One of the most famous rodeo stars has been Jim Shoulders. He dominated the sport during the 1950s with 16 world titles.
Born in 1928, Shoulders won his first rodeo at age 14. With growing success he used the winnings to buy a 400-acre ranch in Henryetta, Oklahoma. From the Rocky Mountain Rodeo News: “It starts with M and ends in Y,” said Jim Shoulders about what has changed the most since his competitive rodeo days – MONEY. The prize money contestants are competing for now has increased dramatically since the $18 Shoulders made for winning the bull riding in Oilton, Oklahoma when he was 14 years old. “It was the 4th of July and I’d been working the wheat harvest for 25 cents an hour. I thought $18 dollars for one day’s work was pretty good,” recalls Shoulders.”
Wikipedia says that “Over his career, his injuries included two broken arms, broken collar bones three times, a broken pelvis twice, a broken hand, and innumerable concussions and broken ribs”. And this was before helmets and protective vests were used.
Again Wikipedia: “If there ever was a man that had no pain quotient, it was him,” said Clem McSpadden, a rodeo announcer and former Democratic congressman from Oklahoma. Heck, he didn’t even wear a mouthpiece. I saw his knee swell up to the size of a cantaloupe, and he’d go spur his horse and win. That was probably the thing that other cowboys recognized. They’ll be talking about him for generations to come.”
He retired from the rodeo circuit in 1970 at age 42 providing rodeo stock and raised bulls including the famous “Tornado”. In later years he ran a rodeo school at his home ranch.
Shoulders was one of the first cowboys to get endorsements and was a spokesman for Miller Light beer, Wranglers and James Boots. Shoulders is lifetime member of the Pro Rodeo Hall of Fame in Colorado Springs and the Cowboy Hall of Fame in Oklahoma City. He is the only professional cowboy honored in the Madison Square Garden Hall of Fame.
Jim died in 2007 from heart disease leaving his longtime wife Sharon.