Time Capsule Tuesday: Olin Young

Although he achieved great fame as a tie-down roper, ProRodeo Hall of Famer Olin Young won two world titles in steer roping and qualified for the National Finals Rodeo a total of 27 times – 13 times for tie-down roping and 14 times for steer roping – from 1959 through 1980.

Pictured above is the buckle Young won 50 years ago when he ranked first in the average at the 1967 NFR.

Young_Olin1-235x300Most of Young’s competitors believe he would have won several more championships had he traveled more on ProRodeo’s steer roping circuit. Also, in 1971, Young became the first man to win four aggregate titles in tie-down roping at the National Finals Rodeo, which has since been matched by Joe Beaver (1996), Roy Cooper (1999) and Fred Whitfield (2002).

Born in Lovington, N.M., on Sept. 11, 1936, Young was a superb all-around athlete and New Mexico’s Athlete of the Year in 1970. He went on to win the 1971 and 1974 PRCA world championships and was inducted into the ProRodeo Hall of Fame in 1979.

Courtesy of PRCA