Allen Crainer was born on July 7, 1914, and entered his first rodeo at Port Bolivar, Texas, in 1932. In 1938, he joined the Turtle Rodeo Association and remained a member in good standing even when it transitioned to the RCA, up until the late 1950s. Allen competed in saddle bronc riding, bareback riding, bull and/or stag riding, steer wrestling, and calf roping events. His first major championship win was in the saddle bronc riding event at the Houston Fat Stock Show and Rodeo in 1938, his first year in the TRA. He also clinched the same championship at the Port Arthur rodeo later that year. Outstanding broncs of that era were in E.H. Marks’s string, against which Allen competed from 1933 until the late 1940s. Allen rode E.H. Marks’s broncs, including Sally, Goodin, Mike, West Black, Gotch, Stub, West Paint, and West Sorrel.
Allen rodeoed all over Texas and extended his competitions to Sulfur, Lake Charles, DeRidder, and Baton Rouge, Louisiana; Fort Smith, Arkansas; Oklahoma City, Oklahoma; Florence, Alabama; and on to Greenwood, Mississippi. He rode his last saddle bronc in 1962 in Rosenberg, Texas.
Allen judged the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo in 1958 and 1959, along with many other professional and youth rodeos throughout Texas. He also played a significant role in organizing the SRA, serving as its President in 1956, and helped to organize the YRA.
