Gerald Roberts – Rodeo Cowboy

Gerald Roberts, Rodeo Cowboy
“He was a real pioneer, not only for his sport, but for all sports in Kansas.”
-Ted Hays, Secretary of the Kansas Sports Hall of Fame, describing Gerald Roberts.
-With over sixty-seven championship buckles and two World All-Around Championship titles, Gerald Roberts is the Kansas Cowboy Hall of Fame Rodeo Cowboy Inductee for 2005.
Born on October 5, 1919, in Council Grove, Kansas, Gerald would become a legendary bronc and bull rider in rodeos all over the United States. His parents, E.C. and Clara Roberts encouraged their six children x Ken, Gerald, Clifford, Howard, Marge and Gloria x to pursue the “cowboy lifestyle”. At the age of five, Gerald knew he wanted to be a rodeo cowboy. By the age of thirteen, he had learned his rodeo skills by riding the truck-loads of colts, his father used to buy. When he turned seventeen, Roberts followed in the footsteps of his brother Ken and sister Marge, and joined the professional rodeo circuit.
While Gerald continued to travel around the country and compete, his family started the Flint Hills Rodeo, the longest-running rodeo in the state of Kansas. Though first held in 1938 as the First Annual Chase County Rodeo, it would be renamed the following year.
In 1942, Gerald, only twenty-two-years old, earned his first All-Around World Champion title. Six years later he would earn his second; thereby making him the only cowboy to earn world titles under two different rodeo associations x the Cowboy Turtle Association and the Rodeo Cowboy Association.
During his rodeo career, Gerald became close friends with another famous bronc rider, Casey Tibbs. The two men traveled from rodeo to rodeo together and were the first cowboys to use airplane travel when competing on the circuit. This new mode of transportation allowed them to make nearly twice as many rodeos each week. The two cowboys also crossed over into the Hollywood entertainment industry together. Roberts served as a stunt double for various actors and turned down a role in the western series “Rawhide”, so that he could introduce Europe to American rodeos.
Gerald’s rodeo career spanned three decades, in which he won sixty-seven championship belt buckles and All-Around titles at rodeos like Cheyenne Frontier Days, the San Francisco Cow Palace, Reno and Madison Square Gardens. Approached by the Blue Bell Company in 1948 to model a new line of western pants, Gerald became the first cowboy to wear and promote Wrangler jeans. When the Kansas Sports Hall of Fame opened in 1961, they nominated Gerald as charter inductee and the only rodeo cowboy inducted.
In 1964, Gerald moved to Abilene, Kansas, where he established the Chap-parel Manufacturing Company, a manufacturer of rodeo gear. Two years later, Roberts married Pat Hershberger, who helped operate the company out of their home’s basement. He invented a nine-plait bull rope, which soon replaced the traditional five-plaited rope previously used by most bull riders. The company also created custom-made chaps, gear bags and rope bags used by rodeo contestants around the world. With his rodeo career winding down and his manufacturing business progressing, Gerald and Pat settled into family life around Abilene with their children x Jim, Lala, Geri, Kasey, Claudette, Joye and Jaye [deceased].
In 1990, the Professional Rodeo Cowboy Association inducted Gerald into their Hall of Fame in Colorado Springs. He is also featured in the National Cowboy Hall of Fame in Oklahoma City. A lifetime member of the PRCA and the Western and English Sales Association, Sports Illustrated named Roberts to the list of Top Fifty Athletes of the Century in Kansas. In 1994, the Flint Hills Rodeo honored the Roberts family with a mural, featuring family members.
Sadly, on December 31, 2004, the rodeo community received word that Gerald Roberts had passed away at the age of eighty-five; leaving behind a legacy steeped in rodeo and cowboy traditions. Ted Hayes, of the Kansas Sports Hall of Fame recalled, “When you think of rodeo in Kansas as a sport, the first name that comes up is Roberts, not just Gerald, but the entire family.”

“He was a real pioneer, not only for his sport, but for all sports in Kansas.”
-Ted Hays, Secretary of the Kansas Sports Hall of Fame, describing Gerald Roberts.

hof-robertsWith over sixty-seven championship buckles and two World All-Around Championship titles, Gerald Roberts is the Kansas Cowboy Hall of Fame Rodeo Cowboy Inductee for 2005.

Born on October 5, 1919, in Council Grove, Kansas, Gerald would become a legendary bronc and bull rider in rodeos all over the United States. His parents, E.C. and Clara Roberts encouraged their six children x Ken, Gerald, Clifford, Howard, Marge and Gloria x to pursue the “cowboy lifestyle”. At the age of five, Gerald knew he wanted to be a rodeo cowboy. By the age of thirteen, he had learned his rodeo skills by riding the truck-loads of colts, his father used to buy. When he turned seventeen, Roberts followed in the footsteps of his brother Ken and sister Marge, and joined the professional rodeo circuit.

While Gerald continued to travel around the country and compete, his family started the Flint Hills Rodeo, the longest-running rodeo in the state of Kansas. Though first held in 1938 as the First Annual Chase County Rodeo, it would be renamed the following year.

In 1942, Gerald, only twenty-two-years old, earned his first All-Around World Champion title. Six years later he would earn his second; thereby making him the only cowboy to earn world titles under two different rodeo associations x the Cowboy Turtle Association and the Rodeo Cowboy Association.

During his rodeo career, Gerald became close friends with another famous bronc rider, Casey Tibbs. The two men traveled from rodeo to rodeo together and were the first cowboys to use airplane travel when competing on the circuit. This new mode of transportation allowed them to make nearly twice as many rodeos each week. The two cowboys also crossed over into the Hollywood entertainment industry together. Roberts served as a stunt double for various actors and turned down a role in the western series “Rawhide”, so that he could introduce Europe to American rodeos.

Gerald’s rodeo career spanned three decades, in which he won sixty-seven championship belt buckles and All-Around titles at rodeos like Cheyenne Frontier Days, the San Francisco Cow Palace, Reno and Madison Square Gardens. Approached by the Blue Bell Company in 1948 to model a new line of western pants, Gerald became the first cowboy to wear and promote Wrangler jeans. When the Kansas Sports Hall of Fame opened in 1961, they nominated Gerald as charter inductee and the only rodeo cowboy inducted.

In 1964, Gerald moved to Abilene, Kansas, where he established the Chap-parel Manufacturing Company, a manufacturer of rodeo gear. Two years later, Roberts married Pat Hershberger, who helped operate the company out of their home’s basement. He invented a nine-plait bull rope, which soon replaced the traditional five-plaited rope previously used by most bull riders. The company also created custom-made chaps, gear bags and rope bags used by rodeo contestants around the world. With his rodeo career winding down and his manufacturing business progressing, Gerald and Pat settled into family life around Abilene with their children x Jim, Lala, Geri, Kasey, Claudette, Joye and Jaye [deceased].

In 1990, the Professional Rodeo Cowboy Association inducted Gerald into their Hall of Fame in Colorado Springs. He is also featured in the National Cowboy Hall of Fame in Oklahoma City. A lifetime member of the PRCA and the Western and English Sales Association, Sports Illustrated named Roberts to the list of Top Fifty Athletes of the Century in Kansas. In 1994, the Flint Hills Rodeo honored the Roberts family with a mural, featuring family members.

Sadly, on December 31, 2004, the rodeo community received word that Gerald Roberts had passed away at the age of eighty-five; leaving behind a legacy steeped in rodeo and cowboy traditions. Ted Hayes, of the Kansas Sports Hall of Fame recalled, “When you think of rodeo in Kansas as a sport, the first name that comes up is Roberts, not just Gerald, but the entire family.”