PRORODEO Sports News February Digital Edition

“What I want to be known for, on top of everything else, is that I was a good husband and family man.”

~ Chris LeDoux

The renowned rodeo champion and country singer, was famously devoted to his family. The LeDoux family from left to right Ned (who continues the family’s country music tradition), Cindi, Chris, his wife Peggy, Clay and in front Will and Beau.

They recorded many of the records in a hand-built studio, eight tracks were produced in LeDoux’s mother’s kitchen, his sister put the labels on the records, his uncle hit the road to sell the tapes at feed stores and his son Ned said that his dad probably gave away more music than he sold “Once he retired from rodeo, he re ally buckled down on playing shows,” Ned LeDoux said. “He got a band to gether. But he released 22 albums on his own before he got a record deal.” His music career made another massive jump in 1989 thanks to Garth Brooks. The hit song “Much Too Young (To Feel This Damn Old)” de buted that year at the same time that LeDoux started building his band and

Brooks later played with LeDoux at Cheyenne Frontier Days in 1996, and the two became close friends. “When you define the title, ‘cowboy’, it’s as much about what you do out of the saddle as you do in the saddle,” Brooks told the PRORODEO Sports News. “Chris was a success at being a cowboy on a horse and on the ground. He was a true and honest, loving hus band, father and friend. “Nobody gets to lead the perfect life. But for the record, if I could ever be half the man Chris was, I feel I would have lived a perfect life.” Ned LeDoux remembers the first time he heard that song on the way back from Casper, Wyo., in a van with his family while his dad was behind

shifting his focus to playing more gigs and signing a record deal. The song was released as Brooks’ debut single and served as the first single from his self-titled album, which was co-written by Brooks and Randy Taylor. The song shot all the way up to No. 8 on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart that year. The song about an aging rodeo cow boy mentioned LeDoux in the third verse. “The competition’s getting younger/Tougher broncs, you know, I can’t recall/A worn-out tape of Chris LeDoux, lonely women and bad booze/They seem to be the only friends I’ve left at all”

FEBRUARY 2026 PRORODEO SPORTS NEWS DIGITAL MAGAZINE 9