EVENTS
Saddle Bronc Rider
Bareback Bronc Rider
Bull Rider
Growing up in the town of Menan, Idaho, Cecil Jones learned to cowboy by competing with his cousins and friends in informal contests on their ranches. He entered his first saddle-bronc contest in 1935 at age 18.
Rough-stock events quickly became Cecil Jones’s specialty and carried him to every major venue in the country. He garnered championships at such rodeos as Sonora (1939), Reno (1941 and 1948), and Houston (1946). During a tour with the field artillery in World War II, Jones rodeoed whenever possible, and near the end of the war he helped with an “All-G.I. Rodeo” in Tokyo.
In the 1940s rodeo promoter Harry Rowell, of California, set Jones on a new career path. From 1948 to 1969, Jones administered Rowell’s shows in the western states, co-directed the renowned Rowell Ranch Rodeo, and managed Rowell’s slaughterhouse and saddlery. In 1975 Jones succeeded Maggie Rowell as president of the Rowell Ranch Rodeo board, and later he owned the saddlery. Now retired, Cecil Jones resides in Garden Valley, California.
