Steer Roping • Inducted 1979 From 1949-55, Howard Chouteau “Shoat” Webster dominated steer roping, winning four world championships and twice finishing runner-up. Webster also gained permanent possession of the Sam Jackson all-around cowboy trophy at the Pendleton (Ore.) Round-Up by winning it three times in a row (1949-51). Webster’s colleagues on...
Bareback Riding • Inducted 1979 Sonny Tureman won the world bareback riding championship only once, but three-time world champion Jack Buschbom said, “Take my word for it, he’s (Tureman) the greatest bareback bronc rider in the world, and I know a few.” An Oregon horse breaker, Tureman won the rookie saddle...
Bull Riding • Inducted 1979 In the span of 12 years, Harry Tompkins won five bull riding world titles, as well as one in bareback riding and two in the all around. According to various accounts, Tompkins needed the 12-year span because he hit a dry spell from 1952-60 where world...
All-Around • Inducted 1979 Casey Tibbs, who won a record six world saddle bronc riding titles, was the first cowboy to transcend the sport and become a household name. His personality and flamboyant style put him on the cover of Life Magazine, while his prowess in the ring made him the...
Saddle Bronc Riding • Inducted 1979 Earl Thode, admittedly the best of the early-day saddle bronc riders who used the fore-and-aft, full-stroke spurring style now required by saddle bronc riding rules, may well prove to be the event’s best ever. He won the first ever world saddle bronc riding title in...
Rodeo Notable • Inducted 1979 For nearly four decades, James Cyrus “Cy” Taillon combined sincerity, style and grace of delivery to raise the standards of rodeo announcing. First-timers in the stands became fans when Taillon explained rodeo rules to them. Hearing him, every spectator felt he was part of the action....
Bull Riding • Inducted 1979 Truly one of the all-time greats, Smoky Snyder of Cripple Creek, Colo., won five world bull riding championships and two world bareback titles. Snyder, born June 1, 1908, began his rodeo career at age 15 when he won the bareback riding in Hussar, Alberta. He became...
Saddle Bronc Riding • Inducted 1979 Mike Stuart of Wynnewood, Okla., was known as a happy-go-lucky ranch cowboy who learned the fundamentals of rodeo through his day-to-day work on the RO outfit along the San Pedro River in southwestern Arizona and northern Sonora. Stuart, born March 10, 1901, hit the rodeo...
Rodeo Notable • Inducted 1979 Dave Stout’s dedication to professional rodeo began in 1937 when he became the 38th member of the Cowboys’ Turtle Association. Born June 18, 1908, Stout competed in tie-down roping from 1930-50. In 1960, he became the director of the Rodeo Cowboys Association’s (RCA) Information Foundation. He...
Team Roping • Inducted 1979 Dale Smith, an all-around timed-event cowboy from Safford, Ariz., won consecutive world team roping championships in 1956-57 and missed a third by just $13. In 1959 he went to the National Finals Rodeo in three events – team roping, tie-down roping and steer roping – becoming...
