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...
Saddle Bronc Riding • Inducted 1979 Bill Smith, born July 28, 1941, in Red Lodge, Mont., is one of a few men with the distinction of winning three saddle bronc riding titles, doing so in 1969, 1971 and 1973. A professional horse breaker in his youth, Smith started his professional career...
All-Around • Inducted 1979 Born on May 13, 1928, in Tulsa, Okla., Jim Shoulders was a city boy with no livestock background. Shoulders was 14 years old when he saw and promptly entered his first rodeo. His astonishing natural talent was apparent even then – he won $18 in the bareback...
Steer Roping • Inducted 1979 For more than 15 years, Everett Shaw was the man to beat in single steer roping. Between 1945 and 1962 he won a record six world championships. Shaw, born June 7, 1908, in Hog Shooter Creek, Okla., was “discovered” by Dick Truitt, who later became his...
Contract Personnel • Inducted 1979 Jimmy Schumacher, born in 1920 in Prescott, Ariz., invented and was the first rodeo barrelman to use the barrel open at both ends. This allowed the clown to move the barrel around while he was inside it. He could approach the bull without depending on the...
Steer Roping • Inducted 1979 It has been said with unquestioned authority that all Ike Rude of Mangum, Okla., ever wanted to do was rope. He did it well, winning three world steer roping championships. Rude went to his first roping in 1910 and won his last world title at the...
