could actually
bring your own libations to the show.
Over the years, Mel has taught
those closest to him valuable lessons about life and he
continues to impart this special kind of “world according to
Mel” wisdom. He’s taught us the value of personal appearance and
is well known for his-hour long fastidious grooming routine
including what is arguably the most perfect hair in the
business. He shared with us the value of hard work, though some
of us have been the unwitting victim in his own version of the
Tom Sawyer story as we painted the proverbial white fence,-
convinced by Mel that it was great fun - be it cleaning out the
stalls, dragging cattle for miles when it came time to tie out,
or driving a truck and trailer through storms and black ice as
he slept so he could teach us a lesson. We have learned the only
way to move your worldly possessions is with a cattle trailer;
no need to pay for a moving van when we have the perfect vehicle
in our driveway - fragile items in the neck and the couch in
first since it’s the heaviest and the biggest. We all know that
it’s important to listen to the stories of old timers because
someday you will be one. But at the end of the day, some of the
most important lessons we have learned is that you never meet a
stranger; that some of the best conversations are those that
don’t ever last long enough; that the best place for a visit, to
stash your stuff, for a makeshift bar, or for a quick nap is the
tack box; that a showstick is useful for showing but it’s also
something good to lean on while talking. We know that no matter
what anyone says – winning is still better than losing but that
when you lose it’s important to celebrate with your good friend
and competitor at the barn party. And that when you win – you
share your victories with those who helped get you there.
Mel will be honored on Sunday,
April 25, 2010 just before the selection of the 2010 WNAF Grand
Champion Female.
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