Although rodeo has existed as a professional sport for more than 100 years, the professional rodeo cowboy is only now slowly beginning to emerge into genuine athlete status.
Cowboys are cowboys wherever they go, despite the fact that some are now world-renowned superstars.
Much of modern-day rodeo evolved from the working cowboy and his duties on the range. After months of back-breaking labor moving cattle across the country, cowboys celebrated the end of their grind by roping more cattle and riding wild broncs, but it was simply for fun and competition. But unlike the territory of an arena, the olden days of rodeo provided no chutes, no fenced-in areas and no bullfighters for protection. It was from those informal, friendly competitions in the late 1800s that the sport of rodeo evolved. In 1936, the professional rodeo cowboy was born.