Cowboy Up!

by Sheryl Smith-Rodgers

“I caught the steer, and he jerked my horse down, which knocked me out. By the time I came to, they were all down at the saloon, spending the prize money.”

Brenda McKinney always schedules her annual vacation around the Fourth of July, and she never leaves town that week.

Not many other folks in Pecos, Texas, leave then, either. Nearly everyone in this west Texas community of about 12,000 stays to attend the West of the Pecos Rodeo, a long-running tradition. Indeed, Pecos is designated as the site of the world’s first rodeo, dating back to July 4, 1883.

“It’s the biggest thing that happens to Pecos every year,” says McKinney, who heads the 50-member committee charged with putting on this year’s rodeo, which runs July 4-7. “The high school schedules its reunions at that time, and families have get-togethers then, too.”

Professional cowboys who rope and ride competitively for a living often bring their families, travel hundreds of miles to Pecos (pronounced “PAY-cuss”), and, despite summer’s heat, stay awhile.

“Pecos has a very prestigious rodeo because it’s been around so long,” says Jim Kenney, a local rancher who provides bucking horses for the four-day event. “The cowboys come here because they can win big money. It’s a tradition for them, too. Most rodeos, you load up and leave when you’re done. But Pecos is a big reunion. There’s a lot of camaraderie, visiting, and seeing people you haven’t seen in a long time.”

As far back as locals can remember, they’ve either attended or helped organize the historic rodeo, which began 118 years ago when about eight cowboys with some free time argued over who was the best roper among them. When they couldn’t settle the dispute, they pooled their money—about $40—and announced July Fourth as the day they’d square off. Spectators traveled from miles around in wagons and on horseback to watch the contest. Ultimately, ranch hand Trav Windham won the steer-roping event, and another wrangler, whose name was not recorded, claimed the bronc-riding title.

Barney Hubbs, a Pecos newspaperman, proved the “world’s first rodeo” designation by collecting affidavits in the 1950s from residents who remembered that first contest. Encyclopedia Britannica editors, who studied Hubbs’ research, credited Pecos with the first public cowboy contest where prizes were awarded to winners.

Dick Slack, a former state representative, is the grandson of Henry Slack, the last surviving contestant of the original rodeo. “I used to kid him about why he didn’t win the steer roping,” Slack recalls of his grandfather who died in 1944. “He’d tell me, ‘Well, they cut out a suckling cow for Trav and a fresh, young steer for me. I caught the steer, and he jerked my horse down, which knocked me out. By the time I came to, they were all down at the saloon, spending the prize money.’”

Today, the West of the Pecos Rodeo attracts 770 top-ranking cowboys and cowgirls who vie in nine events for $225,000 in prize money donated by Pecos businesses and corporate sponsors. What used to be a local roping-and-riding event since the 1920s has evolved into Texas’ largest outdoor rodeo. It’s sanctioned by the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association, which last year ranked Pecos No. 18 on a list of its 700 rodeos.

Commitment to tradition

McKinney and others like her are determined to keep the rodeo tradition alive in a town that’s weathered some rough times. A severe drought and the recent closure of a major sulfur-mining company left their scars on this tough Texas town, built on the edge of the Chihuahua Desert where rainfall averages less than a foot a year.

“Pecos is going through tough times right now,” confirms McKinney. “This is a successful rodeo, but with the way the economy is right now, it’s getting harder and harder to put up the added prize money for the cowboys.”

But despite their town’s struggle, organizers—all longtime volunteers who have full-time jobs—remain committed to the rodeo they attended as children.

“We work on this 12 months out of the year,” McKinney says. “On the last day of the rodeo, we’re already talking to our producer about next year’s show. The most we get for all our work is a handshake and a pat on the back. But it’s just so rewarding to be part of something that’s so successful.”

Rickey Exum remembers a year back in the 1960s when he and other committee members borrowed money from a local bank to keep the rodeo afloat. Five or six years ago, the same thing nearly happened. “It’s tough to put on a class rodeo,” Exum says. “Most rodeos hire help, but the committee here goes out and does everything. You have to have people who are dedicated, and we do. But still, every year we hold our breath.”

Once the cowboys start arriving, though, they know they’ve pulled off another rodeo. For a week, pickup trucks and livestock trailers jam city streets, waiting lines form at restaurants, and hotels book up solid. Throughout the week, rodeo organizers estimate that more than 50,000 people visit Pecos.

“You wouldn’t know the place,” Exum says. “There’s people everywhere. It’s a different atmosphere then.”

‘You have to have talent’

Before the rodeo gets going, residents flock to the celebration, Night in Old Pecos and later to the Golden Girl Revue beauty pageant. Others gather for the Old Timer’s Reunion, always held on the grounds of the West of the Pecos Museum, housed in the Number 11 Saloon (dating back to 1896) and the adjoining Orient Hotel (1904), right before the rodeo parade kicks off.

Eventually, they’ll be able to visit the planned Texas Rodeo Hall of Fame, which will be housed in the Texas and Pacific Railroad depot.

Then comes the much-awaited event—the rodeo’s opening night at the Buck Jackson Arena, where cowboys on horseback tear out of the chute to ride and rope. Scores of spectators, seated on wooden grandstands, mostly clad in jeans and boots, cheer wildly for their favorite wranglers.

“It’s tick, tick, tick, as fast as you can go,” says Exum, who directs arena events during the show. Early in the rodeo’s history, area cowboys competed in the various events, such as steer wrestling, bareback riding, bull riding, calf and steer roping, and team roping. These days, only card-carrying PRCA cowboys can participate.

Sharlene Martinez, a rodeo committee member, is one of only a few Pecos residents who enter the hometown rodeo every year. “This is a unique rodeo in that you have to have a lot of talent to win,” says Martinez, a professional barrel racer. “It’s a large arena, too. You have to know what you’re doing.”

Buck Jackson Arena also is known for its outstanding sod. “We start cultivating the ground a couple of months before the rodeo,” Exum says. The work requires a tractor to disk the dirt and mix in just the right amount of water, sometimes amounting to three to five truckloads per day.

“One year, it rained before the bull-riding event,” Exum recalls. “So we hauled 200 to 300 pounds of cat litter in to absorb the moisture. We bought everything Wal-Mart had!”

Putting on a rodeo year after year is hard work, time-consuming, and often thankless. Still, volunteers like Exum, Martinez, and McKinney—all close friends—refuse to quit.

“We will always have a rodeo here in Pecos on the Fourth of July,” vows McKinney, fingering a silver commemorative “West of the Pecos Rodeo” bracelet on her wrist.

“This is a part of history,” she adds, “that no one can take away from Pecos, Texas.”

Sheryl Smith-Rodgers, a freelance writer/photographer, lives in Blanco, Texas.

first appeared: 6/17/2001