Lifetime Leaders of Rodeo & Ranching Rodeo Ranching Great Westerner Western Entertaiment & Arts Rodeo Producers & Livestock Special Achievement Cowboy Long Rider Legacy Award

Ranching

Raymond "R.B." "Butch" Luger
2005 Hall of Fame Ranching Inductee - Modern Era

Raymond "Butch" Luger was born Nov. 27, 1907. His parents were both orphaned immigrants from Germany/Austria. The family moved to Raleigh, ND in 1912, establishing permanent roots on the Standing Rock Indian Reservation near Ft. Yates in 1923.

Butch married Thelma Lucy Claymore, an enrolled member of the Cheyenne River Sioux tribe in 1941. They had nine children.

Butch was a rancher, with 30,000 acres on the Standing Rock and Cheyenne River reservations. He ran 1500 head of cattle, 100 head of brood mares (Quarter horses and Thoroughbreds) and 150 head of buffalo. The buffalo were intended to cross breed with the cattle. The ranch is still in operation today.

As a horseman, Butch started riding bareback horses in area rodeos in the early 1920's. He raised winning Thoroughbreds and Quarter horses, traveling from Manitoba to New Mexico for racing; champion timed-event horses; outstanding working ranch horses; and champion chariot teams. Butch was instrumental in producing and carrying on the Fort Yates rodeo in the early 19 40s and built a racetrack at the rodeo grounds for horse and chariot racing.

Recognitions include 1969 AQHA All-AMerican Futurity, NDSU Agriculturist of the Year, inductee of the ND Boxing Hall of Fame ( as a boxer and coach) and lifelong/honored member of the ND Jaycees and the Royal Order of the Knights of Columbus. He served on the ND Indian Affairs Commission for 10 years and as a Sioux County Commissioner for 12 years. Butch was a believer in convservation and one of the prime movers in the Cedar Soil District.

Butch died Oct. 30, 1993 in Mobridge, SD.