EVENTS
Champion Steer Wrestler, 1955
Bareback-Bronc Rider
Bull Rider
Calf Roper
Part of a rodeoing family, Benny Gene Combs was born in 1931 at Checotah, Oklahoma, and raised on the family ranch. He entered competition with the Oklahoma State University rodeo team in the early 1950s, capturing the Intercollegiate Bareback-Bronc Riding championship.
Benny Combs followed in the footsteps of his brother, Willard, who also specialized in steer wrestling. During his career, Benny competed and won major steer wrestling titles at Cheyenne, Denver, Fort Worth, San Antonio and Houston. He also captured the All-Around Cowboy title at Walla Walla, Washington. The younger Combs went to the National Finals Rodeo five times and won the bulldogging championship of the world in 1955 (Willard took the same title in 1957).
Benny Combs trained Red, half-brother of the famous bulldogging mare, Baby Doll. In 1962 Red gained rodeo fame as the only horse ever to win both the steer wrestling and barrel racing titles in a single year. Benny also invented the “egg-pattern” horn, still used on many steer wrestling saddles to this day. Benny Gene Combs was killed in a tragic automobile accident in 1977.
