Larry Mahan, the Elvis of Rodeo, has passed away at the age of 79

Larry Mahan, an eight-time world rodeo champion and reckless showman who was once called “rodeos” first matinee idol,” and who turned that reputation into side careers as a Hollywood actor, country singer, and purveyor of must-have cowboy boots, died May 7 at his home in Valley View, Texas. He turned 79.

Bob Steiner, a friend and fellow National Rodeo Hall of Fame member said the cause was bone cancer.

Even without his oft-famous rock star swagger, Mahan (pronounced MAY-han) would have qualified as a titan of the sport. He competed in bull riding, saddle bronc riding, and bareback riding and won six World All-Around Cowboy Championships in the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association, including five in a row from 1966 to 1970.

He added another in 1973, and he also won World Bull Riding Championships in 1965 and 1967.

Ah, but the swagger. Mahan emerged as one new race competitor in the mod 1960 and the light-hearted 1970.

“With his flared double-knit slacks and Cassini shirts,” The Austin American-Statesman noted in 1971, he was “the antonym of the old cowhand from the Rio Grande bit.”

He climbed bulls and broncs with shoulder-brushing locks, as well as silk shirts and chaps in a rainbow of colors. Away from the arena, he acted like the star he was – touring in a Jaguar, crossing the country in his twin-engined Cessna, appearing as Johnny Carson’s guest on “The Tonight Show.” Some compared him to Elvis Presley.

“Football had Joe Namath, boxing had Muhammad Ali, and rodeo had Larry Mahan,” Steiner said in a telephone interview. “I don’t know if anyone will ever know what ‘it’ is, but he had ‘it’.”

He also helped bring mainstream visibility to what was traditionally a regional sport. Long before Martha Stewart and the Kardashians, the flamboyant Mahan dabbled in celebrity brand extension; in 1967, Time magazine dubbed him the “Grey Flannel Cowboy.”

Branching out into Western apparel, he developed a line of cowboy apparel including signature boots that were as coveted among lone trail types as premium Air Jordans among sneakerheads. (Josh Brolin’s character asks for a pair of Larry Mahans in black, size 11, when shopping for new clothes in the 2007 movie “No Country for Old Men.”)

He also made his matinee idol reputation at least a tad literal, studying acting in Los Angeles and appearing in “The Honkers,” a 1972 rodeo drama starring James Coburn and Slim Pickens; “Six Pack Annie,” a racy 1975 drive-in special; and “The Good Old Boys,” a 1995 star-studded television western directed by and starring Tommy Lee Jones.

Even music beckoned – albeit briefly. In 1976, Mahan released a country album, “King of the Rodeo,” on Warner Bros. Recordings. ‘Could not sing a lick”, he recalled in an interview with The Oklahoman newspaper. “It was a flop, but it was fun.”

Perhaps his biggest mark on popular culture came in 1973, when he was the subject of “The Great American Cowboy,” which won the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature. That film, directed by Kieth Merrill, tells the story of his quest to reclaim the All-Around World title from Phil Lyne, a younger Texan champion who had grabbed his mantle after Mahan was plagued by injuries in 1971 and 1972. the film “a stunning look at the least understood anachronism in modern America – the cowboy.”

Larry Edward Mahan was born on November 21, 1943, in Salem, Oregon, the eldest of four children of Ray and Reva (English) Mahan.

He grew up in the nearby town of Brooks, and his parents bought him his first horse—a half Arabian, half quarter horse that cost $125—when he was 7 or 8. riding calves.

Larry continued to rack up wins in dozens of youth competitions while a student at Salem High School. He competed on the professional tour in 1963. Two years later, at age 21, he won the national bull title and $25,000 (the equivalent of about $245,000 today). A year later he won his first all-around title. A legend was born in the rodeo world.

But for all his glittering escapades, he never lost sight of the stakes – especially when he rode a 1,500-pound Brahma bull, a feat that was “the most dangerous eight seconds in sports.”

After suffering a broken leg at a rodeo in Ellensburg, Washington, in 1971, Sports Illustrated wrote: “Outsiders sometimes protest that rodeo is cruel to animals, which Mahan must have found ironic when the horse no longer regarded him as a rag doll along the hard ground.”

He reiterated that point in an interview with the same magazine two years later: “Bulls are the meanest, most ranked creatures on Earth. Horses don’t try to step on you when they throw you off. They don’t want to trip. Bulls love to step on you, or smash your face into the back of their skull and break your nose and knock your teeth out.

Mahan is survived by his daughters, Lisa Renee Mahan and Alli Eliza Mahan, and his sisters, Susan Stockton-Simpson, Jody Thompson, and Dana Mahan Hermreck. His son, Tyrone, died in 2020, and his wife, Julanne Read Mahan, passed away last year. His marriages to Darlene Mahan, Robin Holtze and Diana McNab ended in divorce.

Along with fame came famous friends, including the country stars JerryJeff Walker and Tanya Tucker and the Dallas Cowboys fullback and rodeo stand out Walt Garrison. But in his social life, Mahan rarely let the revelry get out of hand.

“He wouldn’t go to the cowboy bars and party at night,” Steiner said. “In those days, most people did the ‘I’m a cowboy and I’m going to have a party’. But he took it seriously. He had to. He was at three events every day. I was a bull rider and that was hard enough.

Mahan even got his highs in other ways. “Winning is to me what alcohol is to the alcoholic, what dope is to the addict,” he said in a 1975 interview with New York Times sports columnist Red Smith. “I must have it.”