“FOOTBALL HAD JOE NAMATH, boxing had Muhammad Ali, and rodeo had Larry Mahan,” Bobby Steiner, the 1973 world champion bull rider who competed against Mahan from 1968 to 1973, told The New York Times. “I don’t know that anybody will ever know what ‘it’ is, but he had ‘it.’”
“It” was six all-around rodeo world championships, including five consecutive from 1966 to 1970, and bull-riding world titles in 1965 and 1967. Ty Murray, whom Mahan mentored, broke Mahan’s record with a seventh all-around title in 1998. “I told Ty if I’d known he was gonna win seven,” Mahan joked years ago, “I would’ve won eight.”