Jim Shoulders: King of the Rodeo Cowboys

By Stan Paregien

This Ebook tells about the life and rodeo career of the legendary Oklahoma cowboy Jim Shoulders. He was born in Tulsa but lived most of his adult life in tiny Henryetta, Oklahoma. Shouders was tough as a boot, mentally and physically, until the day he died. That is how he managed to win an astounding 16 world championships in rodeo competition (bronc riding and bull riding). And he still continues to inspire young would-be rodeo champions to do their best today.

The Ebook is based on Stan Paregien's two personal interviews with Jim Shoulders, the last taking place just weeks before Jim's death. It tells about his friends, his family and both his struggles and his triumphs. And it points out his single-minded focus on making a living at something he really enjoyed.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Stan Paregien, Sr
• Release date: Jan 8, 2013
• ISBN: 9781301307067

Stan Paregien

Stan Paregien Sr was born in Wapanucka (Johnston County), Oklahoma to Harold and Evelyn (Cauthen) Paregien. The family moved west the year after his birth and he grew up on ranches and farms where his father worked in southern California. One of those places where Harold Paregien worked was the Newhall Ranch, a corporate ranching and farming operation that stretched for miles either side of the highway from the towns of Newhall (now Santa Clarita) to Piru. Stan was already in love with anything cowboy, mostly by watching those great B-Westerns at the local movie theaters. And then on the Newhall Ranch (officially known as the Newhall Land & Farming Company) he and his sister Roberta acquired horses and rode happy trails all over the ranch. Paregien graduated from high school in 1959 at Fillmore, Calif. He married Peggy Ruth Allen from nearby Ventura, Calif., in 1962. They immediately moved to Nashville, Tennessee for Stan to study Speech Communication (and history and Bible) at Lipscomb University. He graduated in 1965. In 1968, he received his master's degree from the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque. Then he completed all 60-hours of the classwork toward a Ph.D. in Speech Communication at the University of Oklahoma (but did not complete his other requirements). He has taken and is still taking continuing education courses in Life Skills through the University of Hard Knocks. He is a former full-time minister, a newspaper reporter and editor, a radio talk show host, a director of mental health facilities in both Texas and Oklahoma, and a salesman of various products. His hobby since 1990 has been writing and performing cowboy poetry and stories. He performed at the annual National Cowboy Symposium in Lubbock, Texas for a total of some 25 years. Through it all, he has been and is a freelance writer and author. He prefers just calling himself a "storyteller" in the tradition of Mark Twain, Louis L'Amour, Elmer Kelton, Garrison Keillor, Ansel Adams, Norman Rockwell, J. Frank Dobie, Agatha Christie and others. Sometimes he tells stories through narration, sometimes through poetry and often through photography. Stan and Peggy have two adult children, Stan Paregien Jr who lives with his family in the St. Louis area; and Stacy Magness who lives with her family near College Station, Texas. They also have four grandchildren (going on five, with an adoption in progress) and two great-grandchildren. T...

Book preview

tmp_98b0209506e00d65738ff4edb1962cca_O2idVa_html_30baf7d3.jpg

Jim Shoulders:

King of the Rodeo Cowboys

Stan Paregien Sr

Copyright 2012 by Stan Paregien Sr

Smashwords Edition

ISBN: 9781301307067

Bradenton, Florida: Paregien Enterprises

This eBook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

tmp_98b0209506e00d65738ff4edb1962cca_O2idVa_html_6c7982c8.jpg

Dedication

This Ebook is dedicated to a few of the many sure ‘nuff cowboys I’ve met over the years:

Casey Tibbs, Ben Johnson, Tuffy Cooper, Dean Smith, Debra C. Hill, Richard Farnsworth, Larry McWhorter, Rolf Flake, Waddie Mitchell, Max Evans, Will and Rhonda (Sedgwick) Stearns & Adrian Lopez

Table of Contents

Chapter 1

Oklahoma, Born & Bred

Chapter 2

Rodeo Fever

Chapter 3

A Rodeo Star is Born

Chapter 4

A Cowboy Gets Roped

Chapter 5

Tough As a Boot Heel

Chapter 6

Tornado and Jim

Chapter 7

His Celebrity Friends

Chapter 8

Still Popular in Old Age

Chapter 9

Death of a Cowboy

Chapter 10

Stan Paregien’s Background

Chapter 11

Stan Paregien’s Other Ebooks

Chapter 12

References

Chapter 1

Oklahoman, Born & Bred

Jim Shoulders lived in a nice house on a quiet residential street in Henryetta, Oklahoma for over thirty years. My guess is that there may be young people who live on that same street who never knew that a rodeo legend – an all-around world champion, sixteen times over -- lived in the modest red-brick house on the corner.

However, in August of 2006 when I stepped through the front door into his living room, the interior decorations loudly declared that somebody unusual lived there. There were Western style pieces of furniture and collectibles everywhere. Sitting on stands close to right of the front door were two saddles of great