The Jackie Robinson of Rodeo part 2

howdy folks and greetings from the Great Plains of North Texas
where we have rain today! Thank God for that! With more chances
coming in the next couple of days.

I started talking about a great black cowboy by the name of Myrtis
Dightman who is probably the greatest bull rider that has ever
been but because of the racism in his sport in the 1960's thru the
70's he was denied official championship status.

He grew up on a ranch in Texas, his father was a ranch hand on a
large ranch, but the time he was 10 years old he was already
riding, roping, branding, and all the other things cowboys do.

When he was 18 he moved to Houston because he was tired of
working his tail off for someone else. I like his independence
there, don't you? He started going to rodeos and noticed they
didn't have clowns at many of them so he thought.."hey I can do
that!"

That's how he got his start in rodeos, and he traveled all over the
country doing his clown thing. Oh, for those of you who don't
know..the clown is a very important part of certain events, mostly
bull riding because many times when the cowboy is thrown off the
bull, the bull then turns on the cowboy and tries to do some damage
because he's furious!

source

source

At this point the clown, or bull fighter, as they were also known,
jumps in and distracts the bull from the cowboy who is many times
still on the ground, hopefully still able to move. As you can imagine,
this is another very dangerous job and the clowns are terrifically
agile, quick on their feet and also incredibly brave!

I've seen them slap the bull right in the face if the bull was standing
over the rider, then run like hell to the barricade! It takes a real
athlete and Mrytis was extremely good at it. Here is a photo of him
in 1960 working as a bull fighter/clown:
source

So he's working as a clown and noticed something odd. At least to him
because he's been around other black cowboys his whole life. He
didn't see any black cowboys in any rodeo. When he learned how the
rodeo associations were so discriminatory against black cowboys that
didn't sit well with him.

He decided to start riding bulls because he knew that black cowboys
were just as good as white ones. It was much tougher for him though
because there were no sponsors who would sponsor a black rodeo
cowboy so while all the white cowboys had sponsors and could
devote full time to their sport, he had to drive a truck for income and
ride on the weekends.

source

There were other disadvantages he had to overcome as well like
getting to the events. Professional cowboys flew commercial
flights or had their own planes. Myrtis had to drive which was
exhausting to drive all over the country plus he couldn't make
many of the rodeos.

He would drive until he got to a town, check in with the local
sheriff and tell them what he was doing, then sleep in the back
seat of his car! But you can't keep a good man down and he was
on a mission to break this idiotic racist attitude that had become
prevalent in the country.

Shoot, the Old West cowboys didn't have this kind of discrimination, it
was unheard of. The Cowboy Code.. all men are equal.
Look at this photo from the 1870's, black cowboys were even
Lawmen:
source

I know ya'll are busy and didn't come here to read a book of my
ramblings so I'm gonna pick up tomorrow at this point as Mr.
Dightman continues his fight to overcome racism and prove that
black cowboys deserve to be pro rodeo riders as much as anyone.

It was his destiny and I believe it was his calling. Remember guys, if
God has called you to do something and you feel that calling in your
heart...then no man, no mountain, and no obstacle can stop you!

thanks for reading folks, God bless you all!
-jonboy Texas
the gentleman redneck

ya know...you might just be a redneck if:

you ever lost a tooth opening a beer bottle!