Arizona in the Saddle | Page 32

Clay McGonagill
Steer Roper
Extraordinaire
By Jim Olson, ©2014, www.TotallyWestern.com

“

I

’ll bet you $1,000 I can tie eleven
steers down quicker than you can
ten!” The challenge was issued to
Bob Gentry, World Champion Steer
Roper from Oklahoma. The man laying
down the challenge was none other than
Clay McGonagill. The date, July, 1907.
Henry Clay McGonagill was born at
Old Sweet Home, Texas on September
24, 1879 to George and Narcissa
McGonagill. When he was just a young
boy, the family relocated to Ector
County, near Midland, Texas. Clay’s
father was said to be quite the character
and a raiser of “cain.” He also bred good
horses, ranched, and for a time, was the
sheriff of Ector County.
Clay grew up on the West Texas Plains
where he learned to be a cowboy. A
good one. It has been written he was
drawing a full “man’s” cowboy wage by
the time he was twelve. At about age
eighteen, he wandered onto a ranch
near Lovington, New Mexico, looking
for cowboy work.
Shortly after arriving, Clay observed a
bad bronc throw a cowboy in the dirt.
He was told this particular ܜ