Mike Stuart

Saddle Bronc Riding • Inducted 1979

Mike Stuart of Wynnewood, Okla., was known as a happy-go-lucky ranch cowboy who learned the fundamentals of rodeo through his day-to-day work on the RO outfit along the San Pedro River in southwestern Arizona and northern Sonora. Stuart, born March 10, 1901, hit the rodeo circuit in 1918 as a two-event cowboy competing in saddle bronc riding and tie-down roping. In 1926, one of his best years, he rode a 1,400-pound bronc known as Grizzly Sal at the rodeo in Vernon, British Columbia. The horse fell with him and rolled into a fence, shearing off the saddle horn. That may have started the trend that is universal today. A bronc saddle has no horn, which could severely injure a cowboy if a horse rolled over on him. At Calgary that same year, Stuart rode Warman, a bronc voted best at the Stampede three years running. That same summer, Stuart won the bronc riding championship at Cheyenne. In 1927, Stuart won the tie-down roping title at Calgary. He passed away Nov. 27, 1984.

World Championships: 1

*1926: in Calgary and Cheyenne

Born: March 10, 1901 in Pauls Valley, Oklahoma
Died: November 27, 1984 in Prescott, Arizona

*Before 1929 many regional rodeos called the winners of events world champions; sometimes legitimately according to the Rodeo Historical Society.

World’s Oldest Rodeo Prescott Frontier Days
Prescott, Arizona

All-Around: 1937
Steer Roping: 1937
Team Roping: 1937