Sports fans knew Gene Autry as the owner of the California (now Anaheim) Angels baseball team and the former Western movie and singing star who once played semi-pro baseball. But few are aware of his longtime involvement in professional rodeo. In 1942 Autry, at the height of his screen popularity, had a string of rodeo stock based in Ardmore, Okla. A year later he became a partner in the World Championship Rodeo Company, which furnished stock for many of the country’s major rodeos. In 1954 he acquired Montana’s top bucking string from the estate of Leo J. Cremer, Sr. and put Canadian saddle bronc riding champion Harry Knight in charge of the operation. A merger with the World Championship Rodeo Company in 1956 made Autry the sole owner.  He moved the entire company to a 24,000-acre ranch near Fowler, Colo., with Knight as the working partner in the operation.  For the next 12 years they provided stock for most of the major rodeos in Texas, Colorado, Montana and Nebraska.  When the company was sold in 1968, both men continued to be active in rodeo. Autry died Oct. 2, 1998.

From 1953-60, Baby Doll earned more than $400,000 for her owner, the late, Willard Combs of Checotah, Okla. She carried Combs’ younger brother, the late Benny Combs, to the world steer wrestling title in 1955. In 1957 she took Willard Combs to the world championship. Sired by Oklahoma Star, Jr., the capable Doll had more fans than the men who rode her. Baby Doll’s popularity increased after she was featured in a 1958 Life magazine article. A score of contestants from across the nation attended her burial in 1960.

Known as the “First Lady” of rodeo, Ellen Backstrom, born Sept. 9, 1929, in Missoula, Mont., began her rodeo career as a young child, singing during intermissions for her father’s productions. After years spent as a bookkeeper, she decided to hit the barrel racing circuit. She filled in as a timer and rodeo secretary and found her true calling, becoming a full-time rodeo secretary in 1969. She said, “I realized I could make more in a month as a secretary than I could in a year as a contestant!” During her career, Backstrom worked for most of the big name stock contractors and at major rodeos in Denver, San Antonio, Houston, Fort Worth, Texas, San Francisco, Albuquerque, N.M., and Phoenix, as well as hundreds of small rodeos. In 1973 she was the rodeo secretary for the National High School Finals, the College National Finals and the National Finals Rodeo. She was the NFR secretary four times between 1973 and 1982. Backstrom was elected as contract personnel director in the late 1970s, making her the only woman ever to serve on the PRCA’s Board of Directors. Cowboys honored Backstrom in 1984 by presenting her with a world champion secretary buckle. She died March 22, 1988.

A love of horses and the cowboy lifestyle marked Malcolm Baldrige’s life. Born Oct. 4, 1922, in Omaha, Neb., Baldrige was a confirmed cowboy by the age of 7. At 20, he already had spent six summers working as a cowboy for a dollar a day and room and board. Education and World War II took him from the range. Mac roped in amateur competitions in the 1950s while beginning a successful business career. In 1969 he became an RCA member and went on to win team roping events in New York, Michigan and California. He was a familiar face in Denver, whether roping at the National Western or meeting with the RCA Board. Mac was known as a strong competitor who never had trouble finding a partner. As chairman of Scovill Industries from 1962-1980, he increased company sales to more than $1 billion. Business and rodeo took a back seat in 1981 when Baldrige was appointed U.S. Secretary of Commerce, a job he held from 1981-87. Baldrige’s philosophy was simple, and he lived it in his business, political and rodeo careers: “Success is finding something you really like to do and caring enough about it to do it well. Sticking your neck out if you’re sure you’re right and getting lucky.” Baldrige was the PRCA’s Rodeo Man of the Year in 1981. He died July 25, 1987.

Rodeo’s most talked-about tie-down roping horse of the 1940s was a streak-faced, badly scarred sorrel named Baldy. He was directly responsible for four world championships. Clyde Burk of Comanche, Okla., won the world tie-down roping title astride Baldy in 1942 and 1944. After a fatal accident in 1945, Clyde’s widow sold Baldy to Troy Fort of Lovington, N.M. Fort captured the world championship in 1947 and 1949. Shortly thereafter Baldy developed a heart condition and was retired. Three-time world champion steer roper Ike Rude trained Baldy. However, early in Baldy’s rodeo career, his trailer caught fire and his left foreleg was severely burned. Veterinarians were amazed the resulting scar tissue left no apparent stiffness.