Paul Carney - A Lot in a Short Time

        Paul Carney was one of sixty-one men who walked out of performing at the Boston Garden Rodeo in 1936. They demanded better treatment. While the show’s organizer, Col. Johnson, was livid and originally refused to give in to the cowboys, a truce was eventually reached. This event led to the formation of Cowboy Turtle’s Association (CTA) which was the beginnings of the Professional Rodeo Cowboy Association (PRCA).
Paul was born in the small town of Galeton, Colorado on September 21, 1912. His father, N.V. Carney, had a homestead where they farmed and ran livestock. Young Paul became interested in the livestock operation and respectfully left farming alone. He developed a knack for breaking and training horses, and from thereafter, he just wanted to be a cowboy!
Paul was always proud of his small-time Colorado roots (Galeton, in far Northeastern Colorado, only had about 150 residents). He would always list his address as “Galeton, Colorado” for the announcer to call out.
He entered his first rodeo, the Greeley Stampede, at the young age of fifteen. The following year he won the rookie saddle bronc riding at the Cheyenne Frontier days and thereafter was a rodeo cowboy for most of the rest of his life.
Stock contractor, Verne Elliot, took young Carney under his wing, giving him a job. This allowed Paul to compete at rodeos as he worked for the contractor. He even got to compete in London, England in 1934 (he was only twenty-one) thanks, in part, to Elliot. Paul was soon off and running with his rodeo career and he did not need the safety-net of a job any longer (although he and Elliot remained life-long friends).
Paul regularly competed in four events: bareback, saddle bronc, bull (steer) riding and steer wrestling. He was versatile at both ends of the arena (he also roped calves) and won world championships in the bareback riding in 1937 and ’39. Also in 1939, he became the first man from Colorado to win the title of: All-around Champion of the World.
Was it because he was good at four events? Perhaps. Or could it have been a shirt? Burel Mulkey, who had won the 1938 All-around World Championship, gave Paul the shirt he was wearing...they joked about it, but you know how rodeo superstitions are. Carney was also known to have a dry, but active sense of humor, taking a joke just as good as he gave one out.
In 1937, when Paul was at the top of his rodeo game, he drew a bad bronc called, Hell’s Angel, who had gone unridden the previous nineteen tries. Paul rode Hell’s Angel that day at Madison Square Garden. He rode him again in 1939 at the same rodeo, but Paul once said, “....Hell’s Angel was the toughest bronc I’ve ever been on.” Even though Paul won the world in bareback (Hell’s Angel was a saddle bronc), each year he drew the “Angel” and covered him, Paul became a World Champion.
Carney was also given credit as the first man who figured out that if you bent the shanks of your spurs in and down, that it helped keep contact with a bucking animal. Rough stock spurs have been designed that way every since and he was jokingly called  “Shanks” Carney for many years.
Paul was easy going, yet popular and a leader. World Champion, Gene Pruett, once said, “Paul was one of the world’s greatest riders. Although quiet and unassuming, he was a leader among rodeo cowboys.” He was actively involved in the early CTA, holding card number twenty-one. He was on the board as the steer riding representative (It would be “bull riding” now-a-days, but back then they rode long and lanky, thousand-pound plus steers—some as big as horses.)
Shortly after winning the World All-around Championship in 1939, Paul and his wife, Lillian, moved to the Phoenix (Chandler), Arizona area and started a construction company along with his brother, Albert. The couple also raised horses on their “Diamond Two” ranch. In 1942, the Carneys purchased the champion quarter horse, Little Joe Jr. (out of the great stud, Joe Bailey), and brought him to their ranch. During this phase of life, Paul continued competing in rodeos, although more on a local level. All-the-while he raised good quarter horses and ran the construction business.
Although in the prime of life, while working on a road project near the Grand Canyon on June 24, 1950, Paul Carney fell over dead from a heart attack. It seemed hard to believe he was only thirty-seven because he had accomplished so much.
Out of respect for this great cowboy, whose impact was wide-felt in the short time he was here, Paul Carney was inducted into the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum’s Rodeo Hall of Fame in 1961. In 1965, he was inducted into the Colorado Sports Hall of Fame and in 2001 to the ProRodeo Hall of Fame in Colorado Springs.

Jim Olson (c) 2017
www.TotallyWestern.com

Clay Carr - Second All Around Champion of the World

          Clay Carr is not a household name (like many of his contemporaries) when discussions about old-time rodeo greats are held. However, this quite and unassuming man was a two-time World All Around Champion Cowboy (1930 and 1933), won World Championships in saddle bronc riding in 1930 and steer roper in 1931 and 1940, competed in six events (saddle bronc riding, single steer roping, steer wrestling, team roping, calf roping and wild cow milking) and was (in his day) called a throw-back from the old-time cowboys who came before him. Clay was the real deal.
He was born April 18, 1909 in Farmersville, California and grew up working on the Gill Ranch. He competed in his first rodeo at Visalia in 1928 and within two years, was the second man to win the honor of All Around Champion of the World (Earl Thode was first in 1929). Most of his adult life, he lived on his California ranch near Visalia, where he also rodeoed out of.
In spite of being such a versatile and accomplished cowboy, one of the reasons you may not hear as much about Clay is that he went about his business without much fanfare. Some men have the spotlight follow them wherever they go (even cultivating and craving it), while others go humbly about their business. Clay was the latter.
Author Clifford Westermeier wrote of Clay in 1947, “Clay Carr, holder of the Jo Mora Salinas Trophy, is a strange man, difficult to meet and extremely hard to get acquainted with. He is, without a question, one of the great cowboys of the age; a man of many complexes, one of which is inferiority; yet he is one of the smartest, shrewdest, and cleverest individuals is rodeo. He has an air of indifference toward the desires and opinions of others, and appears to lead a rather lonely life, perhaps because he has a very suspicious nature? In spite of this, Clay has the respect and admiration of everyone in the business and is regarded as a very tough customer in a business deal, fight, or a poker game.
“One does not try to figure out this man of moods, but rather accepts whatever friendship he offers; one is flattered by any politeness, consideration, interest, or attention he may show. He seldom goes east to contest, but in the West and particularly at the California shows, he is a master and can “take,” in his own inimitable way, most of the boys competing against him.”
Following his death in 1957, the Visalia Times-Delta wrote, “He was not a man for sentiment and cared little about his own personal aggrandizement.”
Roger Bean of San Francisco once said Clay, “...was not of the new breed, but was somewhat of a throwback to the old-time cowboy.”
Not one to worry much about the opinion others, Carr, at times, wore unusual hats for a cowboy of that era. One hat he wore for a while had a very wide brim and low crown (similar to that of a Quaker, or more recently might be thought of as a modern “buckaroo” style hat) and another he often sported was a fedora style—at the opposite end of the spectrum. It is thought he wore these simply because they were available and definitely not to make any sort of a statement. Little things like this only added to the strangeness and separateness of this great cowboy.
Although the Bowman brothers from Arizona have been credited with hauling the first horse trailer seen on the rodeo circuit in the 1920s, Clay was known as having one of the first “nice” ones. His was constructed of metal (unheard of at the time). It was a one-horse trailer that stood out from the few being hauled at the time and was reported to have been “neatly painted and stylish.” This was also out of the norm back then.
Although he was a full-time rancher and tough rodeo competitor in the West, Carr did take a few extended rodeo trips, most notably to Australia, England and back East where he won his All Around and World Championships. He was known as a versatile competitor (competing at both ends of the arena) and was counted to be “in the money” most anywhere he went.
The fledgeling Cowboy Turtles Association (organized in 1936), which is the predecessor of today’s Professional Rodeo Cowboy Association, received Clay’s support. He signed up and was member number fifty-five. Clay wound up competing in rodeo for over twenty-five years.
Carr served in World War II as a Marine in the South Pacific. In 1948, he married Eleanora Curtis, from the well-known Curtis rodeo family. Sadly, on his birthday in 1957, Clay Carr, one of the best (and possibly most mis-understood) cowboys from the early days of rodeo passed away from a heart attack.
Because a he shied from the spotlight, may have been a little reserved and different, he never received the wide-spread recognition like many of similar accomplishment have. Sadly, his is not a name often talked about in discussions of rodeo history today. This does not mean however that a man of such great talent went completely unnoticed. As an All Around World Champion, Clay Carr was inducted in the ProRodeo Hall of Fame in 1979.

Jim Olson (c) 2017
www.TotallyWestern.com

Jesse Stahl - First Black Bronc Rider

       

        Most everyone has heard of Bill Pickett, the man credited with inventing the bulldogging event of rodeo. Bill was also the first black man to be inducted into the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum Hall of Fame and is often referred to when people talk about historical black cowboys. A lot of people may think Bill was about the only black man to make a name for himself in those early days of Wild West Shows, Stampedes and Rodeos because he garnered so many headlines. 

Arguably however, one of the best bronc riders of all time was another black man, Jesse Stahl. Jesse was a professional bronc rider from the early 1900s thru the late 1920s. Things he did while riding a bronc are the stuff legends are made of and are still talked about to this day.

Not a lot is known about Jesse’s childhood. Most reports say he was born in Tennessee sometime between 1879 and 1883. Others say he was born in California or Texas. What we do know is he had a brother named Ambrose who also rode broncs.

Rodeo Historian, Willard Porter, wrote about Jesse, “He was a tremendous athlete—quick, coordinated and physically able to respond to the unpredictable action of rough stock.”

Jesse competed in bulldogging, steer (or bull) riding and bronc riding. He became legendary however for his bronc riding skills.

We first hear of Stahl at a big-time show in Salinas, California in 1912. The attendance of that event was reported at around four-thousand spectators. It was the first time Cowgirls were included in the performance and it was also the first time a black man performed there.

One of the highlights of the show was reportedly was none other than, Jesse Stahl, riding a bad bucker named, Glass Eye. After being awarded third place, Stahl climbed aboard again, on an exhibition horse who had a bad reputation as well. He rode this bronc facing backwards! 

Why did he ride this exhibition horse? Why did he ride facing backwards?

Although Salinas was the first big show we hear of Stahl riding at, he had probably been competing at smaller venues for quite some time before. Stahl later became known for his famous exhibition rides. He usually did this facing backwards or with a suitcase in his free hand or on occasion in tandem with another black cowboy, sometimes George Fletcher or Ty Stokes, in what was dubbed as the “Suicide Ride.” Many felt he did these outlandish exhibitions just to prove he could ride better than anyone else. Other reasons have also been given.

It has been said that Jesse was mostly remembered for winning (or earning) first but placing third. Accusations abound that Jesse was never placed higher than third by judges because of his skin color and prejudices of the day. Many have reported that Stahl put on these extraordinary exhibitions to mock the judges for their placing decisions. Perhaps skin color had something to do with being placed third when everyone else thought he placed first, but if he was truly mocking the judges, that probably did not help either.

It is also said that some white cowboys would refuse to compete if Jesse was entered. Perhaps because of prejudice and Stahl’s reputation as one of the best bronc riders around, these men did not want to enter because they thought it would make them look bad if they were bested by a black man. This could be another reason Stahl rode so much in exhibition.

Producers desperately wanted Stahl to ride in their shows because it pleased the public. It has been speculated they could make everyone happy by paying Stahl to ride exhibition horses instead of competing.

To mock Judges for perceived bad decisions? To prove he was the best? Because of prejudice and segregation? All of the above has been suggested as reasons why Jesse Stahl rode so many exhibition horses while preforming wild stunts at the same time. What ever the reason may be for the extraordinary rides, they have become fodder for numerous tales and legends.

After a long and colorful career in which he made headlines from New York to California, the great Jesse Stahl retired from bronc riding in 1929. Most rodeo historians say he was one of the best ever. He died in Sacramento, California in 1935. The first well-known black bronc rider, was posthumously inducted into the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum Rodeo Hall of Fame in 1979. Making him the second black cowboy (after Bill Pickett) to receive such an honor. 

Jim Olson ©2015

www.TotallyWestern.com 

Fox Hastings, One Tough Gal...

        When you think of pioneer ladies from the early days of rodeo, Fox Hastings name has to be there. She was one of the first female bulldoggers in rodeo history. She also rode broncs and was a trick rider. She was a crowd favorite. It has been said she could smile at the camera, while lying in the mud, and still be holding the horns of a steer she had just thrown.
Eloise Fox was born during 1898 in Galt, California to Wesley Galveston and Susie Agusta Fox. Somewhat of a maverick from the beginning, the rebellious girl was sent to a boarding school at age fourteen. Two years later she ran away. At sixteen, she joined the Irwin Brothers Wild West Show, and met and married Mike Hastings―a well-known performer on the rodeo circuit. She dropped her first name and became known thereafter as “Fox Hastings.” The press loved her name.
It was Mike who first taught her the ins and outs of rodeo. She started by riding broncs and doing trick riding events. Soon, her ability to ride rough stock became renowned. She was known for her enthusiasm, her physical strength, and her expert horsemanship.
In the early part of the 1900s, women competed right along side men in many cases. Fox served as a reminder that women thrive on competition just as men do. She became an inspiration to many young women who previously thought a woman’s place was strictly in the home. By 1924, Fox and Mike had a new plan however.
It was 1924 at Houston, Texas where Fox made her debut as a bulldogger! This was practically unheard of for ladies of the day. The main reason being, bulldogging steers were much bigger and wilder than what you find in today’s competitions. It was dangerous, even for the toughest of seasoned cowboys. She was a huge hit however and wound up being voted the best specialty act of the rodeo.
Thereafter, Fox and Mike gained fame as husband and wife bulldoggers. She put on exhibitions at Wild West Shows and rodeos across the country. Foghorn Clancy, rodeo personality and promoter claimed Fox, “was the most photographed and interviewed cowgirl of the 1920s.”
Fox was quoted in Hoofs and Horns magazine as saying, “I like bulldogging better than bronc riding. Bronc riding is a question of strength and endurance, but in bulldogging you don't tackle two steers exactly alike. You have to learn the difference in the animals size, strength, formation of the horns, build of neck and shoulders and a lot of things. Every move has to be perfectly timed to a split second.” Of course, the steers she was bulldogging usually weighed around 1,200 pounds, about twice what today’s bulldogging cattle weigh—and back then, they literally “bit them on the lip” to help bring ‘em down (hence the name bulldogging)!
Along the way, she suffered a myriad of injuries and broken bones. However, the old adage, “The show must go on,” rang true with Fox and she would continue putting on exhibitions, injuries or no.
In 1935, at the Fiesta De Los Vaqueros rodeo in Tucson, Arizona, Fox was a contract act performing a ladies bulldogging exhibition. On the first day, she suffered a broken rib. She still went on to perform during the next several days of rodeo in spite of the pain. She did not want to let show management down.
She remained one of rodeo's top performing women athletes through the 1930s. Fox was always a press favorite. Unforgettable is an image of her having just turfed a steer, covered in dirt or mud, and smiling at the camera, grinning from ear to ear. There are numerous photos like this in the archives. She literally traveled the world while rodeoing. She proved to be a charismatic, crowd pleaser whenever she appeared in the arena.
Fox summed up her ability this way: "If I can just get my fanny out of the saddle and my feet planted, there’s not a steer that can last against me."
Sometime in the latter half of the 1920s, her first marriage ended in divorce. However, in 1929, she remarried. Her second husband was another champion rodeo hand, Charles "Chuck" Wilson. Together they traveled the circuit from New York to Los Angeles, hitting all points in between. They also relocated their home operation to a ranch near Winslow, Arizona.
During the last half of the 1930s, there were great changes in rodeo. The Wild West shows had pretty well phased out by then (and with it the exhibitions such as Fox performed). Also, the new Cowboy Turtles Association (CTA) was born in 1936, and they soon became the primary sanctioning board for professional cowboys. The new association however, did not allow women performers to enter rodeos. As a result, the Women’s Rodeo Association was formed thereafter.
Whether it was the changes, or just her age (approaching forty by now) Fox Hastings retired from rodeo towards the end of the ‘30s. She and Chuck settled in and became full-time Arizona ranchers.
During the 1940s, Fox became plagued with health problems. Several reports have been given as to what it was, but the most popular theory is tuberculosis. Reports say that Chuck stood faithfully by his wife during this difficult time, often nursing her himself.
Tragically, on July 30, 1948, Chuck Wilson died in Winslow of a heart attack, leaving behind a sickly widow. Two weeks later, at the Adams Hotel in Phoenix, Fox took her own life. The coroner's report states she died of self-inflicted gunshot wounds to the abdomen and head. She left a note, saying, "I don't want to live without my husband."
In 1987, Eloise Fox Hastings Wilson was inducted into the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum Rodeo Hall of Fame in Oklahoma City. It was noted her career had included steer wrestling, saddle bronc riding, and rodeo trick riding. On October 26, 2011, Fox was also inducted into the National Cowgirl Hall of Fame at Fort Worth.

Jim Olson ©2014
www.TotallyWestern.com  

A Christmas poem for you by Jim Olson...

Cowboy Night Before Christmas

Onward came the cowboy, came from afar 

Curiously following the glow of a star

Arrived at the livery, a place for his horse

Few extra oats on a chilly night of course

Told the stable man, hey, thanks for the light

Lit the desert nicely - such a dark night

The man just grinned and said with a nod 

Sir, it ‘twas not me - I believe it was God!

There ‘tween a burro and sheep freshly shorn

Cooed a little baby, not long ago born

Parents huddled, three men gathered round 

Gazed lovingly, at a babe on the ground

Well Cowboy was curious as men usually are 

& Knew right there, the purpose of the star

No doubt in his mind, that he was on hand,

To witness a miracle, the worlds only perfect man

Well the Babe stared at him, right into his soul

Knew all about him, but how did he know?

Had piercing blue eyes that seemed to speak 

Cowboy got a message & his knees grew weak

Then a horse rip-snorted, he sat right up in bed

Guess he’d been dreamin’, twas all in his head

Jumped up with a start, realizing the dream 

It seemed so real, these things that he’d seen

A voice came to him from somewhere within 

Said Cowboy - past is gone, you’re forgiven

Trust your instincts inside - I put ‘em there, 

Remember I’m with you, here and everywhere

Tend your horses, cattle and your fellow man

For to do right by me, treat ‘em best as you can

Remember now, to be kind to children 

And care for your soul - you must make amends

He pondered a while this message received 

Shore enough a miracle, is what he believed

It rattled round in his head loud and clear

Help your fellow man - both far and near

Cowboy resolved to do better, best he could 

The world surely needs, a bit more good

Why then he felt warm and fuzzy all over 

Like a wild horse herd, running through clover

He sat there a-rubbin’ grog from his eyes

Looks to the window - saw another surprise

Perched on the sill - a snow-white Dove 

Knows it has to be, a sign from above

Cowboy smiled, thought man what a night 

Dove then nodded and took off in flight

Twas no use a-trying to sleep after that 

Got up, got dressed - stuffed on his hat

And he passed the calendar - on the wall

December 25^th - well don’t that beat all?

Now out in the barn, it’s time to throw feed 

But the horse is sweaty, what’s wrong with the steed

Why he’s been ridden - evidence clear showed 

Looks in the bin and & oats have been throwed

A cold winter chill went straight down the spine

I knew then I’d encountered  - something Divine!

Jim Olson © 2011 - 2013

www.JimOlsonAuthor.com 

Lucille Mulhall — First Cowgirl

        To see a petite young lady roping and tying a steer or performing stunts a-horseback is special. To do it in the early 1900s, an era of rough and tough, “real” cowboys, and do it as well as, or better than the men is incredible.

Lucille Mulhall was born October 21, 1885, in St. Louis, Missouri, to Colonel Zack and Agnes Mulhall. The family relocated to Oklahoma during the great land rush of 1889 and homesteaded one-hundred-sixty acres. The Mulhalls eventually laid claim to about eighty-thousand acres of rangeland located north of Guthrie—some of which was leased land. However, much of it was open range they simply controlled and claimed by virtue of use and being on it (a common practice of the day).

By age seven, Lucille was riding the range, being taught cowboy ways by the men who rode the plains, in what was then “Indian Territory.” Zack Mulhall once claimed that when his daughter was only thirteen, he told her she could keep as many of his steers as she could rope in one day. He bragged, “She didn’t quit until catching more than three-hundred head!”

Col. Zach Mulhall (a title bestowed upon him despite never serving in the military) started a “Wild West show” in the early 1900s. Many early movie cowboys, including Tom Mix, and Will Rogers got their start in Mulhall’s Congress of Rough Riders and Ropers. Lucille also starred in the show. She was among the first women to compete in roping and riding events with men and earned many championship titles. Today she is celebrated as the first cowgirl. 

Will Rogers wrote, “Lucille's achievement in competition with cowboys was the direct start of what has since come to be known as the Cowgirl. There was no such a word up to then as Cowgirl.”

The term was coined to describe Lucille when she dazzled Easterners in her first appearance at Madison Square Garden in 1905. "Against these bronzed and war-scarred veterans of the plains, a delicately featured blonde girl appeared,” a New York reporter wrote. "Slight of figure, refined and neat in appearance, attired in a becoming riding habit for hard riding, wearing a picturesque Mexican sombrero and holding in one hand a lariat of the finest cowhide, Lucille Mulhall comes forward to show what an eighteen-year-old girl can do in roping steers. In three minutes and thirty-six seconds, she lassoed and tied three steers. The veteran cowboys did their best to beat it, but their best was several seconds slower than the girl’s record-breaking time... The cowboys and plainsmen who were gathered in large numbers to witness the contest broke into tremendous applause when the championship gold medal was awarded to the slight, pale-faced girl.” 

However, Lucille was a cowgirl long before becoming an entertainer. "By the age of fourteen,” the New York Times reported, "She could break a bronco and shoot a coyote at five-hundred yards.”

Newspapers tagged her with titles like "Daring Beauty of the Plains,” Queen of the Range” and "Deadshot Girl,” but the one that stuck was "Cowgirl.” It has been argued that the term "cowgirl" had been in use since before she was even born, but few would argue that Lucille was the first to give it national meaning.

Even the great Geronimo was an admirer of Lucille's talent and once gave her a beaded vest and decorated Indian bow—items she reportedly treasured her entire life.

Teddy Roosevelt was also among Lucille’s fans. While campaigning in Oklahoma as a vice presidential candidate in 1900, he saw her perform. It was the Fourth of July, and she roped in front of a large crowd at a "Cowboy Tournament” in Oklahoma City. 

The Daily Oklahoman reported, "Roosevelt was most enchanted with the daring feats of Lucille Mulhall. She rode beautifully throughout the contest and lassoed the wildest steer in the field.”

Teddy Roosevelt was so impressed by Lucille’s skills that he invited the Mulhalls to join him and a select group of the Rough Riders for a private dinner. That night Lucille gave the hero of San Juan Hill a silk scarf she had worn during the contest.

Zack Mulhall then invited Roosevelt to stay at his ranch—Teddy accepted. After watching Lucille’s skills with a horse, rope and gun on the ranch, Roosevelt encouraged her father to get her more exposure. "Zack, before that girl dies or gets married or cuts up some other caper,” Roosevelt reportedly said, "you ought to put her on stage and let the world see what she can do.” The rest, as they say, is history.

Legend has it that during the visit, Roosevelt went riding with Lucille and they spotted a grey wolf. This whetted Roosevelt’s appetite for a hunt. The wolf eluded them that day but Roosevelt told Lucille if she could catch the wolf, he would invite her to his inaugural parade.

Some claim she later roped the wolf, then killed it, others say she shot it at five-hundred yards. But by all accounts, she sent the pelt Roosevelt who displayed it in the White House after he and McKinley won the election. Lucille and family attended the inauguration and Roosevelt reportedly gave her a saddle and an 1873 Winchester.

Besides starring in Mulhall's Wild West show, Lucille also performed in the Miller Brothers 101 Ranch Wild West show (another well-known wild west show from the day), in Vaudeville, and Lucille’s career even took her to Europe, where she performed for heads of state and royalty. In 1913 she and her brother, Charley, formed a company and produced “The Lucille Mulhall Roundup.” 

Lucille became known world-wide as the greatest (and first) cowgirl—the result of her fine roping skills and an uncanny knack with horses. Her talents were, in part, fine-tuned by another natural cowboy—Will Rogers, who was a life-long friend of Lucille’s (both came from Oklahoma ranching backgrounds). Couple that with her slight figure and ladylike demeanor and you had a cowgirl anomaly. More important however, she was authentic, genuine and generous—crowds loved her. 

  It has been said that she had a natural connection with horses. She claimed her horse, Governor, knew many tricks. In an interview Lucille said, “My system of training consists of three things: patience, perseverance, and gentleness. Gentleness I consider one of the greatest factors in successful training. Governor, the horse I ride in our exhibitions has nearly forty tricks. He can shoot a gun; pull off a man’s coat and put it on again; can roll a barrel; can walk up stairs and down again—a difficult feat; is perfect in the march and the Spanish trot; extends the forelegs so that an easy mount may be made; kneels, lies down and sits up; indeed, he does nearly everything but talk.”

She was briefly married in 1907 to Martin Van Bergen, a cowboy singer who was an opening act in the show. Together they had a son. She was also married in 1919 to Tom Burnett, whose father had established the Four Sixes Ranch in Texas. Each marriage lasted only a few years and it was reported that Zach Mulhall remained the most important man in her life.

Lucille basically retired from world-wide travel in 1917 as live Wild West performances were being overshadowed by the up and coming Hollywood westerns. However, she continued to perform throughout the 1920s and 30s, mostly in Oklahoma and Texas. She made her last known public appearance in September of 1940.

Lucille Mulhall died near the home ranch in an automobile accident on December 21, 1940. She was only fifty-five years old. She was posthumously inducted into the Rodeo Hall of Fame in 1975 and National Cowgirl Hall of Fame in 1977. Long live Cowgirls!  

Jim Olson (c) 2013

www.JimOlsonAuthor.com 

  

Mabel Strickland

First Lady of Rodeo

A pretty little gal named Mabel Delong was born in 1897 near Wallula, Washington. Her parents were Mr. William F. Delong, a shoe shop owner and guest columnist for the local paper (The Wallula Gateway) and Mrs. Anna F. Delong. The Delong’s homestead is now under the waters of Lake Wallula, on the Columbia River, behind the McNary Dam—since 1954. 

Her father first introduced Mabel to horses, at about age three. She took to them immediately. Within a few short years, the young horsewoman was training with Bill Donovan, a local trick rider. In 1913, she entered her first rodeo, the Walla Walla Stampede and won the trick riding. After winning the next two consecutive years as well, she was asked by George Drumheller of “Drumhellers Wild West Productions” fame, to hit the road doing trick riding and relay races across the country. Her parents agreed to let her go on the condition she be accompanied by a chaperone. After all, she was a beautiful young lady—and just coming of age. So began the professional rodeo career of Mabel Delong. 

She was a petite gal of five-feet, four-inches and around one-hundred pounds. Newspaper accounts from the day called Mabel, “The Lovely Lady of Rodeo” and some said she looked more like a “Follies beauty” than a Rodeo Cowgirl.  Author and Rodeo Historian, Gail Hughbanks Woerner once wrote, “Her features were delicate, her hair was always done in the most attractive style and her western clothing fit perfectly and was always of the most flattering styles.”  She soon caught the attention of rodeo champion, Hugh Strickland of Bruneau, Idaho. The two were married in 1918.

After having a daughter (April) and an attempt at settling down to become Idaho farmers, the couple decided to hit the rodeo trail to earn money as they had about gone broke farming. Hugh taught his wife to ride broncs, rope calves and steers and even steer wrestling. The duo paid their debts with rodeo winnings, gave up the farmer’s life, and never looked back—they were making more money on the rodeo trail.

Mabel went on to become one of the most recognizable and popular cowgirls of the early days of rodeo. It has been said that she was the most photographed cowgirl of all. Photographers loved to take pictures of the lovely little lady as she competed in trick riding, relay racing, roman riding, steer and bronc riding and calf and single steer roping! She was also a Rodeo Queen and was likely to win at a number of different events on any given day. 

Mabel looked more like a model than a champion cowgirl, but her winning ways put her in tight competition with the cowboys. She could rope as fast as most of them and set several records during her time. (It should be noted here that before 1929, cowgirls competed right alongside the cowboys at most shows. Separate girls events were few and far between.)

There was a growing national concern back then over how competitive sports, such as rodeo, could harm women. Most cowgirls competing in those days were more of the brutish sort, not necessarily portraying the proper image of a lady. Few were delicate and feminine looking like Mabel. The debate even reached the small town (back then) of Pendleton, Oregon, where Mabel had been named 1927 Rodeo Queen. The following was written in her defense: "There is nothing masculine in her appearance and she does not wear mannish clothes. She dresses with excellent taste, whether in the arena or on the street." -The East Oregonian 1927

Without ever intending to, she was being mixed up into a women’s liberation movement. She responded to a newspaper reporter once, “I know you think I’m a paradox, but I belong in the saddle for I’ve been there since I was three. I love the open, dogs, horses, guns, the trees, the flowers...Still I love dresses and everything that goes with them. I can’t tolerate the mannish women anymore than I can stand the womanish man.” 

When asked about her and Hugh’s relationship she was quoted, “Now, here’s the way it is with Hugh and me: He’s a one-woman-man, and—well, I’m a one-man-woman. My home is my heaven. Hugh’s my husband, and that doesn’t mean maybe; he’s my manager; he’s my daddy sweet-heart and we’re pals right down to the heel of our boots.”

One of the most famous photographs of Mabel was when she appeared on the cover of the 1926 Cheyenne Frontier Days program, featuring her as a bronc rider, from the same rodeo in 1924. Amazingly, she was smiling and waving to the crowd while riding a bad bronc named, Stranger. She was the first woman ever to grace the cover of Cheyenne’s rodeo program.

In all her years of riding, she was only seriously injured once. Mabel was performing in trick riding at the Madison Square Garden “World Championship” rodeo. She attempted to pass under the horse's neck and grab the saddle on the other side as they went around the arena full-speed. Even though she had done this numerous times before, somehow, she lost her grip, fell beneath the horse and was trampled. She was severely injured and reported as "near death." She recovered however, and went on to continue her winning ways.

A few championships credited to Mabel include: Pendleton, Oregon; Cheyenne, Wyoming; Walla Walla and Ellensburg, Washington; Dewey, Oklahoma and Madison Square Garden, New York.

Once, when asked in an interview if she hoped her daughter, April, would follow in her footsteps, Mabel said, “I don’t want her to follow my game. It’s too hard for a woman, and then, maybe when she is old enough, there won’t be any contests.” 

Mabel was right, by the depression years of the 30s, rodeo opportunities for women had all but disappeared. It wasn’t until the formation of the Women's Professional Rodeo Association (WPRA) in 1948 that women began competing in all rodeo events once again. (Although this time it was only against other women, not men as well, like back in Mabel’s day.)

During the 1930s, Hugh and Mabel relocated to Hollywood to work in the movies as many rodeo cowboy from that day wound up doing. They were in high demand for bits in Western movies, which were becoming very popular. Mabel preformed stunt work and had minor acting roles in many films; her pinnacle part being in “Rhythm of the Range” with Bing Crosby. 

While filming a scene for “Rhythm,” a set was duplicated to look like the arena at Madison Square Garden—where she had been badly injured in 1926. As Mabel walked on set, she fainted in front of a gate looking just like the one where she had been trampled. She was rushed to the hospital where physicians reported a hemorrhage had reappeared at the site of the old wound! 

While living in California, Mabel, along with Bonnie Gray and Bertha Blancett, founded the Association of Film Equestriennes, an association of women stunt riders and actresses. Mabel had established herself as a sought-after movie actress and stunt woman.

In 1941, Hugh Strickland passed away from a heart attack and Mabel then remarried to a man named Sam Woodward. The couple lived in Buckeye, Arizona where Mabel served the Appaloosa Horse Club on their Board of Directors from 1949 through 1965. As one of the first women ever elected to the board, Mabel was active in both the local and national levels. She was respected by her colleagues because of her determination and extensive experience as a professional horsewoman. Mabel owned, bred and showed Appaloosas for many years after leaving the rodeo and Hollywood scenes.

She has been inducted into the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum Hall of Fame, the ProRodeo Cowboys Hall of Fame, the National Cowgirl Hall of Fame, the Pendleton Hall of Fame and the Cheyenne Frontier Days Hall of Fame.  Unfortunately, only the induction into Pendleton’s Hall of Fame happened during her lifetime. Today the Mabel Strickland Cowgirl Museum is active in Cheyenne, Wyoming. 

Mabel Delong Strickland Woodward died in 1976, at age 79, after a long battle with cancer. Her ashes were spread at her home in Buckeye, Arizona. She will forever be remembered as the first lady of rodeo.

Jim Olson (c) 2013

www.JimOlsonAuthor.com

Last Rodeo Pioneer

Bart Clennon

In sharp contrast with rodeos of today, back in 1945, Madison Square Garden’s, “World Championship Rodeo,” in New York was a grueling fifty performances over a thirty-day period! A man named Bart Clennon won the saddle bronc riding contest at that show. As a matter of fact, he won many bronc riding championships in the early days of rodeo; Reno, NV; Fort Worth, TX; San Angelo, TX; Burwell, NE; Red Bluff, CA; Salt Lake City, UT; Deadwood, SD, Miles City, MT; Kissimmee, FL and Boston Garden to name a few. Bart says, “I never kept any records, but I know that I made a living rodeoing for over twenty years.”

While his rodeo resume is quite impressive, what is even more notable is that he was the last living person of the original sixty-one fellows who signed the famous “Boston Garden strike document,” then walked out of performing at the rodeo in 1936. (Bart Clennon was born in Aberdeen, SD, 1910.)  This led to an eventual formation of the Cowboy Turtles Association (CTA) - the predecessor of the Professional Rodeo Cowboy Association (PRCA). 

Clennon, lived for many years in the Tucson, AZ area, a few miles north and west of the back entry road to old Tucson Studios, with his two sons, Bart Jr. and Terrance. His family went with him during much of his career and they saw many things together. Not all that happened on the rodeo trail was glamour and nostalgia though, as is often reported. The family recalls a tragic event in 1946 when two Army bombers collided mid-air as they performed for the crowd in Great Falls, Montana during the state fair. Bart and a friend were working stock behind the chutes when debris fell everywhere, killing over twenty horses and at least eight men.

Bart once said about the early days of rodeo, “We didn’t always get paid for winning. Sometimes the winners were determined (unofficially of course) before the show even started. But other times when you did win, the contractor may not pay the prize money out. We were kind of at the mercy of the producer in those early days.” 

It was not all that bad however, as a matter of fact, most of it was good times and Clennon said about getting started in the sport, “Back in those days, you would work for those old ranchers and farmers and make maybe $1 per day. Then those old tightwads would deduct days when the wind blew too hard or it stormed and you couldn’t work. So when I won $35 dollars at my first rodeo, I was hooked.” That was Ash Creek, SD and the year was 1928. He went on to work for several different rodeos and wild west shows (there was not much difference between them at the time) and sometimes got on as many as thirty to forty broncs per week!

In part due to grievances listed above, in 1936, at the Boston Garden rodeo, cowboys who were fed up with the status quo of rodeo production at the time decided to stand up for themselves, demanding better treatment. It was not easy. First off, Colonel W.T. Johnson, the producer, had paid to ship most of the contestants and their horses to Boston by train from out west. He also had sponsored rooms for a good many, making most of the cowboys indebted to him in some manner. When the cowboys threatened to strike if certain demands were not met, he told them they would have to find their own way home if they did - he would do his best to strand them in the east.

Clennon was worried, but the cowboys stuck together and walked out on the first of thirty scheduled performances. Johnson attempted to put the show on without them, using grooms and stable hands to fill in. That night Bart, “...paid $2 for a ticket to the rodeo and sat in the stands next to Howard McCrorey. When someone would come out of the chutes us cowboys would holler. Ol’ Howard was hollering so loud that I hardly had to...he’d beller like a bull!” Things eventually worked out and the cowboys soon thereafter formed the CTA. “We called it the Turtle Association because we were so damned slow to start and finally stick our necks out,” Bart recalls with a smile. He signed up and was given card number 418.

Bart is proud of his involvement with the formation of what was to eventually become the PRCA. With a gnarled finger, he smiles and points to his name on a nicely framed copy of the original strike document and says, “They’re all gone. I am the only one left.”

Bart was known as “a cowboys, cowboy.” Casey Tibbs once told a magazine reporter that Clennon was, "One of the best bronc riders I ever saw, and I can't figure out why he never won the (world championship)." 

Clennon recalls many good times with the prankster Tibbs including riding to a rodeo in California with a group of top cowboys from the day, one of them was Bud Linderman. Tibbs was driving wildly, and when they arrived, Bud jumped out of the back seat and said, “Anyone who rides with that S.O.B is plumb crazy!” Bart and Casey were friends and it was an honor for Bart when he was inducted into the Casey Tibbs Rodeo Center in his native South Dakota in 1995. He was also inducted into the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum’s “Rodeo Historical Society” in 1996 and remained a PRCA gold card member to the end (believed to be the oldest ever). 

Clennon quit rodeoing when he was about forty - after receiving his second broken neck. He then went to work as a hard rock miner and was in such amazing shape, he passed for 28, which was the age limit for new hires. He later was in the hardware business and eventually retired from that in his eighties.

Bart would recall the many broncs he rode with an amazing clarity of mind, for a man of any age, much less 101-plus. He did this with friends and rodeo buffs who stop by and listen. However, he once said in an interview that the greatest accomplishment he ever had, “...was when I married Geraldine Parkinson...the family traveled with me all over to rodeos...” Clennon lost his wife in 1982. Then he was fueled on by the many cherished memories of traveling the rodeo circuit and being together with his family.

Men like Bart Clennon changed the game of rodeo forever. His story ended on the night before turning an official 102 years of age. A few days before, he came down sick one last time. The legend died only hours before midnight - he almost made 102.

1. Jim Olson 2012

www.JimOlsonAuthor.com 

In The Beginning...

There was Rodeo. It started as a contest between cowboys to see who was the best roper and rider.

    

Soon it evolved into ranches competing against each other to see who had the best cowboys - much like a ranch rodeo of today. Before long, organized events were taking place in towns like Prescott, Arizona which claims to have the world’s oldest rodeo (started in 1888) and Payson, Arizona who argues they have the world’s oldest continuous rodeo (started in 1884). Then you have Pecos, Texas who claims the right to the world’s first rodeo (1883) but history tells us that William F. Cody (AKA Buffalo Bill) staged his first Wild West Show (which also had rodeo events) in 1882 at North Platte, Nebraska. 

But wait! There is more; Santa Fe, New Mexico also claims the first rodeo based on a letter dated 1847 written by Captain Mayne Reid from Santa Fe to a friend in Ireland: "At this time of year, the cowmen have what is called the round-up, when the calves are branded and the fat beasts selected to be driven to a fair hundreds of miles away. This round-up is a great time for the cowhand, a Donny-brook fair it is indeed. They contest with each other for the best roping and throwing, and there are horse races and whiskey and wines. At night in clear moonlight, there is dancing on the streets." 

Many will argue exact historic dates of the sport, but none will doubt the birth of rodeo was a contest of the cowboy.

In the early 1900s, rodeos were largely unorganized and scattered. The events as we know them today were mostly acts mixed in with wild west shows - which were more common at the time than a rodeo, as thought of in today’s terms. As a matter of fact, rodeos and wild west shows enjoyed a parallel existence in the early days and one was really not much different than the other (they even had a lot of the same stars and contestants). 

Many towns held annual “rodeos” but these shows were more commonly known as cowboy contests, stampedes, frontier days celebrations and of course, wild west shows. The term rodeo was not widely used until organization started to infiltrate the sport (in 1929). While rodeo had become a way of life for a select few in its earliest days, there was no standard to the event schedule, rules, judging, etc.. You might have a steer roping sandwiched between an Indian relay race and a shooting exhibition. Then they might go on with saddle broncs and steer wrestling followed by the “chicken pull” and trick roping. It’s been said there were over a hundred different events or acts to choose from, including a unique event held each year at Chicago where mounted cowboys went to lake Michigan, were floated out on a barge, and were then forced off, having to swim their horses several hundred yards back to shore! The first one back was the winner. Buffalo Bill Cody obviously had the most recognizable wild west show, and his show was more act and less rodeo, but rodeos of the day were a lot more wild west show than you think of in terms of your typical rodeo today.

These shows were very entertaining and popular with the crowds. However, cowboys competing in these performances were not thought of like a modern independent cowboy athlete is today. The organizers thought cowboys should be happy with cowboy wages and payouts for winning events were reflective of this mindset. At the time, cowboy wages were about a dollar per day ($30 a month). So if a cowboy could win (or was paid) that much, or sometimes even up to $100 for winning an event, he ought to be happy - and most were. Many cowboy from back in those days have been quoted as saying that winning a hundred dollars or so at a rodeo was more money than they had ever seen at one time in their whole life and that is what got them hooked on the shows. There were problems with this system however.

Cowboys still had to pay an entrance fee, much like today, and the amount of fees paid by the contestants was not reflected in the winning payout. Then there was the problem of each producer or town having their own ideas of how the show should be ran and which events to include. There was little standard in judging the riding events and rules varied from place to place. Then there were always those few who worked the system to their advantage and sometimes winners were determined before the show even started! (Unofficially of course.)

Accusations of bribes and crooked judges ran high. The rodeo cowboy became disgusted with this situation over time. It took a while, but he finally realized he was the star of the show; folks paid to see him perform, and he was not getting a fair share. There were thousands of dollars being made on some of the bigger shows from ticket sales and contestant entry fees, but only a few hundred would be paid back to the winners. This was fine for a few, but it was starvation for the overall lot. Just enough was being paid out to keep them coming back, with hopes it would be their turn to win the next show; kind of like dangling the proverbial carrot.

All of this changed however in 1936. That was the year professional rodeo was born. Rodeo organization was actually started in the northern states in 1929 with the formation of the Rodeo Association of America (RAA). This association was made up of managers and producers and did not include the cowboy in decision making and therefore was often contentious, seldom recognized and eventually it was merged with the Cowboys Turtle Association (CTA). They called themselves “turtles” because they were slow to organize but eventually stuck their heads out. They were the first cowboys to have a say in how the show ran. In 1945, the Cowboys Turtle Association changed their name to the Rodeo Cowboys Association (RCA) and in 1975 it was changed to the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association (PRCA).

It was Boston Garden, 1936, and the cowboys were fed up with one Colonel  William T. Johnson of Texas; promoter and organizer of major rodeos such as Madison Square Garden and the Boston show. While Johnson had a knack for producing spectacular shows and attendance was usually high, he refused to listen to the complaints of the cowboy. So they went on strike, demanded their entrance fees be added to the payout and that standard rules and judging be implemented. 

Johnson was livid and told the cowboys to leave the grounds; he would put on a show without them. As they rode out of Boston Garden, a-horseback, the press was there taking pictures. The press sympathized with the cowboys and the public was soon on their side. That night Johnson attempted to put on the performance using stable hands, grooms and wild west performers. The cowboys sat in the audience and booed. It became such a spectacle, with a poor performance, that the audience joined the cowboys in their disapproval. The Boston committee told Johnson to stop the show and work with the cowboys. Johnson said, “I’ll drive my stock into the bay before I give into their demands!” Cowboy Hugh Bennett, one of the strike organizers hollered, “We’ll saddle up and help you!”

Johnson eventually agreed to negotiate when the managers of the Garden told him to come to an agreement with the cowboys or he would be thrown out as well. Negotiations lasted throughout the night and into the next day, however, an agreement was finally reached. The seed of professional rodeo had been planted. There were sixty-one men who signed the original document which eventually led to the formation of the Cowboys Turtle Association that fateful day in Boston. Only one of those men remain alive at the time of this writing, Bart Clennon was a contestant at the Boston Garden show that October/November 1936. He turned 102 on November 5th, 2012. More on Bart soon.

(c) Jim Olson 2012