EVENTS
Rodeo Trick Roper
Vicente Oropeza introduced trick and fancy roping to American rodeo. Born in 1858 at Puebla, Mexico, he became one of his nation’s greatest professional charros. In 1889 he gained international exposure by touring Spain in the entourage of famed matador Ponciano Dias. In 1894 Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show hired Vicente Oropeza’s charros, and rodeo gained a new event.
Slender and handsome, an elegant showman, Vicente Oropeza has been called “the man who invented rope spinning.” In his sixteen years as one of Buffalo Bill’s star attractions, the roper visited five continents and taught American cowboys a new approach to an old art. Trick and fancy roping was soon a spectacular feature of shows and contest rodeos. Veteran roper Will Rogers noted that “no other roper had such accuracy and style as Vicente Oropeza.” In 1900 Oropeza was declared “Champion of the World” in a contest in New York City.
Vicente Oropeza is also considered a pioneer innovator of the charreada (charreria), Mexico’s counterpart to U.S. rodeo. He died at Puebla, Mexico, in 1923.
