Houston Rodeo 2023: Motorcycle club honors veterans ahead of annual parade

HOUSTON - It was all about horses, Harleys, and Marines on one corner of downtown Houston during the annual Livestock Show and Rodeo Parade over the weekend. 

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The Deacons of Deadwood rode up on their motorcycles by the dozens into downtown Houston, ahead of the annual parade. 

"Deacons of Deadwood is a motorcycle club that's been around for over 20 years," says Geoff Seaman, past president of the Deacons. "What we pride ourselves in doing is we ride hard, we ride a lot. We've covered the United States and all over the world." 

"But just as importantly, we give back to children's charities of Houston, we get over three and a half million dollars to children's charities," he continued. "And that's probably what it means a lot to the guys that ride in this club."

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Their goal is to welcome the Marine Corp Band from New Orleans, who performs in the parade and at events plus in local schools all week. The Deacons have done this every year for the past decade. 

"It means so much to be out here with the Armed Forces and part of the reason why is because more than 45% of our club is veterans," says Geoff. "They get it! They've been there and so that's why it's so important for us to be out here to support our troops."

The Deacons serve up a fine, hot breakfast for the Marines, all underwritten by Deacon John Aubrey. 

"It gives the Deacons a chance to interact with these young men and ladies who have decided to start on a military career in their life," Aubrey exclaimed." I like it! My father was a Marine. I'm sure that's special for me. I also have a little bit of musical talent, and so I enjoy that these people have far exceeded my skill set, and they're doing things with it, and they seem to enjoy themselves, and that's what's really fun."

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Lots of appreciation for the special attention. 

"It is always a great thing when we take the band somewhere and the local community supports us.," says smiling U.S. Marine Corp Master Sergeant Justin Hauser with the 4th Marine Corps District. "We're here supporting the community, and it's always great when we have that interaction. And as Marines, we like food, so it's great."

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Plenty of questions pop up about how the Deacons got their name, dating several decades ago. 

"I am a founder, along with my friend, Ricky," explains Sam Allen, Co-Founder of Deacons of Deadwood.  "His father, David Cook used to go to the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally and rent out an entire hotel owned by the original sheriff of Deadwood. It ran out the whole place, and we'd all go up there, and it would be 20 guys from Houston." 

"One day, we were walking up the street in Deadwood, South Dakota and David said, you know, there's so many of us up here, they should call us the Deacons of Deadwood," he added. "Years later, David died, and Ricky and I founded this club, and we knew the name should be Deacons of Deadwood. I've got to tell you - it started with nine guys in April 2002. By the next week, we were up to 13 guys, and now we have around 80 members: local businessmen and motorcycle riders, who are serious riders and ride thousands of miles."

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Among their Harleys at the parade, a different type of horsepower, in the form of actual horses, as everyone gears up for rodeo season in Houston. 

For more information on Deacons of Deadwood, visit their website.