November 2017 28 By Jim Olson, ©2017 www.TotallyWestern.com He 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, 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 Championship Rodeo Company. Back in 1936, when the cowboys went on strike at Boston Garden (the event that was the catalyst for the formation of the Cowboy Turtles Association or CTA), Colonel Johnson was the owner of the World Championship Rodeo Company. Perhaps as a result of the strike and the new cowboy’s association, Johnson became disgusted with rodeo, or maybe it was just time for him to retire. Whatever the case may have been, Colonel Johnson sold his rodeo company to Everett Colborn of Dublin, Texas; Bill and Twain Clemens of Florence, Arizona and Harry Knight (who also lived in Arizona by this time). According to author Gail Hughbanks Woerner, “The company consisted of 150 saddle horses, 150 bucking horses, 50 Brahma bulls, 100 head of bulldogging cattle, 90 calves, 50 wild cows, 110 saddles and various other equipment.” Harry wound up selling out his interest in the company a few years later. In 1954, legendary cowboy, Gene Autry, purchased the late Leo J. Cremer’s rodeo company and hired Harry Knight to manage it. Everett Colburn retired in 1959 and the World Championship Rodeo Company was merged with the Cremer stock, making Autry and partners one of the largest stock contractors of the day. At one time, it was reported Gene Autry’s rodeo company had over six-hundred head of stock. Knight remained the manager until he retired in 1968. Harry Knight was also the first Rodeo Cowboy Association (RCA) stock contracting representative to serve on the Board of Directors (1966-76). Earlier, in his contestant days, he had served on the board of the CTA as the Saddle Bronc Riding representative. Author Clifford P. Westermeier remembered Knight, “as a man who enjoyed diverse friendships ranging from New York’s upper crust to the poorest ranch hands in Arizona and Texas.” Writing about Knight as a contestant, rodeo historian Willard Porter said, “As most top-drawer bronc men do, Knight acquired a canny understanding of the chemistry that goes into the makeup of a dead-end bad horse.” Ruth Mix (third child of the great cowboy actor Tom Mix) and Harry Knight were married in 1935. A newspaper report from the day says they spent their honeymoon in Livermore, California where they were both scheduled to compete in a rodeo. Ruth Mix was a rodeo, circus and wild west show performer and an actress. By this time 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). Writing about Knight as a contestant, rodeo historian Willard Porter said, “As most top-drawer bronc men do, Knight acquired a canny understanding of the chemistry that goes into the makeup of a dead-end bad horse.”