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CECIL CORNISH |
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Like many contract performers, Cecil Cornish began his rodeo career riding bucking horses and roping. However, his special ability to train animals and his aptitude for entertaining soon led him to what would be a lifetime of performing as a rodeo specialty act. Born, Sept. 28, 1909, in Waukomis, Okla., Cornish’s most famous act included his trick horse Smoky. His bond with Smoky started when the colt was only 6 months old and continued for some 30 years. Smoky’s act included sitting like a dog, rolling over playing dead and shaking hands. That act thrilled audiences across the country. Other acts featured Danger, the trained Brahma bull who jumped cars (actually three bulls over the course of Cornish’s career, all named Danger), six matched palomino Liberty horses and a Roman riding team. Mr. Rodeo, as Cornish became known, performed with Gene Autry and Roy Rogers and even played a part in the movie Dillinger. He will be remembered for his colorful and elaborate Western outfits, his uncanny ability to train and communicate with his four legged co-stars and his friendships throughout the rodeo community. He died in December 2003. |
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LEO CREMER |
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Rodeo producer throughout the Rocky Mountain region for 27 years, Leo Cremer established the greatest string of bucking horses ever assembled under a single ownership. So deep was the talent of his horses that many of them never bucked more than once or twice a year. Born in 1892, Cremer got into the rodeo business after moving west to homestead as a young man. He began supplying draft horses to Wisconsin farmers, and with the outlawed horses that couldn’t be trained, he held local impromptu bucking horse contests that started his rodeo business. His most famous broncs were Mexico, Peekaboo, Will James, Madam Queen, Come Apart (inducted in 1979) and Hoochie Coochie. Cremer was killed in a stock-truck accident on Nov. 28, 1953. His business became part of the World Championship Rodeo Company owned by film, radio and television star Gene Autry. |
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CROOKED NOSE |
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Crooked Nose, the first fighting bull ever inducted into the ProRodeo Hall of Fame, was loved by rodeo fans and dreaded by bullfighters. Crooked Nose was born in 1977 on the Harry Vold Rodeo Ranch near Avondale, Colo., out of a Mexican crossbred fighting cow and the notorious Purple People Eater, a monstrous brown Brahma fighting bull. Crooked Nose was a reddish brown bull with dark legs and one horn. According to his owner, he hit the barrel so hard that he broke the horn off at his first bullfight in Oklahoma City at the age of 2. |
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BOB CROSBY |
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In the late 1920s, Bob Crosby realized that he could make a living as a rodeo cowboy. Crosby, born in 1897 in Midland, Texas, won his first rodeo title at the age of 13. With the encouragement of Will Rogers, he entered the bigger rodeos in Cheyenne and Pendleton. After establishing a ranch of his own in New Mexico, he depended on his winnings to keep his ventures going. At first, he entered every event, but later he concentrated on the timed events. In 1925, he won the Roosevelt Trophy, presented to the all-around cowboy at both the Cheyenne Frontier Days and the Pendleton Round-Up. After winning both rodeos again in 1927-28, he gained permanent possession of the trophy. Crosby’s trademark was a black hat that he felt was a symbol of good luck. Crowds came to recognize his old battered hat and would cheer as he approached the arena. He once stated, “Someday, to their surprise, I’m going to wear my Sunday hat and see if it’s the old black felt or the man they’re always cheering.” He died Oct. 20, 1947. |
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