in his career, Knight listed his address as
Casa Grande, Arizona (he actually lived
across the street from the first All-around
Champion of the World, Earl Thode).
Tom Thode, younger son of Earl Thode,
and a former Yuma County, Arizona.
Superior Court Judge, grew up across the
street from Harry Knight. Tom related
this story to the author.
“The actor Tom Mix and his son-in-law,
Harry Knight were pretty close. When
Tom died, most newspaper reports
of the day claimed he was going from
Tucson (after a night of wild partying) to
Florence to see his son-in-law. The truth
(as told to me by Harry himself) is that he
was with Tom already—and they actually
had left Tucson together that morning.
“Tom had a flask of whiskey and was
hitting on it pretty heavily as they sped
towards Florence. He kept passing it over
to Harry, who would take a little sip now
and then, and then pour a bigger batch of
it down the side of the car. Pretty soon,
the whiskey ran out, so Harry told Tom to
pull over at a little country bar they were
approaching. When Tom slid the car to
a stop in front of the bar, Harry jumped
out and said he would go in and get
more whiskey.
“After ten minutes or so, Tom Mix got
tired of waiting and went in to see what
the delay was. He went into the bar and
didn’t see anyone but the bartender.
He asked the bartender if he had seen
a cowboy come in there in the last ten
minutes or so. The bartender said he had,
and that the man had walked in the front
door then straight out the back—and off
into the desert! Tom got tired of waiting
and soon left without Harry.
“The rest is history. A few miles up the
road, the accident happened that killed
Tom Mix. Harry Knight knew Tom was
not safe to ride with, but also knew Tom
would not listen to reason at that point,
so he got out of the car when he could. By
leaving when he did, it most likely saved
his life.”
Harry went on to live a full and
accomplished life after that (as outlined
above). In November 1985, seventy-nineyear-old Harry Knight (who owned a
ranch and lived in Fowler, Colorado by
then), was inducted into the Canadian
Rodeo Historical Society at Edmonton,
Alberta. In December of that same year,
he was also inducted into the Rodeo Hall
of Fame in Oklahoma City. The great
Harry Knight died April 5, 1989.
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June 2014
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