In 1985 Lewis Feild earned his first all-around world title, the first roughstock cowboy to do so since Larry Mahan in 1973. A PRCA member since 1980, Feild won three straight world all-around titles, as well as two world bareback riding crowns. In 1990, he became the first roughstock contestant to earn $1 million in career earnings. Because of his prowess in both the roughstock and timed events, he won the distinguished Linderman Award three times, 1981, 1988 and 1991. He also was PRCA Rookie of the Year in 1980. Born Oct. 28, 1956, the Utah cowboy started his rodeo career as a youngster. He competed in the National High School Rodeo Association, qualifying for the Finals three times. Feild attended Utah Valley State College in Orem, Utah, on a full rodeo scholarship and qualified for the National Intercollegiate Finals three years in saddle bronc riding, bareback riding and team roping. Since retiring from competitive rodeo in 1991, Feild is working as a pickup man, as well as coaching the rodeo team for his alma mater, Utah Valley State. He lives in Elk Ridge, Utah. He once said, “Someday, when rodeo people look back at what I’ve done, I’d like them to say these things: that I rode tough; that I could ride with pain and courage; that I was a fierce competitor in the arena, but a quiet, respectable man outside the gate. I just want to be remembered as a cowboy. That probably says it all.”
World Championships: 5 (All-around 1985-87; bareback riding, 1985-86)
TOM FERGUSON All-Around • Inducted 1999
Tom Ferguson’s record and accomplishments set high standards for the ProRodeo cowboys who have followed in his footsteps. The Oklahoma native was the first cowboy to win more than $100,000 in a single season, to earn $1 million in career earnings and to capture six consecutive all-around world titles. He also finished in the Top 15 in the world in two events for eight years. Ferguson, who competed in all of the timed events, is best known as a tie-down roper and steer wrestler. Called rodeo’s best two-event man, Ferguson believed the keys to being the world’s number-one cowboy were constant practice and good horses. For two decades, he showed the rodeo world what was possible with that belief. Born Dec. 20, 1950, in Tahlequah, Okla., Ferguson’s road to rodeo’s elite began when he earned California’s tie-down roping championship in 1969. He competed in collegiate rodeo for Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. He won the National Intercollegiate Rodeo Association tie-down roping title in 1970 and the all-around title in 1971-72, while fulfilling his PRCA permit requirements to enter the professional ranks.
Five Minutes To Midnight livestock • Saddle Bronc • Inducted 1979
Five Minutes to Midnight began life with the name Tumbling Mustard. Although he was smaller, his twists and plunges led to his often being confused with the renowned bronc of the day, Midnight. When people asked, “Is that the horse Midnight?,” the usual answer was, “Darn close to it!” Five Minutes was close enough and that’s how the horse made rodeo history with a new name. Peter Welch and Strawberry Red Wall, producers of Canadian rodeos in the 1920s, already owned Midnight, and they acquired the smaller horse from the Sarcee Indian Reservation. Col. Jim Eskew, a noted New York producer, had seen both of them perform and picked them up at a sheriff’s sale when the Canadian outfit was dissolved. It was not until the pair of blacks was sold to Verne Elliott and Ed McCarty that Five Minutes to Midnight bucked his way to real fame. Little Five continued to turn back and cut figure eights long after Midnight retired. In 1946, Five Minutes to Midnight retired, and he died in July 1947.
BRUCE FORD Bareback riding • Inducted 1993
Bruce Ford’s trademark riding style of feet high up for greater leg extension, with his riding arm absorbing the horse’s movement, separated Ford from other bareback contestants. During his career, he shattered or tied every bareback riding record: all-time bareback earnings; most NFR bareback qualifications (18); and tied for the most world bareback champion titles with five. In 1982, he became the first cowboy to win more than $100,000 in a single event in one year. Born Oct. 7, 1952, in Greeley, Colo., Ford was the PRCA season champion in 1978 and a 10-time Mountain States Circuit bareback riding champion. He won the NFR’s bareback riding aggregate title in 1979-80, 1982 and 1987.
World championships: 5 (1979-80, 1982-83, 1987)
PRCA championships: 1 (1978)
TROY FORT Tie-down roping • Inducted 1979
Troy Fort learned to rope in world-class competition and won two world championships after coaching by the great Jake McClure. Fort won his championships on the famous Baldy that he bought from Katherine Burk after the untimely death of her husband, Clyde. Although Baldy was famous and the horse Fort used in ProRodeo competition, he often said the best horse he ever had was a bay gelding named Streak, acquired after Baldy was retired. Fort was known as a great stylist at tie-down roping and was picture perfect in his runs. People watched him with awe even when he failed to win. Fort was born Dec. 8, 1917, in Lovington, N.M., and died Jan. 2, 1993.
World championships: 2 (1947, 1949)
GLEN FRANKLIN Tie-down Roping • Inducted 1979
Glen Franklin won three world championships in four years. Born March 18, 1936, in House, N.M., Franklin carried a rope when he was still wearing diapers and put his loop on any dog, chicken or human that got within range. A natural athlete, he was on the New Mexico state high school basketball team the same year he won his state high school tie-down roping title. His talent aroused the interest of tie-down roping great Troy Fort, who thought so highly of Franklin’s ability that he turned the great Streak, Fort’s best horse, over to Franklin. Later, Franklin paid $300 for a horse called Red Light, a horse that turned out to be a natural and was greatly responsible for Franklin’s back-to-back championships. Never content with the constant travel required to compete fulltime in professional rodeo, Franklin virtually retired after winning his third title and went into ranching.
