ProRodeo Sports News - August 5, 2022

PRORODEO GEAR

PRCA ProRodeo photos Don King, left, grandson of King’s Saddlery and King Ropes founder Don King, shares a light moment with Danny Morales, who along with Gary Mefford, right, have both been working for the Kings for more than four decades.

then moved away to Florida and came back two years ago to help run the business. The business has 25 employees between the front store, saddle side, rope side, and museum side. The store is open Monday through Saturday from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. (MT). “I was named after Grandpa (Don). I was the first grandkid,” King said. “When we were teenagers, dad told my brothers and me go do what you want. You can always fall back on the store. As soon as I turned 18, I got out of here. I went to a year of college, and I went to culinary school. I worked in the industry in Denver for a year and then I moved to Palm Beach, Fla., where I worked for a family as their estate manager/private chef. With them I was eight to nine months in Florida and three to four months out here in Cody, Wyo., at their ranch. “I was able to finish up my undergrad and graduate degree. So, I got my MBA from the University of Miami. I went into the finance world and 9-11 happened, so I worked for Morgan Stanley for a little bit, and they went through cutbacks after 9-11. I was in the Palm Beach area. I wanted to be analyst onWall Street but with 9-11 happening that didn’t work out. “Then on my days off when I lived in Florida, I worked on a dive boat as a dive master. That’s where I got my Coast Guard license. Then I captained yachts for 20-plus years before moving back here (to Sheridan).” Middle brother, Barry, was tooling at the family business, and he started his own machine shop that stamps the leather for King’s Saddlery.

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“The Don King Western Museummy dad (Bruce) and I started putting together,” young Don said. “We bought the building when I was a junior in high school and I started putting it together my senior year, and it opened right after I graduated in 1990-91. There are probably more than 500 saddles on display in there and I don’t know how many more in storage that we don’t have room for. The museum is free to the public. Grandpa always wanted it to be free and now we just charge bus tours.” By earning his education by stopping in saddle shops throughout the West, Don King, the patriarch and founder, developed his famous hand carving styles into saddle leather. The style of saddlery – tightly-carved floral patterns are the hallmark of the brand. Things done by hand take time and the saddles have become famous throughout the world. Tools used in the basement shop at King’s Saddlery and King Ropes were designed by Don, who passed away July 28, 2007, at the age of 83. In the basement, the Kings’ staff members make many of the ropes they sell by blending yarns of different types on a machine that runs the length of the building. The yarn is plied and twisted at different calibrations to fit the intended use, then treated in a wax and stretched and cured. The business has always been a family affair. Young Don’s parents – father, Bruce and mother, Mary have been working in the business for more than 50 years each. Then, son, Don worked at the business through his teenage years. He

ProRodeo Sports News 8/5/2022

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