EVENTS
Bareback Bronc Rider, Champion, 1945
Born in 1922 at Bridger, Montana, Bud Linderman was one of rodeo’s toughest cowboys. A rugged, fierce competitor, loaded with ability, he could win any event on the rodeo program. After the show ended, he could (and often did) take on and whip two or three men at a time.
Bud Linderman contested in all events from 1940 to 1957. His teacher and traveling companion was the great rider Fritz Truan. Linderman earned the RCA championship in the bareback event in 1945, and in 1946 and 1947 he was second in bareback. He captured the IRA bareback crown in 1945 and 1946, winning their all-around cowboy title in 1947. Tater Decker, friend and competitor, called Linderman “the greatest cowboy who ever lived.”
In 1957 at the Houston rodeo, a bronc threw Bud Linderman, breaking his neck. The injury forced him to retire, and he moved to Arizona. In 1961, at age 39, he contracted pneumonia and met an untimely death.
