Rodeo

“The Best Straw Hat I Ever Had!”

/ Andy R Taylor / 5 Comments

One of the things we’d do every year at the Houston Astrodome Rodeo was go to the American Hat Factory and pick us out a good straw hat for the summer. Bill George, a great rodeo hand from the previous generation, was from Canadian, Texas (where we were from), and he’d look me and Mont (my brother) up every year we were at the Astrodome. We’d have a beer or two and an enjoyable visit. Bill and his wife owned The American Hat Co. there in Houston.

I was traveling with Russ Baize this particular year and as usual we went out to the factory to pick us out a hat. Oh, and we’d get a heck of a deal on those hats too. Of course it’s been some years since we did that but we were buying good straw hats for $6 that’ll now cost you near $100! I picked through about 20 of the Bangora style and found the best straw hat of the bunch. Russ did the same. I creased mine just right and, dang it looked good! To this day it was the best straw hat I ever had!

We left Houston to ride in Montgomery, AL. Tommy Sheffield, a rodeo clown and bullfighter, and good friend, had an act back in those days where he’d buy a real cheap little hat of some kind and put it on a committee man. His act was about ‘cleaning’ the hat. Of course it was all staged (*usually…but not this night!). The committee man would act like he was mad and he’d chase Tommy around the arena and finally give up the chase. Then Tommy would place the hat on his ‘hat cleaner’; long story short he’d push the lever and a huge explosion would blow the hat up!

Well, I thought….you know it’d be really, really funny if I could get Russ out there in front of the chutes when Tommy did his act and let Tommy get Russ’s new straw hat! I’d already set it up with Tommy. I didn’t think I was going to get it done but just in the nick of time I lured Russ out in front of the chutes as the act started. Coliseum lights were all off and the spotlight was on Tommy, as usual. I’m talking to Russ and his back is turned away from Tommy sneaking up on him. Well, Tommy grabbed Russ’s new hat and took off! Now it’s on!! No! I mean it’s REALLY ON! Russ is NOT faking….he’s as mad as he can possibly be, still in the spotlight chasing Tommy and cussing as loud as he can! All the cowboys are now watching and laughing uncontrollably, as well as the five or six thousand spectators! He finally gave up the chase and just like always Tommy put the hat on his hat cleaner and just like always, BOOM!! Russ’s new hat literally hit the ceiling of the Montgomery, Alabama coliseum, then landed back on the arena floor in about 6 pieces! Russ was threatening to whip me, Tommy and anyone else he could think of. It was one of the funniest things I’ve ever seen!

He cooled off a little….but not much! We rode that night and headed for San Angelo, TX, five of us in my Delta 88 Oldsmobile; Russ, myself, Jack Ward, Jess Knight and John Gloor. We pulled over late in the night to change drivers and took off again. We’d got down the road a few miles and I started looking for my hat; nowhere to be found. I started asking questions only to find out that when we stopped Russ had put my brand new hat right in front of the back tire and peeled out on it when he took off! Well, now I’m the one that’s mad!! I’m telling him to pull over cause I’m fixin’ to whoop his butt! We got out, talked a little trash, cussed each other a little bit then got back in and headed for Angelo! We’re still great friends to this day! That’s the story of “The Best Straw Hat I Ever Had”!

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The ‘Baddest’ Dang Turkey in Arkansas!

/ Andy R Taylor / Leave a comment

The last few years of my rodeo career I traveled quite a bit with Denny Flynn. (Inducted into the ProRodeo Hall of Fame) Denny was born and raised in Charleston, Arkansas. Great guy and a great friend, even to this day. His folks, Waldo and Vida Flynn are some of the best folks you could ever meet. They were always like ‘family’ to me.

I spent quite a bit of time at their place in Charleston throughout the years I was rodeoing. I always enjoyed my time there, …….well nearly always. You see, they had this big ‘ol tame, white, Tom turkey! And this dude had my number!! He’d see me walk out of the house, and here he’d come! This son of a gun must’ve weighed a hundred pounds and he ‘had it in’ for me! I don’t know what his problem was but he did NOT like me. I had to watch him like a hawk; no way could I turn my back on him. And if I did, he’d make a run at me. He definitely had his bluff in on me….I ain’t kidding!

One day we had been sorting some cattle in the lots and Denny and Waldo headed to the house first. When I came through the gate to head to the house…..the evil beast spotted me.…and here he comes! When I’d turn to try to run he’d run up on me like he was gonna jump on me and flog me. Heck, who knows what that crazy son of a gun was gonna do to me! Well, I finally made it the house and there’s an eight foot gap between the house and the laundry room and he’s got me hemmed up there. I picked up a broken hoe handle and it was a standoff. He wasn’t backing down. I commenced to giving him a cussin’, which I could do pretty fluently in those days. In fact I used all of the cuss words I knew several times, rearranging the sequence of them with precision accuracy! I backed my way to the door going into the house; I was safe!

Denny’s mom, who was about the nicest person you could ever find, had been watching the whole thing from her kitchen window…which was open….which was about 2 feet from where we had our standoff….and she’d seen, and heard ,the whole thing. She kindly said, “Andy, is that ‘ol turkey picking on you again?”  I was embarrassed that Vida had to hear me talk like that but, hey….it was life or death at the time! I never left the Flynn house again without Waldo, Denny…..or my hoe handle!

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“The Way I See It” – After Three Months

/ Andy R Taylor / 7 Comments

The year is 1/4 over with!! My Blog, “The Way I See It” is three months old. Below are some interesting numbers. I’m posting this on the weekend because I’m told that some people who are new to the blog take extra time on the weekends to ‘go back’ and read many of the previous posts. At any rate, it’s been an enjoyable three months. I hope you’ve enjoyed the posts and I hope they’ve been helpful to you! If that’s the case, please “LIKE”, “SHARE” …….. and pass the word!

Here’s the numbers:

3 – The number of months I’ve been blogging

55 – The number of blog posts

4,300 – Followers

6,140 – Visitors

13,277 – The number of ‘Views’

The Top Ten Viewed Blog Posts:

*Click on Link to View

1 – Lady Gaga, Little Monsters & Jesus

2 – VIP #1 – Booger Bryant

3 – Branson to Cherokee – The Longest Night I Ever Spent

4 – Reflect & Refocus #1

5 – The Truth Does Not ‘Set’ You Free

6 – “Obviously, I’m God’s Favorite!”

7 – What Are You Saying to Yourself?

8 – “Be Present!”

9 – “Be Who You Are!”

10 – Laugh a Little…No Make That a Lot!

A Few of My Personal Favorites:

You May Not Know This, But I’m Kind of a Big Deal

“Loosen Up, Sandy Baby!”

Why I Think Cowboys Make Good ‘Hands’ For the Lord

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Why I Think Cowboys Make Good ‘Hands’ For the Lord!

/ Andy R Taylor / 5 Comments

For the person who doesn’t quite understand what I’m talking about when I call someone a ‘hand’, it’s a term often used in ranch or cowboy circles. It refers to someone who knows what they’re doing, and does a very good job at it….that’s what we call a ‘hand’. 

I’ve been a cowboy all my life. Don’t do much cowboyin’ these days but once a cowboy, always a cowboy. It’s a ‘heart’ thing, an attitude thing! I grew up on a ranch in the Texas Panhandle so I’m way familiar with that kind of cowboyin’. In addition to that I was a rodeo cowboy as well, starting as an 8 year old kid in junior rodeos in Texas and Oklahoma mostly. Beyond that I entered the professional ranks and traveled extensively throughout the US and Canada for 6 or 7 years. And although I’ve moved on from that vocation and lifestyle I still stay in the loop, so to speak, with what’s going on in professional rodeo. Like I said, “Once a cowboy, always a cowboy”.

Being in the ministry now for nearly 30 years I’ve observed a phenomenon that seems to prove itself, at least to me, over and over. Cowboys are generally a little (or a lot!) gun shy of religion and religious people. Can’t say as I blame ’em…I’m a little that way, still, myself! They sure don’t like the pushy method and they’ll dang sure tell you about it if you get in their space. They can smell a phony, churchy manipulator a mile away! But knowing as many cowboys as I do, I don’t think I’ve ever met an unbeliever. There’s plenty of them not walking out a godly life, I guess you could surmise. But most of them have some kind of relationship with the Lord.

When a cowboy really comes to the Lord, they go ‘all in’! I think one reason is that they’ve tried about everything else out there to fill up that empty spot that all of us have. They’re dependable, they’re not afraid to work, they handle people well, they don’t just half-ass do things….they care! They’re not going to do the religious ‘dog and pony show’ for anyone. They’re genuine and authentic in their approach to Christianity. There oughta be more of that happening out there.

Cowboys would make great ‘hands’ for your church…..but it better be REAL!

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VIP #2 – Sarge Cook

/ Andy R Taylor / 7 Comments

My thinking when I decided to use part of my blog material to talk about VIP’s was to write about people who had, in some way, influenced my life in a positive way. Looking back there’s been quite a few that are definitely worth mentioning; people who made my life richer and people who made life a lot more interesting. If you didn’t read my blog post, “VIP #1 – Booger Bryant”, you should.

To say that Sarge Cook was a good friend of mine, would totally sell it short; he was a bunch more like family than just a friend. I first met Sarge in 1979 at the Ft. Worth Stock Show Rodeo. I had gotten married in 1977 and just rodeoed minimally in ’77 and ’78, staying pretty close to home. I asked my brother, Monty Taylor, who was rodeoing extensively those years what were the rankest (a term used by pro bull riders to denote those that buck the most and are the hardest to ride) bulls out there in Professional Rodeo. He quickly answered, “# 124 of Bernis Johnson’s”. Meant nothing to me since I hadn’t seen him buck. I hit the road in 1979 and the first time I saw #124 I was putting my bull rope on him in the short-go at Ft. Worth!

I rode #124 that night and won the short-go. I didn’t know it but I won the respect of this guy, Sarge Cook, who was Bernis Johnson’s lifelong friend and worked all of his rodeos. He was a mountain of a Man, 25 years older than me, and tougher’n a boot, that nobody messed with. We became friends, really good friends. Sarge believed in me; don’t know why….he just did. After my career was over in 1981 Sarge and I kept in touch. We’d have long phone conversations every month or two. He always made me laugh.

After I came to the Lord in ’84 we often talked about it. He’d give me heck about being a preacher, all in good fun. I’d just tell him that I was ‘livin’ proof’ that the Lord could use anybody! I’d call him up and say, “I bet I’m the only preacher that’s called you today!” He’d laugh, cuss a little and reply, “Well, by God, you’re the only one that I’d answer if they did call!”  We had several conversations about the Lord. Sarge was a believer, without a doubt. But he didn’t disclose that info to even those closest to him.

He had both knees replaced at one time and really had a hard time getting over it, but he did. I called him on his birthday and talked to him well over an hour. It was the next day that I got the call that he was sitting on his bed and just laid back and died. I couldn’t believe it, I was devastated. I ain’t embarrassed to say I shed quite a few tears that day.

Cody Custer and I drove to Ft. Worth where I did his funeral service in the old Cowtown Coliseum, a fitting place for his going away party. It was there that I got the opportunity to tell several hundred people about Sarge’s relationship with the Lord. You can go through life and meet a lot of people. You can even make a lot of great friends along the way. But you’d be hard-pressed to find a friend like Sarge Cook! I’m sure looking forward to seeing him again!

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Branson to Cherokee – The Longest Night I Ever Spent

/ Andy R Taylor / 13 Comments

The year was 1979. The rodeo season was in full swing. Denny Flynn and I were traveling together and we were both having a successful season so far. We were to ride in Branson, Missouri and leave immediately to head for Cherokee, Iowa where we’d ride the next afternoon.

As soon as we arrived in Branson I saw my good friend Roy Carter. The first thing out of his mouth was the devastating news that our friend Mick Whitely from Halfway, Oregon had been killed the night before in Inglewood, California. A bull had stepped in his chest with both feet and he died before he got to the hospital. Mick was a close friend; just a few weeks earlier he, Wacey Cathey and myself  had spent nearly a week in the same hotel room in Edmonton, Alberta. How was I to know it would be the last time I’d see Mick?

But that wasn’t the end of the bad news in Branson that night. Brian Claypool, Gary ‘Moon’ Logan, Calvin Bunney and Lee Coleman, all Canadians, had left Cloverdale, BC  in Brian’s private plane on their way to Las Vegas. After clearing customs in Salem, Oregon they were never heard from again. After an all-out intensive search no evidence of the guys or the plane was found. In fact, it was later in the year during hunting season that hunters happened on to the wreckage.

I didn’t know Bunney or Coleman; they were young and just starting their professional rodeo careers. But Brian Claypool was a great friend. We’d become friends soon after I cracked out in ’72. He was a great bull and bronc rider…one of the best, and the ‘fittest’ guy I ever knew. Gary Logan, or ‘Moon’ as we all called him, was also a good friend and great bareback rider. Just two weeks before there were two carloads of us staying at our ranch in Allison, Texas. The last day before we all left and went different ways Gary and I were working on a new pair of spurs of mine. Looking back it was a great day, always lots of laughs with Moon. It would be the last time I’d ever see him.

There’s an incredible camaraderie in the rodeo world, more like a brotherhood! It wasn’t just that we’d lost some friends, we’d lost family! Denny and I headed out for Cherokee. I’m not ashamed to say I shed a lot of tears that night. We stopped at a truck stop somewhere and I called Julie…just to hear her voice. I called my dad hoping that he’d say something to make me feel better. I didn’t want to go to Cherokee, I didn’t care anything about riding bulls. I just wanted to go home…but we were already committed. I guess in a lot of ways I grew up some that night.

My traveling partner and best friend Denny Flynn and I talked a lot about the guys, and a lot about life that night. We both had our turn at driving but I don’t think either one of us slept a wink. We rolled into Cherokee, not very fresh and not thinking much about bull riding. It was the longest night I ever spent.

Click this link to hear a song written about this by one of our rodeo friends, Ivan Daines:

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