Rodeos
Honeywell Employees Present 51st Annual Rodeo
By GARY "BAD DOG" BENNETT
Aug 28, 2007, 09:40

Honeywell is well-known in the valley for its high-tech electronics and aerospace workers, but did you know that at least one weekend per year, they get together to compete in traditional cowboy/cowgirl events? For the past fifty years, the employees of the Arizona divisions of AiResearch/Garrett/AlliedSignal/Honeywell have competed in the largest and oldest all-employee rodeo in the world. They are currently preparing for their 51st annual rodeo event to be held at the Gilbert Arena on October 27th and 28th, 2007. The fun starts at 4:00PM on Saturday and 1:00 PM on Sunday. Admission is $8 for adults and $5 for children (age six to twelve).

The Cliff Garrett Memorial Rodeo donates all proceeds from the event to Arizona charities. Over the history of the rodeo, these donations have totaled more than a half million dollars. This year, the rodeo will benefit Sunshine Acres Children’s Home located in Mesa, AZ which provides a loving, wholesome home for children who are separated from their parents, and help them establish long-term relationships with stable parental figures. For more information, please contact the 2007 Rodeo Chairman, Kelly Bennett at (480) 592-4715.


C.G.M.R.A. BACKGROUND

Wanting to expand his operations away from the west coast, Cliff Garrett located his AiResearch Manufacturing Company in Phoenix in 1951. The small company grew rapidly, hiring from the local population as most were native westerners who had grown up around livestock. Before long, employees began meeting for weekend horseback rides and formed the AiResearch Employees’ Saddle Club.

Later, club members decided to present a rodeo to show off all their cowboy skills and to entertain their friends and families. In 1957, a committee was selected to organize and present the first competition. When the event made a profit, they voted to present the proceeds to a local charity, Gompers, and this started the tradition of a charity rodeo presented by company employees.

Many things have changed in the last fifty years. As the aviation industry grew, the company prospered. After his death, Cliff’s family sold the Garrett Corporation and then it became part of the Signal group of companies. A 1985 merger with Allied Chemicals created AlliedSignal, which in 1999 merged with Honeywell. The newly formed company took the Honeywell name.

World War II airmen who trained in the Arizona desert returned here to live. As the use of air-conditioning spread, people moved to the Phoenix area from all over the country. But whether they hailed from Arizona or Ohio, the idea of helping others while ‘playing’ cowboy or cowgirl for a weekend continued to appeal to many company employees.

After several years at an arena in downtown Scottsdale (where the committee had to build their own stands) and a few at the State Fairgrounds, the rodeo spent many years at the Chandler Sheriff’s Posse Grounds. The event was held at Rawhide Arena from 1981 to 2001. It grew into a two-day event held in October or November and a country music dance added to the fun during the Rawhide years. As many as 200 company employees from facilities all over Arizona and even from California have competed. With the stands being open to the general public, as many as 20,000 people enjoy the rodeo each year. In recent years, we moved to the Gilbert arena, where this year’s event will be held.

The rodeo was permanently dedicated to the memory of Cliff Garrett in 1988. As times have changed, the rodeo has also evolved. The September 1957 AiReporter, a company publication of the era, stated that first rodeo featured “six professional events including calf roping, bareback riding, steer dogging, and team tying” and “six events ...for the amateur.” Today you will see cowboys competing in bull riding, bareback bronc riding, a wild horse race, and three roping events. Cowgirls can compete in barrel racing, pole bending, goat tying and calf dressing. Mixed teams run a rescue race, rope, and sort cattle.

The tradition of charity donations has also continued strong. Each year the rodeo committee considers various Arizona organizations to determine which will receive the proceeds of the event. Rodeo Royalty contestants sell tickets to their co-workers at all the Arizona facilities to help raise this money. Sales decide the winner so they have a strong incentive to do well. With the support of Honeywell and other sponsors off-setting the expenses of presenting the rodeo, the donations have grown and now range from $10,000 to $30,000 per year. More than $18,000 was donated to the Gracie Lee Haught Memorial Fund which is part of the Mogollon Health Alliance last year. Over the past 50 years, the rodeo has donated a total of more than $555,833 to various worthwhile Arizona charitable organizations. This year’s check to the Sunshine Acres Children’s Home will continue this great tradition. The Cliff Garrett Memorial Rodeo is now believed to be the oldest and largest corporate rodeo in the United States.



CLIFF GARRETT

Cliff Garrett loved two things: aviation and people. He learned to fly in the fragile aircraft of 1926. The company he founded became the world’s largest manufacturer of small gas turbine engines. Still, he considered the development of a modern industrial relations department as one of his greatest accomplishments.

While working his way through college, Cliff found jobs with southern California companies that would later become giants in the aircraft industry. As he learned the business, he saw a need for special tools to work the soft, lightweight metals which replaced fabric covered wood frames. He designed them, found an eastern company to handle the manufacturing, and with eleven employees, began selling tools and supplies to the growing industry. Garrett dreamed of pressurizing airplane cabins so that planes could fly higher and faster. By the time the first gas turbine engine ran in England in 1939, his company was designing and manufacturing oil coolers for the Boeing B-17 and the cabin pressure regulators for the World War II era B-29.
In 1944, AiResearch Manufacturing Company became only the second U.S. business to enter the gas turbine engine market. The company began designing a small gas turbine to start aircraft main engines. In 1950, ten women employees of AiResearch opened temporary facilities at the Arizona State Fairgrounds. In August 1951, 170 employees moved into a new plant near Sky Harbor Airport. The company had developed pneumatic valves for the F-102 fighter by 1953, and later moved into the realm of propulsion engines. Work began on the TPE331 in 1957, and the first TFE731 had its maiden run in 1970. From a humble beginning, his company grew to serve the world’s commercial, business, and military aviation markets.

Even as the company grew to include hundreds and then thousands of people, Cliff stayed in touch with the employees. He viewed the company as a family, encouraging employees to stay involved in their community and to gather for social activities outside of work. He was liked and respected by the people who worked for him. The entire company mourned his death in 1963 and the rodeo that year was dedicated to him. It was permanently dedicated to his memory in 1988. Cliff and his wife Lois had one daughter, Lolane. In 1994, Cliff Garrett was inducted into the Arizona Aviation Hall of Fame in Tucson.



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