Enjoy Rodeo? You Can Thank Buffalo Bill Cody For That

Are you one of the millions of Americans who enjoysBlowout" by Buffalo Bill -- is credited as the beginning
a good rodeo? Have you ever ordered rodeo gear,of Cody's U.S. touring show that became his full-blown
from saddles and ropes to rodeo wear of all sorts?"Wild West Show," and also as the beginning of
You can thank Buffalo Bill Cody for his role incommunity-wide, formal rodeos.
"inventing," or at least widely popularizing, the modernSure, rodeos began long before Cody's day, as
rodeo.gatherings and displays of riding and roping skills when
Throughout America, rodeo fans and participants fromcattle were rounded up; and even as organized
kids to old timers enjoy such celebrations ofcompetitions where cowboys and other skilled riders
horsemanship and Old West lore as annual "Frontiershowcased and competed with each other. But
Days," high school or college rodeo, and other contestsseveral sources credit Cody's "Old Glory Blowout" in
of horsemanship and cowboy skills. (I'm not a rodeoNorth Platte on that Fourth of July as the launching
fan myself, although I've been to a few and had apoint of annual, community-wide rodeos and growing
cousin who was a bona fide professional rodeointerest in rodeos worldwide.
clown.) I know there's a professional rodeo circuit that'sFor more information about Cody and some terrific
been around for a long time, the Professional Rodeoinformation about life in the Old West, I would
Cowboys Association (P.R.C.A.), and that cowboysrecommend two excellent books. You can probably
and ranch hands from everywhere enjoy showing offfind them at a local bookstore, or on or eBay. The first
their skills and rising to the challenge of serious rodeois "The Lives and Legends of Buffalo Bill" by Don
competition all over America.Russell (copyrighted 1960, University of Oklahoma
But what I didn't know was this: William F. ("Buffalo Bill")Press). Cody was one of the most fascinating
Cody, one of the truly "heroic" figures of the Old West,characters in the Old West, and this book has
played a major role in the invention and developmentincredible stories and solid reference notes about him.
of modern rodeo. It began when he returned to hisThe other book you need to own about Cody is
then-hometown of North Platte, Nebraska, in the"Buffalo Bill Cody: The Man Behind the Legend," by
summer of 1882 to find that the town was doingRobert A. Carter (copyrighted 2000, John Wiley &
nothing special to celebrate the Fourth of July. HeSons, Inc.). Carter's book is probably the better of the
blustered about that fact, letting North Platte's mayortwo only because it relies on more recent sources. I
and other town leaders know that, in his mind, notstrongly recommend both books.
having a big celebration for the Fourth was downrightSo the next time you order a saddle, some ropes, or
unpatriotic. They turned to Cody and appointed him toany horse and rodeo gear, think of old Bill Cody. He
the job of coming up with something.won't make anything off the deal, but I expect he'd be
That Fourth of July celebration -- dubbed an "Old Glorypleased!