EVENTS
Calf Roper, Champion, 1936, 1938, 1942, 1944
A one-quarter Choctaw Indian, Clyde Burk was born near Comanche, Oklahoma, in 1913. Orphaned as a teen, he supported his younger brothers and sisters through rodeo, becoming one of the smartest ropers on the professional circuit.
Known to friends and competitors as “Sagey,” Clyde Burk was a shrewd student of the calf-roping art. He owned and competed on a pair of famous rodeo horses named Baldy and Bartender, ultimately capturing four world championships in calf roping. Fellow rodeo hand Hugh Bennett said of Burk, “. . . for a small man he became the best roper I know of.”
Clyde Burk made his last rodeo appearance in 1945 at Denver, Colorado. Hazing for another contestant in steer wrestling, he was killed when his horse fell and rolled over him. Burk was only thirty-two years old.
