ProRodeo Sports News - May 10, 2024

TIME CAPSULE WILEY M C CRAY A Wiley Clown

Wiley McCray worked as a rodeo clown for 39 years BY PRCA STAFF W iley McCray’s rodeo roots began as a bull rider and a trick rider on his horse, Silver, when he was a kid. He performed trick riding at the Anvil Park Rodeo in a small town in the Texas panhandle called Canadian in the early 1930s and continued to entertain rodeo crowds for the rest of his life. His rodeo resumé was highlighted by his antics as a clown, but he was also a skilled bull fighter and bareback rider. “Timing is the key to comedy,” McCray said in the 1975 annual edition of Hoof and Horn. “You’ve got to be a pretty good pantomime actor, because the audience can’t hear you most of the time.” McCray made his debut as a barrelman in 1938 at a rodeo in Briscoe, Texas, and by 1940 he was out of the barrel and running wild in the arena. Ten years later, he estimated he faced more than 2,000 bulls, and his career continued for more than 20 years after that. That same year, 1950, he retired from competing in roughstock events and focused solely on clowning. McCray once said 1950 was his most lucrative year – earning $37,000. He went on to become one of the most famous clowns in rodeo history – thanks in part to his outrageous acts, including his mule “Cocklebur,” a chimpanzee and several midget bulls. He also trained skunks, pigs, dogs and even an ostrich for his act. While most people fear bulls, McCray

PRCA ProRodeo file photo Wiley McCray is shown in an undated photo in the 1978 souvenir program for the Snake River Stampede in Nampa, Idaho. McCray had a colorful rodeo career before passing in 1977.

kept a trained Hereford bull named Old Bad Eye as his “pet,” having taught it to play hurt, beg not to be shot and to curtsy the crowd. Of course, having the likes of Gene Autry, Roy Rogers, Matt Dillon, Rex Allen, Doc and Festus of “Gunsmoke” and Smiley Burnette join in the fun were a boost to his rodeo entertainment. His wife, Mardell, was also a trick rider and horse trainer, and she assisted McCray in the arena until their son, Fred, was born. At his peak, Wiley performed as many as 32 leading shows and had to fly from one rodeo to the next. Despite his busy schedule, McCray found time to visit children’s hospitals, while also running his own farm in Briscoe, Texas. McCray made his National Finals Rodeo debut in 1961 in Dallas and

returned to the NFR in 1972.

The life of a rodeo clown isn’t all laughs and gags – it also has its share of bumps and bruises – and in McCray’s case, several narrow escapes. While performing at the Ogden, Utah, rodeo, a Brahma bull broke some of McCray’s ribs and caved in his chest bones. During other incidents, he broke his leg twice. In 1974, he was hooked by a bull reaching inside the barrel on four different occasions and was quoted by Hoof and Horn as saying, “one old bull got hold of the barrel and tossed it 10 feet high, with me in it – 240 pounds of barrel and clown hits the ground pretty hard from 10 feet.” He kept up the pace until 1977, and passed away on Nov. 19, 1977, at 61 years old.

ProRodeo Sports News 5/10/2024

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