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This page was last updated on May 03, 2007
Rick Corso, Grand National Cutting Champion, Car Dealer and Catalyst for Community Charitable Fund Raising
Rick Corso was born in San Francisco and raised in Colma. His first ride, at age six, was on one of his grandfather’s plow-horses. His grandfather, a farmer in Colma, hauled his produce to market with a team-drawn wagon. Growing up, Rick loved the outdoors, spending time hunting, fishing, and working on the N3 Cattle Ranch in Livermore, one of the largest in California.
After specializing in mechanics in high school, Rick served In the United States Air Force as an aircraft mechanic during the Vietnam War. He met his future bride, Rose, in San Francisco in 1965. They were married in 1966, raising three sons who have provided six grandchildren.
Upon leaving the Air Force in 1968, Rick joined a Cadillac dealer in San Francisco as an apprentice mechanic, progressing to journeyman mechanic in nine months. After two years, the business was sold, Rick answered an ad for a mechanic at Putnam Buick, and “the rest is history.” He soon became one of the top producing mechanics in the Putnam Shop. After seeing service writers “sitting around smoking cigars and seemingly not doing much,” Rick applied for that job. NOT being one to sit around, he was soon promoted to being the Service Manager of Putnam Dodge. In 1974, when Putnam Buick and Dodge combined shops, he was promoted to Service Manager of the combined operations.
In 1977, Rick became a minority partner with Joe Putnam, was promoted to General Service Manager, then to General Manager of Putnam Buick in 1980. As Joe expanded his car operations, Rick was there, helping to add Isuzu, Mazda, and Hyundai franchises to expansion of the Putnam Group of dealerships.
While helping to run the Burlingame stores, Rick also became a well-known member of the car dealer associations on the Peninsula and throughout the state, serving as a director for the Northern California Motor Car Dealers Association and President of the Peninsula Auto Dealers Association. He also sat as a director of the political action committee for the California Car Dealer Association. As an active member of the dealer groups, Rick served as President of the Northern California Buick Dealers Association for ten years, President of the Northern California GMC Dealers Association for five years, and then President of the Nor-Cal Isuzu Dealers Association. He also has served on many advisory councils for the General Motors franchises.
In 2001, Joe and Rick became partners in a new venture in Burlingame, adding three more General Motors franchises to the Putnam Dealer Group – Chevrolet, Cadillac, and Hummer, with Rick now serving as General Manager over six General Motors franchises.
Active in charitable activities, Rick used his considerable influence with General Motors to become a key player in getting National Buick sponsorship for the East/West Shriner’s Game. He served as chairman for the East/West Shriner’s Game Golf Tournament for ten years, which raised over $300,000 for the Shriner’s Hospital organization.
Rick has had a life-time love of horses. He was introduced by Joe Putnam to the Mounted Patrol of San Mateo County in the mid-70s, assisting with horse shows and going on his first organized ride in 1978. He bought his first horse that same year, saying “I haven’t stopped buying yet.” He joined the Mounted Patrol in 1981.
Rick started in horse competitions by participating in Mounted Patrol Play Day events, finding that competing on horses was great fun. He began helping Joe work his cutting horses in 1983. After finally riding in a cutting event outside of the Patrol in 1984, Rick decided he needed a cutting horse for himself. In less than two years, he won the Pacific Coast Cutting Horse Association (PCCHA) non-pro championship on Cal’s Lil Fanny.
Most recently, Rick has been a five-time winner of the Grand National Cutting Horse Show at the Cow Palace and is currently the defending champion. His favorite horse was High Fly Star, which he campaigned in 1988 with great success. Since 1984, he has won many championship events and has been the top PCCHA money earner many times, with career earnings of over $100,000 in National Cutting Horse Association (NCHA) events. He was NCHA Non-pro Finalist at Fort Worth in 2003; PCCHA Reserve Champion at Paso Robles in 2005; and elected Vice President of PCCHA for 2007.
In the mid-80s, Joe and Rick put on numerous cutting and reining cow horse competitions in Woodside, raising over $50,000 of proceeds, donated to local charities. In 1988, on a ride put on by Rick and Rose, they held the Patrol’s first-ever ladies’ Play Day competition. Ladies loved the competition and members and their families became “very interested” in expanding their horse competition knowledge, in promoting riding in general, and improving their overall horsemanship. In 1987, Rick and Joe began hosting Wednesday night Mounted Patrol horse riding clinics. This led to an annual Patrol-wide competition, with levels for men, women, and youths, awarding silver buckles for all three division champions and prizes for each event.
When asked what inspired him to keep this event going after all these years, Rick said “the satisfaction I get in seeing increasing levels of expertise, especially with the children, is all the reward I need.” In recent years, there have been up to 15 in the youth division, including Rick’s own grandchildren. Wondering if he can do it again each year, Rose encourages him to do it one more time.
Rick and Rose have chaired eight Fall Couples’ rides and hosted numerous parties at the Patrol. Rick is also a member of the Rancheros Visitadores in Santa Barbara and has been a Shack Riders member since 1982. He served on the Patrol’s Board of Directors for two years, chaired its annual officer nominating committee five times and horse show committee for many years.
Commenting on this year’s selection, Howard Boone, Woodside community leader, Mounted Patrol Past Captain, and 1994 Award recipient, said “Rick Corso represents the best of the American dream – a rise from apprentice mechanic to partnership in one of the most successful automotive dealerships in the country, while taking time off to do charitable work for our community, promote County equitation, and become a nationally acclaimed cutting horse champion – a truly proud addition to the list of distinguished awardees since initiating this tradition 22 years ago.”
