ProRodeo Sports News - February 5, 2021

IN MEMORIAM PAUL MAYO 1942-2021

Game Changer

Ferrell Butler photo Bull rider Paul Mayo competed in Billings, Mont., in 1965. Mayo, who was inducted into the ProRodeo Hall of Fame in Colorado Springs, Colo., in 2010, won bareback riding world championships in 1966 and 1970.

P roRodeo Hall of Famer Paul Mayo, whose style of bareback riding revolutionized the sport, passed away Jan. 24 in Stephenville, Texas. He was 78. A two-time bareback riding world champion and 12-time National Finals Rodeo qualifier, Mayo was inducted into the ProRodeo Hall of Fame in Colorado Springs, Colo., in 2010. Mayo won world titles in 1966 and 1970 and was the bareback riding reserve world champion three times (1965, 1967 and 1971). “He was just a happy-go-lucky guy in rodeo,” said his older brother, Don. “He liked to have a good time, and (rodeo) was just so easy for him. He was an ungodly natural athlete.” ProRodeo Hall of Famer Shawn Davis, a three-time saddle bronc riding world champion (1965, 1967-68) and longtime general manager of the NFR, was full of praise for his friend Paul. “More than anything he was a great athlete,” Davis said. “He had a great will to win, and one of his best attributes is he knew how to rodeo and how to organize, and he knew how to get to rodeos as good as anybody that I was ever around. He had the right personality to be a champion. He was determined. He wanted to enjoy his life. He would have a good time, but he knew where to cut it off to keep winning at the level he was winning at.”

ProRodeo Hall of Famer Paul Mayo passes away

BY TRACY RENCK

ProRodeo Sports News 2/5/2021

ProRodeo.com

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