Tie-Down Roping • Inducted 1979 Orphaned at age 19 during the Depression, Clyde Burk held his family of two brothers and two sisters together. Born June 13, 1913, in Comanche, Okla., Burk made himself into a tie-down roper and went on to win four world championships. An outstanding horseman, Burk trained...
Bull Riding • Inducted 1979 Known as Freckles, Warren G. Brown won the world bull riding title in 1962 at the age of 41, making him the oldest man in ProRodeo history to win a riding-event championship title. World War II interrupted Brown’s rodeo career. A member of the OSS, he...
Stock Contractor • Inducted 1979 Lynn Beutler of Elk City, Okla., was an integral part of professional rodeo for 40 years, becoming one of the sport’s most widely known stock contractors in the family rodeo company known as Beutler Brothers. The company, started in 1929 with Lynn, Jake and Elra Beutler,...
Rodeo Notable • Inducted 1979 Behind every good man is a good woman and this was the case with Josie Bennett. Josie’s husband, Hugh, was a world champion steer wrestler and roper and served as the Cowboys’ Turtle Association’s first secretary/treasurer. Josie, born July 10, 1903, in Graham County, Ariz., devoted...
Steer Wrestling • Inducted 1979 Hugh Bennett influenced the sport of rodeo in and out of the arena. Bennett, born Sept. 19, 1905, in Knox City, Texas, won the steer wrestling world title in 1932 and the steer roping title in 1938. He became the first secretary/treasurer of the Cowboys’ Turtle...
Stock Contractor • Inducted 1979 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...
Steer Roping • Inducted 1979 Jim Bob Altizer started his rodeo career at a young age and won numerous junior rodeo titles before embarking on his stellar professional career. Regarded as one of rodeo’s greatest steer ropers, Altizer also excelled in tie-down roping, winning a world title in that event at...
Bareback Riding • Inducted 1979 Joe Alexander dominated bareback riding like no other cowboy has to date. His five consecutive world titles and two regular season championships in the 1970s remain a PRCA record. Alexander, born Nov. 4, 1943, in Jackson Hole, Wyo., was a natural athlete. Ranch-raised near Cora in...
Bareback Riding • Inducted 1979 Courage and determination helped earn Eddy Akridge his fourth world bareback riding championship. The cowboy, born Jan. 8, 1929, in Pampa, Texas, had rolled to three consecutive world titles in the early 1950s before suffering a potentially career-ending knee injury. Ignoring his doctors’ advice to quit...
All-Around • Inducted 1979 Winner of 10 world championships in nine years, Everett Bowman’s dynamic leadership made him one of the great rodeo contributors to the advancement of professional rodeo. Bowman, born July 12, 1899, in Hope, N.M., won his titles during a career that spanned more than 20 years. Bowman...
