EVENTS
Steer Roper
Born in 1898 in San Angelo, Texas, Carl Arnold cowboyed and rodeoed on the amateur circuit in Texas and New Mexico. He entered his first professional steer-roping contest in 1922 at Cheyenne, and two years later he performed with Tex Austin’s rodeo pageant in London, England.
Carl Arnold won the steer-roping title at Pendleton in 1930 and at Cheyenne in 1930, 1940, and 1947. His most famous victories came in the 1940s, when he beat famed World’s Champion Bob Crosby. Riding his horse, Pepper, Arnold won five of six matches, including one held in 1945 in Crosby’s hometown. A well-coordinated and quick athlete, Carl Arnold always put on a good show, whether steer roping, calf roping, relay racing, or team roping.
Arnold rodeoed for more than thirty years. At age 56, he finished in the money at Yuma, Arizona, beating the second-place time by a full minute. He retired to his ranch near Buckeye, Arizona, in the 1950s, still a working cowboy until his death in an auto accident in 1973.
