Austin, Tex

Tex Austin, "King of the Rodeo" and former owner of the Forked Lightning Ranch in New Mexico, was a famous rodeo promoter. From 1925 to 1929 he was promoter, manager and director of the Chicago Roundup. Prior to that, he had taken his rodeo to Wembley, England, where they performed before the king and queen in 1924. His rodeo also performed in New York's Madison Square Garden and in Hollywood.

Austin considered himself just another cow hand and is said to have punched cattle all over the Southwest, including riding for the famous Mexican cattle king Don Luis Terrazas. In 1936 he retired to his home in Rowe, New Mexico, with his wife Mary Lou McGuire of Albuquerque. They opened a retaurant in Santa Fe called "Tex Austin's Los Rancheros." He died at his home in Santa Fe, 26 October 1938, of monxide poisoning at the age of (ca.) 50.