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National Rodeo Hall of Fame
Inducted in 1979
Joe Gardner

Joe Gardner

1877-1921

Texas

EVENTS
Steer Roper


Acknowledged as one of the best steer ropers of his era, Joseph Henry “Little Joe” Gardner competed from 1905 until his untimely death in 1921. Born at Sierra Blanca, Texas, in 1877, he learned the cowboy trade on ranches and trail drives. Gardner began roping in rodeos at age 18.

Joe Gardner was one of a trio of steer ropers who were the first to make money using the skills of the workaday cowhand. The other two, J. Ellison Carroll and Clay McGonagill, were Gardner’s friends and companions on the fairgrounds circuit during rodeo’s early years.

In addition to victories at the first Calgary Stampede in 1912 and at Tex Austin’s Chicago World Championship Rodeo in 1920, Gardner headlined at venues in Texas, New Mexico, and Oklahoma. He also rodeoed in Argentina and Mexico.

Like McGonagill, “Little Joe” Gardner was one of rodeo’s smallest yet greatest competitors. A friend noted that he “was a real man. He could rope and ride anything.”

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