EVENTS
Rodeo Announcer
Born Abe Leibkowitz around 1900 at San Francisco, Abe Lefton worked as a horse wrangler before entering rodeo. He started as a bronc rider and clown. In 1924 he went to England and performed in Texas Austin’s rodeo extravaganza.
With his rapid-fire delivery, Abe Lefton was one of rodeo’s most recognizable voices. Often billed as “the most versatile rodeo announcer in America,” he got his start at the Salinas, California, rodeo in the 1920s, using a cardboard megaphone to describe the action from inside the arena.
Lefton went on to call the events at all of the major rodeos across the nation, and for 25 years he always returned to Salinas to work the rodeo that set him on his career. Abe Lefton died in 1958 at Newhall, California.
