Gay, Don
Bull Riding • Inducted 1979
Don Gay won four consecutive world championships, 1974-77, the PRCA Season Championship 1976-78, and then followed with another three consecutive world championships, 1979-81. Since he won his last world crown in 1984, Gay has held the record with eight bull riding world titles. Experts in the sport have called him the greatest bull rider of all time. Gay, born Sept. 18, 1953, in Mesquite, Texas, grew up in a rodeo family, son of PRCA stock contractor, Neal Gay. He began riding steers at age 6 and had an association permit before finishing high school. Gay holds the record for the third highest marked ride in the history of professional rodeo, earning 97 points on the famous RSC bull Oscar at the Cow Palace in San Francisco in 1977. Today, Gay provides color commentary on professional rodeo.
Accolades
Biography
World Championships: 8
Bull Riding: 1974, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1979, 1980, 1981, 1984
PRCA Season Championships: 3
Bull Riding: 1976, 1977, 1978
National Finals Rodeo Average Champion
Bull Riding: 1976
RAM Circuit Year-End Champion
Texas Circuit:
Bull Riding: 1975, 1976, 1978
Legend of ProRodeo
2013
Born: September 18, 1953 in Mesquite, Texas
Rodeo Championships
Black Hills Roundup / Belle Fourche, SD
Bull Riding: 1977, 1982
Buffalo Bill Rodeo / North Platte, NE
Bull Riding: 1973
Cheyenne Frontier Days / Cheyenne, WY
Bull Riding: 1977
Deadwood Days of ’76 Rodeo / Deadwood, SD
All-Around: 1975
Bull Riding: 1980
Ellensburg Rodeo / Ellensburg, WA
Bull Riding: 1980
Grand National Stock Show & Rodeo / San Francisco, CA
Bull Riding: 1975, 1977
La Fiesta de los Vaqueros Rodeo / Tucson, AZ
Bull Riding: 1984
National Western Stock Show & Rodeo / Denver, CO
All-Around: 1975
Bull Riding: 1975, 1980
Ogden Pioneer Days Rodeo / Ogden, UT
Bull Riding: 1974
Red Bluff Round-Up / Red Bluff, CA
Bull Riding: 1973, 1979, 1982
Reno Rodeo / Reno, NV
Bull Riding: 1978
San Antonio Stock Show & Rodeo / San Antonio, TX
Bull Riding: 1976
Snake River Stampede / Nampa, ID
All-Around: 1977
Bull Riding: 1974, 1977
World’s Oldest Rodeo Prescott Frontier Days / Prescott, AZ
Bull Riding: 1978
