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...
