EVENTS
All-Around Champion Cowboy, 1983
Calf Roper, Champion, 1976, 1980-1984
Steer Roper, Champion, 1983
Undoubtedly the greatest roper of his generation, Roy Cooper was born at Hobbs, New Mexico, in 1955. He honed his roping skills while cowboying on the family ranch.
Cooper’s superb ability carried him to his first National Finals Rodeo in 1976. In the next few years he won seven more world titles, including the all-around in 1983. By the mid-1980s cowboys and fans alike acknowledged Cooper to be the greatest roper ever to grace an arena. His winnings set a record for career earnings: by 1987 he had taken home more than a million dollars.
A car wreck in Oklahoma in 1990 almost took Roy Cooper out of competition, but he came back to win the Texas Circuit calf roping in 1992. In 1995 he ranked in the PRCA top 15 and took fifth place in calf roping. He rodeos out of Childress, Texas.
