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ProRodeo legend Larry Mahan Passes Away
BY TRACY RENCK, PSN EDITOR • May 7, 2023
PRORODEO LEGEND LARRY MAHAN PASSES AWAY
ProRodeo Hall of Famer Larry Mahan, arguably the biggest superstar in rodeo history, passed away on May 7. He was 79.
Mahan was the all-around world champion in 1966-70 and 1973. He also was the bull riding champ in 1965 and 1967. He qualified for the NFR a combined 26 times from 1964-75 in bareback riding, saddle bronc riding and bull riding. He was inducted in the inaugural class of the ProRodeo Hall of Fame in Colorado Springs, Colo., in 1979.
The loss of Mahan weighed heavy on fellow ProRodeo Hall of Famer, Ty Murray, a nine-time world champion.
"I think he meant a lot to the sport of rodeo, and he meant a lot to me," Murray said. "He was my hero. He was my superman when I was a little boy. I did a paper when I was in fifth grade, they said if you could wish anything for the world what would it be. I misunderstood the question. I thought it meant if there is anything you could do in the world, what would it be? I said I wanted to break Larry Mahan's records. I still have that assignment today with me."
{snip}
PRORODEO LEGEND LARRY MAHAN PASSES AWAY
ProRodeo Hall of Famer Larry Mahan, arguably the biggest superstar in rodeo history, passed away on May 7. He was 79.
Mahan was the all-around world champion in 1966-70 and 1973. He also was the bull riding champ in 1965 and 1967. He qualified for the NFR a combined 26 times from 1964-75 in bareback riding, saddle bronc riding and bull riding. He was inducted in the inaugural class of the ProRodeo Hall of Fame in Colorado Springs, Colo., in 1979.
The loss of Mahan weighed heavy on fellow ProRodeo Hall of Famer, Ty Murray, a nine-time world champion.
"I think he meant a lot to the sport of rodeo, and he meant a lot to me," Murray said. "He was my hero. He was my superman when I was a little boy. I did a paper when I was in fifth grade, they said if you could wish anything for the world what would it be. I misunderstood the question. I thought it meant if there is anything you could do in the world, what would it be? I said I wanted to break Larry Mahan's records. I still have that assignment today with me."
{snip}
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How those Larry's holdin' up?
3 replies
= new reply since forum marked as read
= new reply since forum marked as read
Larry Mahan, the Elvis of Rodeo, Is Dead at 79
His eight championships made him a legend to his fans. His mod style, swashbuckling lifestyle and flirtations with Hollywood made him a star.
Larry Mahan competing in Oklahoma City in 1974. “Football had Joe Namath, boxing had Muhammad Ali and rodeo had Larry Mahan,” said a fellow member of the National Rodeo Hall of Fame.Credit...Associated Press
By Alex Williams
May 18, 2023
Larry Mahan, an eight-time rodeo world champion and swashbuckling showman who was once called “rodeo’s first matinee idol,” and who brokered that reputation into side careers as a Hollywood actor, a country singer and a purveyor of must-have cowboy boots, died on May 7 at his home in Valley View, Texas. He was 79. ... Bobby Steiner, a friend and a fellow member of the National Rodeo Hall of Fame, said the cause was bone cancer.
Even without his oft-noted rock-star swagger, Mahan (pronounced MAY-han) would have qualified as a titan of the sport. Competing in bull riding, saddle bronc riding and bareback riding, he won six World All-Around Cowboy championships in the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association, including five in a row from 1966 to 1970. ... He added another in 1973, and he also won world bull-riding championships in 1965 and 1967.
Ah, but the swagger. Mahan emerged as a new-breed competitor in the mod 1960s and the breezy 1970s. ... “With his flared double-knit slacks and Cassini shirts,” The Austin American-Statesman observed in 1971, he was “the antonym of the old cowhand from the Rio Grande bit.”
He climbed onto bulls and broncs wearing shoulder-brushing locks, as well as silk shirts and chaps in a rainbow of colors. Away from the arena, he carried himself like the star he was — tooling around in a Jaguar, traversing the country in his twin-engine Cessna, appearing as Johnny Carson’s guest on “The Tonight Show.” Some likened him to Elvis Presley.
{snip}
Branching into Western wear, he developed a line of cowboy togs including signature boots that became as coveted among lonesome-trail types as prime Air Jordans are among sneakerheads. (Josh Brolin’s character asks for a pair of Larry Mahans, size 11, when shopping for fresh clothes in the 2007 film “No Country for Old Men.”) ... He also made his matinee-idol reputation at least a tad literal, studying acting in Los Angeles and appearing in “The Honkers,” a 1972 rodeo drama starring James Coburn and Slim Pickens; “Sixpack Annie,” a racy 1975 drive-in special; and “The Good Old Boys,” a star-studded 1995 television western directed by and starring Tommy Lee Jones. {snip} Perhaps his biggest mark on popular culture came in 1973, when he was the subject of “The Great American Cowboy,” which won the Academy Award for best documentary feature.
{snip}
His eight championships made him a legend to his fans. His mod style, swashbuckling lifestyle and flirtations with Hollywood made him a star.
Larry Mahan competing in Oklahoma City in 1974. “Football had Joe Namath, boxing had Muhammad Ali and rodeo had Larry Mahan,” said a fellow member of the National Rodeo Hall of Fame.Credit...Associated Press
By Alex Williams
May 18, 2023
Larry Mahan, an eight-time rodeo world champion and swashbuckling showman who was once called “rodeo’s first matinee idol,” and who brokered that reputation into side careers as a Hollywood actor, a country singer and a purveyor of must-have cowboy boots, died on May 7 at his home in Valley View, Texas. He was 79. ... Bobby Steiner, a friend and a fellow member of the National Rodeo Hall of Fame, said the cause was bone cancer.
Even without his oft-noted rock-star swagger, Mahan (pronounced MAY-han) would have qualified as a titan of the sport. Competing in bull riding, saddle bronc riding and bareback riding, he won six World All-Around Cowboy championships in the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association, including five in a row from 1966 to 1970. ... He added another in 1973, and he also won world bull-riding championships in 1965 and 1967.
Ah, but the swagger. Mahan emerged as a new-breed competitor in the mod 1960s and the breezy 1970s. ... “With his flared double-knit slacks and Cassini shirts,” The Austin American-Statesman observed in 1971, he was “the antonym of the old cowhand from the Rio Grande bit.”
He climbed onto bulls and broncs wearing shoulder-brushing locks, as well as silk shirts and chaps in a rainbow of colors. Away from the arena, he carried himself like the star he was — tooling around in a Jaguar, traversing the country in his twin-engine Cessna, appearing as Johnny Carson’s guest on “The Tonight Show.” Some likened him to Elvis Presley.
{snip}
Branching into Western wear, he developed a line of cowboy togs including signature boots that became as coveted among lonesome-trail types as prime Air Jordans are among sneakerheads. (Josh Brolin’s character asks for a pair of Larry Mahans, size 11, when shopping for fresh clothes in the 2007 film “No Country for Old Men.”) ... He also made his matinee-idol reputation at least a tad literal, studying acting in Los Angeles and appearing in “The Honkers,” a 1972 rodeo drama starring James Coburn and Slim Pickens; “Sixpack Annie,” a racy 1975 drive-in special; and “The Good Old Boys,” a star-studded 1995 television western directed by and starring Tommy Lee Jones. {snip} Perhaps his biggest mark on popular culture came in 1973, when he was the subject of “The Great American Cowboy,” which won the Academy Award for best documentary feature.
{snip}
