Name Tom Ferguson | ||
Tom R. Ferguson (born December 20, 1950) is a world champion rodeo cowboy. He was the World All-Around Champion for six consecutive years from 1974 to 1979 breaking the previous mark of five consecutive titles held by Larry Mahan. He was also the 1974 World Calf Roping Champion and the World Steer Wrestling Champion in 1977 and 1978. In 1999, he was inducted into the ProRodeo Hall of Fame.
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Early life
Born in Tahlequah, Oklahoma, Tom Ferguson moved to California at the age of 3 and was selected for the California Polytechnic State University rodeo team at age 11. The team took home multiple National Intercollegiate Rodeo championships, before Ferguson turned professional and returned to Miami, Oklahoma in 1973.
Rodeo career
Though Larry Mahan was the first to have six world all-around titles, Ferguson earned the distinction of winning six consecutively. The 5-foot-11 Native American rodeo cowboy excelled in timed events; his speciality was calf roping and steer wrestling. In 1994, Ty Murray broke Mahan's and Ferguson's record of six titles.and tied Ferguson's record of having won six titles consecutively. In 1998, Murray won his seventh title, surpassing both of them and holding the record for all-around titles at seven titles. That's when they started calling Murray "King of the Cowboys." In 2010, Trevor Brazile won his eighth all-around title, surpassing them all. In 2015, Brazile won his 13th all-around title, ensuring that it might be a long time before someone breaks his record.
In his first year as a professional rodeo cowboy, Ferguson came in second in the NFR in the All-Around Cowboy event. He accumulated more than $1 million in his rodeo career and among the first rodeo cowboys to hire a manager.