EVENTS
Calf Roper
Born on his father’s ranch near Snyder, Texas, in 1923, Doyle Riley began casting loops when he was about 12 years old. Within a few years he was “cowboying” on different ranches and entering some area rodeos. With his brother, Lanham, he started to rodeo professionally in 1947.
Doyle Riley soon was able to live on his winnings and, by 1951, he ranked fifth among Rodeo Cowboy Association calf ropers–a position he maintained for several years. At the peak of his career, Riley attended about 30 of the major rodeo venues each year, including Fort Worth, Houston, San Antonio, Phoenix, Cheyenne and New York City. One of his toughest wins was at Madison Square Garden in 1953 when only a few seconds separated him from two other great ropers, Toots Mansfield and Barney Willis.
Riley retired from rodeo competition in 1960 to train horses and operate a cowboy outfitting store in Louisiana. He bred outstanding quarter horses and, for several years, served on the board of the American Quarter Horse Association. He died in 1985.
