EVENTS
Calf Roper, Champion, 1956
Friends and competitors always noted that no calf was too wild or too large for Ray Wharton to handle. Born in 1920 at Bandera, Texas, he became a top hand who spent more than four decades in the arena.
Calf roping was Ray Wharton’s specialty, and in his prime he won or placed at every major rodeo in the nation–Cheyenne, Madison Square Garden, Denver, Fort Worth, Houston, and San Antonio. A fierce competitor, he could outpoint the best in the sport, including Jim Bob Altizer, Toots Mansfield, and Lanham Riley. Wharton also contested in the other roping events and in steer wrestling.
Ray Wharton trained champion roping horses that he was quick to share with other cowboys. Retired from active competition since the mid-1970s, he trains horses on his ranch near Bandera.
