EVENTS
All-Around Champion Cowboy, 1980
Calf Roper, Champion, 1979
One of the best cowboys ever to rodeo out of South Dakota, Paul Tierney broke into the sport after completing a college business degree at Rapid City. One of the “new breed” of educated cowhand, he was born at Kearney, Nebraska, in 1952, and finished high school and college before beginning a professional career in 1977.
Paul Tierney broke into the PRCA top rankings in his rookie year, taking second in the all-around behind the unbeatable Tom Ferguson in 1977. In 1980 Tierney captured the all-around championship and also became the sport’s second man to earn more than $100,000 in a single year.
Roping off a cranky but reliable horse named Jeff and a former bucker named Delbert, Tierney always ranked well up in the all-around and calf-roping standings through the mid-1980s. Good in all of rodeo’s events, bespectacled Paul Tierney once roped and tied a calf in 6.9 seconds. Today he ropes and trains roping horses.