01/08/2022
Casey Tibbs sold a string of bucking horses to the E. C. Roberts family, rodeo-stock contractors from Strong City, Kansas. The family patriarch was the father of two champion cowboys, Gerald Roberts and Ken Roberts, one or the other of whom won rodeo bull-riding or all-around championships every year from 1942 to 1948. Tibbs came along just when the family was using its championship reputation to promote an expanding rodeo-contracting business.
The South Dakota cowboy offered the Roberts not only a string of bucking horses but also a top-notch hand. Working for the family in 1946 and 1947. Tibbs matured into a professional cowboy. He learned how to study bucking horses and take notes on individual animals.
He discovered how to spur a horse and maximize his scores. He figured out how to take a fall without breaking an ankle or tearing a muscle. He learned, too, about rodeo as a business and what it took to promote and stage a western event. His newfound skills paid off when, at age sixteen, he won his first trophy saddle in Newton, Kansas.
https://www.sdhspress.com/journal/south-dakota-history-32-4/casey-tibbs-americas-most-beloved-cowboy/vol-32-no-4-casey-tibbs.pdf?fbclid=IwAR2M4kibud5hd8NAb1GbHhtCdnso8ioM5ZS8iA8jiWa12t0XApe6Z6fs8fQ
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