Don drew the Bull of the Year, a big Charolais named Mr. Bubble, owned by Billy Minick of Fort Worth, Bobby drew a Scotch Highlander owned by Carl Murphy. Don could win his first bull riding title by conquering Mr. Bubble and taking first. But, as it turned out he missed the qualifying buzzer by a couple of seconds, and the title went to Bobby, who rode his bull.
Read about the famous bull “Bodacious” here.
In the hotel lobby that night Neal Gay stood with one arm around Don, the other around Jeana Day, a family friend who finished second in barrel racing. “Here’s two runner-ups, and you can bet they’re gonna be back next year,” he said.
They did return. As for bull riding, Don’s third Finals was the beginning of an era in the event, the likes of which hadn’t been seen since the competitive days of Jim Shoulders. Last year, at Don’s tenth consecutive Finals, he tied the Shoulders record of seven bull riding championships. This year Don is working toward number eight.
The Mesquite Championship Rodeo is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year. The weekly contest—every Friday and Saturday night, April through September—is PRCA-sanctioned, and its home is Mesquite, Texas, near Dallas and Fort Worth. The rodeo, in a word, is successful; there is a covered arena and ample livestock; ESPN Cable TV televises the competition into millions of homes, and spectators either in the grandstand or in front of television sets are assured of seeing some of the top rodeo hands in North America competing at Mesquite.
Neal Gay started the rodeo in 1958, in partnership with five friends—Jim Shoulders, Ira Akers, Bob Grant, Harry Tompkins, and rodeo clown D.J. Gaudin (the Kajun Kid). Neal was named managing director, and Jim Shoulders was elected president of the corporation. Of the five, Shoulders is the only one still involved with Neal in the rodeo, and he still serves as president.
Neal was raised in Dallas, and as a youngster enjoyed visits to a relative’s farm on the outskirts of town, where he rode calves for fun. He didn’t really get involved in rodeo, though, until after World War II when he returned home from the Coast Guard and went to work in his dad’s garage. A bronc rider named Tex Lewis used to drop by, and one day Tex asked Neal if he would like to enter the bronc riding at a contest over in Garland.
He had never been on a bucking horse, but Neal entered the rodeo and nearly made the whistle. He climbed on his second bronc at another nearby rodeo the following night and won first place for $35. That hooked him—he joined the Rodeo Cowboys Association and become an all-around hand who frequently ranked among the top 10 saddle bronc riders in R.C.A. standings.
Neal liked rodeo life, but when his first son, Pete, was born in 1952, Neal felt the tug of responsibility and decided to settle down. He needed to be a father, and he needed a job that would allow him to be home each day. He opened a used car lot on the former site of the old Pleasant Mound Rodeo, where he had won the $35 for his first successful bronc ride. Six years later, the site became home for the Mesquite Championship Rodeo.
Neal will never forget opening night. A man had come by earlier and offered to parachute into the arena at the start of the performance for publicity purposes. “Well, he came by on opening night,” recalls Neal. “Only one hitch. He missed the arena and got tangled up in a bunch of wire about 100 yards away.”
The Mesquite rodeo was not an instant success. “We tried different things to get people to come out,” says Neal. “We even tried cowboys versus Indians basketball games in the arena. The rules were simple. Anything was legal. The only requirement was that you had to be horseback to score a goal in baskets hung up on each end of the arena.”
The winning team would get $10; the losers $5. Neal finally gave up on the games. “It got too rough,” he says. “Those guys actually used to get into fights.”