This week will mark J.J. Harrison's 12th appearance at the Sisters Rodeo.(Greg Waddell/Submitted photo)

J.J. Harrison calls himself “a very highly educated clown.”

The former middle school teacher has a master’s degree in education, but he has spent the last dozen years traveling the country as a rodeo clown. He will be at the Sisters Rodeo for the 12th consecutive year this week, entertaining the crowd and keeping the cowboys out of harm’s way.

“I don’t think I’m using the ol’ masters for what it was intended, but then again it is a teaching and learning degree, so I’ve just changed the audience a little bit,” Harrison says.

Speaking via Bluetooth from the road, Harrison calls Sisters his favorite rodeo, and he has been to a lot of them. Last year the full-time rodeo clown says he worked 37 weekends and this year he’ll work 42. Sisters was the first large-scale rodeo to take a chance on Harrison, in 2007, and he has been grateful ever since.

The 78th Sisters Rodeo starts Wednesday night with Xtreme Bulls and runs through Sunday.

“I’m always excited to get there, and I’m always enamored by the crowd,” says Harrison, 43 and a resident of the southeast Washington town of Lowden. “The crowd that goes to Sisters has an electric feel, and there’s a lot of people who go there who are not rodeo people. They live in Bend, and they mountain bike, hike and fish. But the rodeo’s in town, so they go. I can connect those people with rodeo. Everybody knows what it feels like to be entertained.”

Harrison’s job as a rodeo clown is largely twofold: to provide entertainment and safety. His goofy, off-the-cuff comedy serves as filler during lulls throughout the rodeo. He compares himself to salt: just the right amount can help, but too much can harm.

“I want to be a part of the show, but I don’t necessarily need to be the entire show,” he explains. “I understand that the rodeo is why people are there. I’m just the really positive thing that comes along with it.”

Harrison works with bullfighters Rowdy Barry and Danny Newman, who distract the bull from the riders after their ride in order to keep the cowboys safe. If the bull bucks out a little too far from the chute or if the cowboy gets thrown too far, the bullfighters will steer the bull toward Harrison, who seeks to keep the animal’s attention and draw it away from both the cowboy and the bullfighters. The clown’s goal is to keep the bull focused on him until it can be released through the exit gate.

“They (bullfighters) bring the action to me, and we try to get the bull to hit me instead of the bull rider,” Harrison says.

He adds that he does not have a death wish, and he knows that injuries are just part of his job. Harrison says he has broken his back twice, broken his shoulders a few times, cracked his skull and has had three knee surgeries. Stem-cell treatment on his back, he says, has prolonged his career as a clown even though he was recently considering retirement.

Harrison was teaching middle school in Walla Walla, Washington, in 2007 when a friend was organizing a bull-riding event in Vancouver, Washington, and needed a rodeo clown. That friend was Pat Beard, son of Frank Beard, who was the stock contractor for the Sisters Rodeo.

“So that’s how I quickly got into Sisters,” Harrison says. “Since then, I’ve worked just about every large-scale rodeo that’s been on my bucket list. I always come back to the reason Sisters is my favorite rodeo is that chance they gave me. They became part of my family almost.”

Harrison works rodeos across the entire country, but he seems to prefer those in the Northwest. He names the Ellensburg (Washington) Rodeo and the St. Paul (Oregon) Rodeo as two of his other favorites.

This year has a different feel for Harrison, because legendary bullfighter Barry — a Sisters Rodeo regular — is retiring after 33 years. Harrison calls him a “big brother in the business” and notes that Barry lives in Tri-Cities, Washington, not far from Harrison.

“I’ve done a ton of rodeos with him,” Harrison says of Barry. “He’s been coming to Sisters even longer than me. So this is going to be one of those years that is very bittersweet for me. I’m gonna like the attention that we give him in the arena, but part of Sisters to me is Rowdy Barry. I think he’s one of the best that’s ever put cleats on. He’s been a teacher his entire career, and he’s taught a lot of kids to fight bulls.”

Harrison says he is often asked about the most dangerous aspect of his job. Most would be surprised to learn that what Harrison considers the greatest threat is not even on the rodeo grounds. The most dangerous part, he says, is driving from rodeo to rodeo. He says he has driven 17 hours straight and 31 hours with a short break.

The rodeo riders themselves make long drives, too, although they typically have other rodeo competitors as travel partners. Harrison usually travels alone.

“But I only go to one rodeo a weekend, and they might go to three or four,” Harrison says. “They’ve got a lot more travel time, but they share the drive time.”

Harrison, who is divorced, says his 10-year-old son Huck has rarely missed the Sisters Rodeo to watch his dad keep the crowd in stitches and keep the rodeo riders safe.

“He comes to Sisters every year and misses the end of school and a baseball game or two,” Harrison says. “But he never questions it. He wants to go to Sisters.”

— Reporter: 541-383-0318,

mmorical@bendbulletin.com