Book Relives Glory Days of Texas Prison Rodeo
For 55 years, Huntsville held, what was at one time the largest sporting event in the state, the Texas Prison Rodeo starring the most unlikely of sports heroes - Texas prison inmates.
In his latest book, Convict Cowboys: The Untold Story of the Texas Prison Rodeo, Dr. Mitchel P. Roth documents the annual event, which drew up to 100,000 people a month to Huntsville on October Sundays from 1931 - 1986. Also known as the "Wildest Show in the West," the event featured inmates competing in a super rodeo, which included traditional and outrageous offerings, such as 10 bull riders in the arena simultaneously; 40 convicts in red shirts trying to snatch a money-stuffed Bull Durham bag from between a bull’s horns; and a wild mare milking contest.
Vol 19 No 33