Tureman, Sonny
Bareback Riding • Inducted 1979
Sonny Tureman won the world bareback riding championship only once, but three-time world champion Jack Buschbom said, “Take my word for it, he’s (Tureman) the greatest bareback bronc rider in the world, and I know a few.” An Oregon horse breaker, Tureman won the rookie saddle bronc riding at Cheyenne (Wyo.) Frontier Days and the Pendleton (Ore.) Round-Up in 1941. Following World War II in 1946-47, he finished fourth in the world bareback riding standings, finally taking the championship in 1948, edging out Buschbom by $18. Among his contemporaries there was no doubt that had he chosen to rodeo full-time, Tureman could have won the world title almost any year. A serious injury in an auto accident in 1954 impaired his ability to compete. Tureman was born Nov. 4, 1918, in Prairie City, Ore., and died Oct. 18, 1995.
Accolades
Biography
World Championships: 1
Bareback Riding: 1948
Born: November 4, 1918 in Prairie City, Oregon
Died: October 18, 1995 in Okedale, Oregon
Rodeo Championships
California Rodeo Salinas / Salinas, CA
Bareback Riding: 1948, 1949, 1952, 1957 (tie)
Team Roping: 1972
Clovis Rodeo / Clovis, CA
Bareback Riding: 1951, 1953, 1962
Team Roping: 1968
Denver National Western Stock Show & Rodeo / Denver, CO
Bareback Riding: 1947
Grand National Stock Show & Rodeo / San Francisco, CA
Bareback Riding: 1951, 1953, 1954
Iowa’s Championship Rodeo / Sidney, IA
Bareback Riding: 1947 (tie)
La Fiesta de los Vaqueros Rodeo / Tucson, AZ
Bareback Riding: 1949, 1951
Red Bluff Round-Up / Red Bluff, CA
Bareback Riding: 1949 (tie), 1953
Team Roping: 1971
Redding Rodeo / Redding, CA
All-Around: 1953
Bareback Riding: 1964
Saddle Bronc Riding: 1953 (tie), 1956
Team Roping: 1956, 1957, 1958, 1960
Reno Rodeo / Reno, NV
Team Roping: 1966
Snake River Stampede / Nampa, ID
Bareback Riding: 1948
