PRORODEO Sports News - July 11, 2025

D r. Charles W. 'Doc' Graham passed away on Saturday, June 21. He was 92. The Elgin, Texas, veterinarian ded icated his life to PRORODEO and the Western lifestyle and received the 2018 PRCA Veterinarian of the Year award for his dedication to the care of PRCA livestock and his service to Rodeo Austin. "Even after he retired from being a vet, if Joe Beaver and I had a prob lem with our horses, he'd see our horses," Tony Reina, chairman of the Texas Circuit, said. "He would say, 'Boys, it doesn't matter what time it is, just meet me at the vet clinic and I'll take care of it.' "And I can't tell you how many times in the 90s Joe and I would come through there in the middle of the night to drop off our horses and come back to pick them up two or three days later when Doc said, 'Alright, you're ready to go.'" Graham went to vet school at Texas A&M University before founding the Elgin Veterinary Clinic and the Southwest Stallion Station with Dr. W.H. Cardwell in 1961. "I'm going to be 54 years old, and I think I've known him since I was about 10 years old," Reina said. "I took my first roping horse to him when I started roping, and he still had his clinic in Elgin. I used him for many years before he retired." He continued to operate the prac PASSINGS

FORMER PRCA VETERINARIAN OF THE YEAR DR. CHARLES W. ‘DOC’ GRAHAM PASSES AWAY

tice for several decades while expanding his equestrian involvement to work with the Texas Quarter

Horse Asso ciation and his breeding program. Over an illustrious career, he earned inductions into several Hall of Fames, including the American Quarter Horse Hall of Fame and the Texas Cowboy Hall of Fame. "He was known as the leg man," Reina said. "Everybody said that if you had a leg problem with your horse, to take him to Dr. Graham in Elgin. My in-laws rodeoed in the 1970s and 80s, and they always used him. Then, when they got into riding cutting horses, they always used him until he got more into his breeding program." As Graham grew older, he remained involved in the Western lifestyle and stayed in touch with the friends he had made along the way, includ ing Reina. For the last decade, the two talked on the phone every Wednesday morning at 6:30 a.m. about every thing from old stories to rodeo to cattle feeding practices. "In recent years, I've gotten to real ly lean on him for knowledge of the cattle business," Reina said. "My

PRCA file photo

dad and our family raise F1 replace ment heifers, which are a Brah man-Hereford cross…Doc has been an integral part of the knowledge I've gained in that over the last 20 years, because I've always leaned on him for advice." Despite a busy and successful busi ness career, Graham also served on youth rodeo boards and several other non-profit organizations. He also hosted over 1,000 head of livestock at his ranch each year for a month during Rodeo Austin and helped treat livestock at the Nation al Finals Rodeo for several decades. "He wanted to see this lifestyle grow," Reina said. "He had a lot to do with Rodeo Austin for the last 40 years. But he's been such an in tegral part of that. He's in so many hall of fames that I can't even count them. "He was a pioneer. He was way ahead of his time. He was so ad vanced in veterinary medicine and was such a smart guy."

46 PRORODEO Sports News