EVENTS
Steer Roper
Henry Clay McGonagill, born in Lavaca County, Texas, in 1879, was one of the first cowboys to earn a living at rodeo. After a youth spent on West Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona ranches, he traveled the country, entering local “stampedes” and “reunions.” By the turn of the century, he was a well-known performer.
In 1904 and 1905, at San Antonio, McGonagill matched J. Ellison Carroll in fairgrounding 28 head of longhorns. McGonagill gave Carroll a stiff contest, but the other Texan won. McGonagill, Carroll, and Little Joe Gardner are widely recognized as the greatest of the steer ropers on the early-day rodeo circuit.
Clay McGonagill roped in rodeos all over the U.S., Canada, and Mexico, as well as once in Argentina, winning an estimated 500 contests. His famous sense of humor led Will Rogers to call him the world’s wittiest cowboy. In 1921 Clay McGonagill’s life ended in an accident in Arizona. Hearing of the cowboy’s demise, Will Rogers remarked, “They must have needed a top cowhand in heaven.”
