roper

“I was a bull rider, a champion sheep and dairy cow showman, a team roper and calf roper.”

Professional rodeo athletes like Shad Mayfield, a cattle roper who’s ranked among the best in the world, make up a new legion of role models for Black children.

Even though Roosevelt wasn’t a crack shot, the best roper, or the best horseback rider, he had something else that the cowboys valued even more.

At that point, most breakaway ropers step away from the competitive arena.

“Some of those extras were really good ropers,” his wife said in a phone interview.