They may not move with the agility of a half century ago, but these men - and one woman - are among the folks who created the legacy of today's rodeo clown-bullfighter.

And the reunion of their unofficial organization coincides this year with the Days of '76 Rodeo in Deadwood.

They tell tales of ad hoc waterskiing in a flooded rodeo arena and of being tossed like toys when sacrificing themselves to protect bull riders.

"They're the unappreciated side of rodeo," said Gail Woerner of Austin, Texas. She wears a new handcrafted Western style belt buckle proclaiming her as the official historian of rodeo clowns.

She spent six years researching her first rodeo book detailing the unique profession. That also earned her the honor of being the reunion's organizer.

She laughs that there's no official organization for this group.

"You can't organize rodeo clowns; that's like herding cats," Woerner said.

Accustomed to moving as needed in the arena, group members like to settle in the Northern Hills for their get-togethers, and this is the second during the Days.

"The guys really like it here," Woerner said. She introduced each one at a "camp fire" at the Western Heritage Center in Spearfish.

Dayton "Hawk" Hyde of Hot Springs wore a Spanish-style bullfighter suit of lights and pushed his oxygen bottle as he told how the outfit came from actor Slim Pickins.

Dixie Reger Mosley of Amarillo, Texas, said she got into clowning mostly for women's rodeo "because my dad told me to, and when dad said, 'Do it,' you did it."

The clowns, 44 men and Mosley, came from 14 states, including one who said he got his start as a kid from Brooklyn, where rodeo isn't exactly a hotbed of activity. Combined, they have more than 700 years of saving cowboys and bringing laughs from uncounted thousands of rodeo fans.

"It's a lot of fun being around a bunch of old men who wear more makeup than I do," Woerner said.

Jerry Olson of Belle Fourche wore the group's reunion shirt, but told the audience, "When I quit fighting bulls, I promised myself that I would never put makeup on again."

The face of the PRCA ProRodeo hall of famer showed he kept that promise.

Tales told at Wednesday's event covered angry bulls in the Days rodeo and at the Roundup rodeo in Belle Fourche, local events that have spanned the old and modern styles of rodeo.

Olson noted that, as others of the era after World War II, "I always tried to be pretty original."

So did Jimmy Schumacher of Arizona, who got teased as he approached the stage a bit behind schedule.

But he invented and patented the "walking barrel" that's part of the cowboy arena rescue script in every rodeo today. His creation plays in a role in the life of Donna Brown Harrison who is in the Days rodeo crowd. She is the mother of the Days clown this year, John Harrison, and daughter of famed bull rider Freckles Brown.

"Most of these folks saved pop's fanny," she said.

Woerner said the era of the rodeo clown began in the days when things weren't well organized behind the chutes, and a "funny man" would dress in clown regalia to entertain crowds waiting for the next contestant.

When bull riding became part of rodeo, the clown's typical rural background was called on to protect bull riders when they inevitably had to step down - or were tossed - from a huge unhappy critter.

"The rodeo had the most paradoxical profession," Woerner said. "There are a lot more brain surgeons than rodeo clowns."