Tie-Down Roping • Inducted 1994 Barry Burk, a 17-time National Finals Rodeo qualifier, has been described as the greatest tie-down roper who never won a world championship. He was reserve champion from 1967-73 and 1975, as well as finishing in third place three times. Born into a rodeo family, Burk traveled...
Tie-Down Roping • Inducted 1979 Between 1956 and 1969, Dean Oliver won eight world tie-down roping championships, dominating professional tie-down roping as no other man before or since. He also won three straight world all-around championships. Oliver, born Nov. 17, 1929, in Dodge City, Kan., was a man before he had...
Tie-Down Roping • Inducted 1979 Don McLaughlin, born Oct. 24, 1927, in Chester, Pa., literally grew up in rodeo arenas, working as a trick roper as a child. He went on to win four consecutive world championships in tie-down roping and added a fifth title three years later. He also won...
Tie-Down Roping • Inducted 1979 From 1939-50, Texas roper Toots Mansfield won seven tie-down roping world championships, a record that lasted for 19 years. Riding Juan Salina’s black gelding Honey Boy, Mansfield was recognized as the man to beat whenever he competed. A master at handling calves on the ground, his...
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...
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...
Tie-Down Roping • Inducted 1979 Roy Cooper jumped out of the box, winning the world tie-down roping championship and Rookie of the Year honors the first year he became a full-time professional in 1976. Born Nov. 13, 1955, in Hobbs, N.M., Cooper was severely afflicted with asthma as a child, which...
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...
Tie-Down Roping • Class of 2020 Cody Ohl blazed into the ProRodeo ranks in 1994 by winning Rookie of the Year and his first trip to the National Finals Rodeo. The young Texas roper had been planning his career since he was 15 and winning National High School Rodeo awards. It would...
Tie-Down Roping • Inducted 2002 Jake McClure always dreamed of becoming a successful rodeo roper. At age 2, he carried around a clothesline, and by 5, he was successfully roping cats, dogs, chickens, goats and other kids. His father, set on his youngest son acquiring a good education, believed young Jake...
