Storied career nears end
Outrider Melville cherishes his final Rangeland Derby runs
Eddie Melville was crumpled in the dirt, his leg undoubtedly broken.
The longtime outrider had just completed a race at the 2015 Battle of the North in Dawson Creek, B.C., and was headed back to the barns when his ride spooked, flipping over backward and snapping Melville’s right femur.
“That’s about 1,100 pounds coming down on you,” Melville said.
“I knew it was busted as soon as I hit the ground.”
This would have been an understandable occasion for any guy — even a tough-as-all-heck cowboy — to feel sorry for himself.
Melville, the grandson of chuckwagon legend Orville Strandquist and truly one of the feel-good stories of the Calgary Stampede’s 2017 Rangeland Derby, insists he never did.
“I’m being honest when I say that when I was laying there, I just thought about people that were worse off than me,” Melville said. “I was actually quite thankful I was going to be able to walk again someday, because it was pretty close to not.
“I knew I had a road ahead of me. Laying there in the dirt, I knew that right away.
“But when I could move everything else except that leg, I knew I could deal with it. I knew, or I was confident anyway, that I was going to get back to normal. It was just going to take a while.”
A while longer, it turns out, than he initially imagined.
Melville had surgery in Dawson Creek then another when he returned to Calgary.
When he was still hobbling around on crutches about seven months later, doctors opened him up again, inserting a rod into his leg. He couldn’t climb aboard a single horse during the 2016 season, missing the Rangeland Derby for only the second time in more than a quarter-century.
The 45-year-old realized it was nearly time to retire from the outriding game.
He hated the thought, though, of capping his career with that ambulance ride in Dawson Creek.
“I wanted to ride one more heat in Calgary, but I didn’t want to embarrass myself, either,” Melville said.
“I went to Grande Prairie (in May) and threw my outriding bag in, just to see if I could get on a horse in the morning. And Roger Moore ended up hiring me before I even knew if I could jump on. “We’ve been going ever since.” Melville has been outriding for both Moore and Chanse Vigen at the latest instalment of the Greatest Outdoor Show on Earth.
This, his 25th appearance at the Rangeland Derby, will be his last. He is retiring after Sunday’s races.
“My grandpa’s last year was 1991, after 50-plus years, and I got to outride for him in his last race at the Stampede. That’s something I’ll always cherish,” Melville continued, reminiscing about some of his favourite memories at his hometown show. “It took me a while to win Calgary, but we finally got it done in 2005 with Luke Tournier. That was amazing coming down the lane and see Luke in front after all the years and finishing second quite a few times. I’ve won it four times since then.
“And just the excitement of riding out into that arena and seeing all those people and knowing you’re at the Calgary Stampede. I grew up on those chutes, watching as a kid.
“To actually be out there running with your idols and your heroes ... Really, I’ve had the best seat in the house for the last 25 years. I’ve watched a lot of history unfold right in front of me.
“I’m just thankful for the career that I’ve had.”
And thankful for these final spins at Stampede Park.