ProRodeo Hall of Fame

Follow the organization of individual rodeo contestants into a professional sport.

The Formation of a Sport

Cowboys Turtle Association, Cheyenne, Wyoming, 1937.

The United Cowboys Turtle Association

The contestants at the 1936 Boston Garden Rodeo were upset about the low pay for their performances. They banded together by signing this petition. It was delivered to the producer of the rodeo by Richard (Dick) Truitt, Hugh Bennett, Herman Linder, and Richard (Dick) Griffith.

Petition from Cowboys to Colonel William T. Johnson

Cowboy and Cowgirl Contestants at the 1936 Madison Square Garden Rodeo.

Early Contestants

At the 1936 Boston Garden Rodeo, 61 cowboys refused to participate in the rodeo because they were not going to be paid what they had been promised. Look at the Petition in the last activity and answer the questions below.

Cowboy Strike

Colonel William T. Johnson chose to offer less money to the contestants at the Boston Garden Rodeo than originally promised. Upset by this change, the contestants refused to participate in the Rodeo. The documents in the slide show document the strike by the contestants.

Cowboys Strike!

While rodeo began on the plains of Kansas, Texas, and other western states in the 1880s, it took many years before it became a professional sport. In 1936, sixty-one cowboys joined together to fight for proper payment and representation. They were the first to speak out against the injustices practiced by rodeo producers. These men created a new organization for the cowboys and cowgirls for whom rodeo was becoming a career.

For more information about the ProRodeo Hall of Fame: 

For more information about the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association: 

https://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/pds/gilded/empire/text1/turner.pdf

Becoming a Profession: Rodeo Becomes a Sport

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Photograph, 1937 Cowboys Turtle Association

Group of men standing posed for the camera. Building at the left side of the frame. Trees across the background. Written along the bottom edge: Cowboy's Turtle Ass'n of America at Cheyenne Frontier Days, July, 1937.

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Cowboy's Turtle Association 1937

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Becoming a Profession: Rodeo Becomes a Sport