Arizona in the Saddle | Page 10

Harry Knight
By Jim Olson, ©2014, www.JimOlsonAuthor.com

H

e was partners with Gene Autry. He
was once son-in-law to Tom Mix.
He won the Canadian Saddle Bronc
Riding Championship—twice. He spent
about forty-five years making his living
in a rodeo arena. He was the legendary,
Harry Knight.
Born in Quebec City, Canada in 1907,
the Knight family moved west when
Harry was a young boy to Banff, Alberta.
Harry’s father had a resort on Banff ’s,
Lake Louise. Although the rest of
the Knight family members were not
“cowboys” so much, young Harry took an
interest in animals and cowboying early
on. He entered his first rodeo in Sundre,
Alberta Canada in 1925, thus beginning a
half-century career in rodeo.

As a contestant in the rodeo arena, Harry
excelled in the Saddle Bronc Riding
event. He also entered Bareback, Steer
Decorating, Calf Roping and Steer Riding
at times. During his years as a contestant,
he rode the bad bucking horse Five
Minutes to Midnight for an eternity of
ten seconds (the required time back then,
today an official ride is eight seconds).

As mentioned above, he also won the
Canadian Bronc Riding Championship, in
1926 and ’32. A bad injury at the Chicago
World’s Fair in 1933 nearly ended his
riding career, however Harry recovered to
compete through the early ‘40s.

As Harry’s rodeo career started to wind
down, he turned to the contracting side
of the game—something he will forever
be remembered for. In 1937 or so, Knight
became a partner in the World Champion
Rodeo Company.

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June 2014

Then, in 1954 legendary cowboy,
Gene Autry, purchased the late Leo J.
Cremer’s rodeo company and hired
Harry Knight to manage it. In 1959,
when Everett Colburn retired, the World
Championship Rodeo Company was
merged with the Cremer stock, making
Autry and partners