Dale Stone began his rodeo career in 1932 at the age of fourteen, competing in local rodeos around Beaumont and Southwestern Louisiana. Throughout his 67 years in the sport, Dale witnessed significant changes in both the world and rodeos. He initially rode steers and horses with a two-handed surcingle, transitioning to one hand over time. He progressed to bareback horses with a one-hand rigging, steers and bulls with a loose rope (without a handhold), and saddle broncs with a committee saddle featuring a horn.
Dale participated in numerous rodeos, often taking home a substantial portion of the prize money. His rodeo journey took him to locations such as Laredo, Houston, Ft. Worth, Pampa, Birmingham, Cleveland, Hershey, Pittsburgh, Springfield, Fort Smith, Broken Arrow, Tulsa, Ardmore, Burwell, Prescott, Salinas, Vallejo, Ogden, Cheyenne, and many others. He also worked with Pappy Miller’s Wild West Show in Iowa and Coburn and Knight near Dublin, caring for and testing out bucking stock. Dale even rode the stock train to New York to compete at Madison Square Garden.
One of Dale’s most memorable moments was the Buckskin rodeo competition of 1942, where he won the All-Around championship by making three winning rides: the wild horse saddling and bucking contest, the bareback bronc riding event, and the saddle bronc riding.
Among his favorite traveling companions were Virginia and Kid Fletcher, Elmo Walls, Paul Bond, and George Mills. Dale recalls an incident at Harrison, Arkansas, where Hub Whitman woke him late at night after a rodeo. Whitman had been insulted at a pool hall that also served alcohol by someone too small for Whitman to confront, so he asked Dale to teach the man a lesson, which Dale did to Whitman’s satisfaction.
