ProRodeo Sports News - Jan. 24, 2020

generally champion riders. “I was too big, and I was one of the first guys to start leaning back because we learned to hold on more than with just our strength,” Houston said. “You could get wilder with your feet, and that’s how we basically all of a sudden could beat the older guys.” The technique worked. He made eight consecutive qualifications to the NFR for bareback riding (1962-69) and once in steer wrestling (1968). He was inducted into the ProRodeo Hall of Fame with the inaugural class in 1979. Houston retired from bareback riding around 1968 and then competed in steer wrestling for a few years. “I was a freak of nature in bareback riding, but in bulldogging it took a while to learn,” Houston said. “But I had Jack Roddy, JohnW. Jones and C.R. Boucher. They were all guys who won the world and were fantastic coaches. It took me 10 years to learn it and I couldn’t get the right technique, and then it dawned on me.” Longtime friend and stock contractor Mike Cervi had a different perspective on Houston’s rodeo abilities. “He bulldogged better than he rode bareback horses,” Cervi said. “If he stuck with it, he would have won a lot of championships.” After he retired from competition, Houston returned to his rodeo roots in Cody where he served as the rodeo’s manager for four years, working alongside Cervi. Houston went on to work at the Jackson Hole, Wyo., rodeo for eight years starting in the mid-1970s. “Mike and I have been together since 1962, and the only reason I could produce Cody’s rodeo was because he was my mentor and partner on producing rodeos,” Houston said. “He was a wonderful and fair partner and

on, and by golly they have gone completely crazy now. “It’s just unbelievable what they can do with them. It saved the business, that’s for sure. It’s gotten a lot more sophisticated – it’s modern. I wonder, as popular as the oldWest is, but the West is going a bit too modern.” Today, Houston works to preserve the oldWest by trading antiques and working with chuckwagons. “I never saw a guy who studied and recognized the originals like he can,” Cervi said. “If he saw a part for a stagecoach, he would tell you in a second if it was old, real or fake. He knew that equipment better than anyone and he could tell the difference between the originals and the ones that were made up. He studied them and read books on them.” In addition to trading oldWest antiques, Houston also participates in chuckwagon rendezvous. “It’s wonderful when you find an original wagon in someone’s barn, and like any antiques, you’re thrilled when you find a really good one,” Houston said. “The old timers I traveled with stay in touch to talk about how it’s changed. They have bred the horses up to where they are just fantastic. … It took a while to catch on, and by golly they have gone completely crazy now.” – JIM HOUSTON

did everything he’d say, and his word was good,” Cervi said. “He was one of my best partners I’ve had, and I’ve had a lot of them.”

A TIGHT GRIP

The JimHouston Championship Rodeo Equipment Company was started in 1967, providing ProRodeo athletes of the era with Houston’s signature style of equipment. “The different deals we came up with, I stole ideas from guys and took innovations, but I was winning with it and got more credit than was needed,” Houston said. “Then I got tired of the handles being rawhide and getting loose and floppy, and you didn’t have as much stability. So, every few months you had to redo them, so we started beefing them up.” The riggings continued to change as Houston made them for himself and his friends. “He delegated himself to doing it with diligence,” Cervi said. “He had so much willpower. He would stay up all night working on it. He worked like a Trojan. Sleep didn’t mean much to him, and he was never married, and he had plenty of time to do the things he wanted. Other people had other obligations, but he devoted his whole life to rodeo.” His design took hold and remains essentially the same today. Houston and his friends from the rodeo world continue to keep tabs on the sport. “The old timers I traveled with stay in touch to talk about how it’s changed,” Houston said. “They have bred the horses up to where they are just fantastic. … It took a while to catch PRESERVING THE PAST

Photo courtesy Jim Houston Now retired from rodeo competition and production, Houston spends most of his time trading old West antiques and working with chuckwagons.

ProRodeo Sports News 1/24/2020

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