Mr. Larry Mahan was a star in the rodeo world, and his death is a big loss.
American Larry Mahan used to be a horse cowboy. On the National Finals Rodeo (NFR) Pro Rodeo Tour, he has won six World All-Around Championships and two World Bullriding Championships. In 1979, the ProRodeo Hall of Fame put him in the “all-around” group. In 2010, he was named a ProRodeo Legend.
He was born in Salem, Oregon, on November 21, 1943. He became a skilled rodeo rider when he was 14 years old. He was a member of the Rodeo Cowboys Association (RCA) beginning in 1963. In 1975, the name of the group was changed to the Professional Rodeo Association (PRCA). From 1966 to 1970, he won the world all-around title every year. In 1973, he got his sixth title. The documentary The Great American Cowboy, which won the 1974 Academy Award for Documentary Feature, was about his comeback in 1973 and his fight with Phil Lane.
He often won in bronze horse, bareback, and bull riding competitions in the RCA. He was the first person to play in three National Finals Rodeo events in the same year. He won the high-stakes race in 1965 and was the first person to win more than $50,000 in a single season, in 1967. For the 1970 season, he made more than $280,000. In the 1970s, he had a hard time. He won the all-around title in 1973, but was hurt for a while and couldn’t do much.
Mahan won six all-around titles, but he didn’t win the last one in a row. Tom Ferguson won his sixth straight title in 1979, which ended his run of five straight wins. In 1994, Ty Murray beat Mahan and Ferguson’s record of six straight titles. He also tied Ferguson’s record of six straight championships. Murray beat them both in 1998 when he won his seventh title. He now holds the record for the most all-around wins with seven. After that, they started calling Murray “King of the Cowboys.” Trevor Brazile won his eighth all-around title in 2010 by beating everyone else. Basile got his 14th all-around title in 2018. In 1965 and 1967, Mahan won the World Bull Riding Championship.
