A horrific farm accident has claimed the life of Harold Mandeville, a longtime member of the Canadian Pro Rodeo, Alberta and Lethbridge Sports Halls of Fame.

He was 83 years old.

Mandeville, a Lethbridge area resident, was letting the wing down on a rod weeder when it struck and pinned him under it. The mishap occurred last Wednesday.

He was taken to Calgary's Foothills Hospital, where he died early Friday morning.

"Dad always said he wanted a neat going out party and our family had one with 20 of his closest friends in the hospital's intensive care unit on Thursday night," said son Bryan. "A friend had said Dad told him it would be the cowboy way to go."

Mandeville, one of Canada's more prominent cowboys in the 1940s, '50s and '60s, competed in the bareback riding, bull riding, calf roping and steer wrestling and won eight Canadian championships over three decades.

His first was in 1946 in the steer decorating and the last in 1966 in the steer wrestling, which replaced the decorating in the early '60s.

In between, he won the bareback riding title in 1947, three more steer decorating championships, including two in the '50s, the calf roping buckle in 1960, and the coveted all-around in 1965.

"He was 40 years old when he rode three bulls and placed on all of them to qualify for the all-around that year," Bryan recalled. "He got on two of Harry Vold's worst bulls at the Swan River (Man.) rodeo. Bareback rider Doug Flanigan said he didn't even know which side to fall off on so he wouldn't get hung up."

Mandeville captured the Calgary Stampede all-around title in the late 1950s and had the trinket to prove it, but it was never listed in the program because steer decorating became a forgotten event.

His competitive career, which ended in 1973, spanned 27 years.

Mandeville was the first rodeo cowboy to build an indoor arena specifically for practice.

"I always told people I had one of the biggest sand boxes in the world -- 210 feet by 40 feet," Bryan chuckled.

Survivors include wife Pearl, Bryan, daughter Vicky and step sister Cathy. A memorial service will be held Saturday at Lethbridge.

Rodeo great dies in farm mishap