By: Angela Hanberg
"With his background [in livestock] he should have been a vet..."I have heard (and made) this comment myself many times regarding 2011 Dinosaur Round-up Rodeo Legendary Cowboy James F. "Doc" Allen.
James F. Allen, known to the Basin as "Doc" Allen was born in Phoenix Arizona where he grew until his family moved to Roosevelt, Utah in 1958. This was the beginning of his roots in the Basin. Doc graduated from Union High School and went to Utah State where he received his bachelors degree. He then went on to get his doctorate at the University of Utah and completed a Rotating Internship Residency at Virginia Mason Hospital in Seattle Washington. He is boarded in family practice and has taken many refresher courses in surgery, obstetrics and other specialty areas. He has served as an associate clinical professor for the University of Utah Medical School for many years.
Born and raised a cowboy, he does not fit the typical stereotype of an accomplished surgeon. Come to find out, he very easily could have been a veterinarian instead. When applying to graduate school, Allen sent applications to both veterinary and medical schools. He was in Pre-Vet when he and wife Dixie met. He had decided to attend whichever school accepted him first and that happened to be in the medical profession. The vet school acceptance came a couple of months later. Family is very important to Allen as well. In fact, Doc and Dixie were married in 1964 and are still going strong and enjoy their way of life that includes living on a nice piece of ground south of Vernal and sharing it with their kids who are Cassie, Brandie, Cricket and Kaydee. Their five children have also shared with Allen and his wife the joys of thier 10 grandchildren
Now don't think for one second that his curiosity in livestock medicine never came up again. In the early '70's (when hospitals weren't quite as strict as they are now) Ashley Valley Medical Center was graced with the presence of Woody Searle's horse. The vet clinics at the time did not have a portable x-ray machine but the hospital did. Woody called up Doc Allen and asked if he could help. Without knowing exactly what was wrong with his horse, Woody was about to make the decision to just put him down and get him out of his misery. He loaded it up, brought it to the hospital, and Allen brought out the x-ray machine to have a look. As it turns out, it wasn't too serious and Allen bandaged him up and sent him home.
Allen is always in a rush. Rushing to rodeos, rushing back to patients, rushing to get chores done. It wasn't uncommon for him to show up to the hospital to see patients in his work clothes with cow manure on his boots. Dixie remembers going to a couple rodeos in Idaho and Wyoming and running fairly late. Coming into town, Allen asked her to pull over and let him ride in the trailer with his horse so he could saddle up and be ready to go once they pulled into the fairgrounds. Legal? Probably not. Practical? Absolutely!
While roping at Wayne Workman's arena in Roosevelt back in the late '70's, Allen had an accident and lost a couple fingers on his right hand. Dixie was entertaining guests at home and received a call that they were looking through the arena for the fingers and to meet them at the airport so they could fly him to Salt Lake to have them reattached. He ended up staying in Salt Lake for a few days, only to find out that the procedure had failed and the fingers had died. Allen said he didn't mind- "They just got in the road anyway." Dixie says it's been quite a life. "He's always doing crazy things." She says. "It definitely hasn't been boring."
In fact boring is one thing that Doc Allen is anything but and that is a big part of the reason why he was nominated as the 2011 Dinosaur Round-up Rodeo Legendary Cowboy. From being spotlighted in the "Sporting Life" Magazine to his interview on the "TODAY" show, Doc Allen has proven that he has what it takes to show to world what being a legendary cowboy is all about.
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