Deb Cannon Mohon was born on December 29, 1947, to Florene and J. B. Cannon in Marshall, Texas. She has one brother and three sisters. From an early age, she developed a strong interest in horses, as the family moved a few miles to Gladewater, Texas, and opened the Cannon Saddlery.
Soon after high school, she married James (Bubba) Mohon. They ran the western store for a few years and participated in rodeos and futurities. Their son Monty was born in 1978. The three of them formed a solid, loving relationship that revolved around raising, training and competition with horses.
In 1984, Deb joined the Women’s Professional Rodeo Association and began her life competition with horses. In 1986 she appeared at the 1″‘ of 11 consecutive Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association (PRCA) National Finals Rodeos (NFR). She and her great American Ouarter Horse-Special Agreement (AKA-Brown) still hold the record of 1 10 consecutive runs at the PRCA-NFR.
During these 11 years, she and Brown were in the Top S for world standings at each year’s end in 7 of those. For 4 of those 11 years, she went into the PRCA-NFR in 2’d position with wins at all the major rodeos across the United States. In 1990, during the PRCA-NFR in Las Vegas, Nevada, they had their best showing with Deb being awarded a Reserve World Championship title. During the 1980s and 1990s, Deb frequently appeared at the PRCA-Texas Circuit Finals as well. In 1987 and 1991, she represented the Texas Circuit at the PRCA-Dodge Circuit Finals in Pocatello, Idaho and came away with the title of Champion in 1987. Competition there was against the top girls from the 12 circuits from across the United States.
A most memorable week came in 1992 while over the 4th of July, many miles were covered while winning the rodeos in Springdale, Arkansas; Greeley, Colorado; Cody, Wyoming; Red Lodge, Montana; and Hinton, Oklahoma.
In 2000, Deb was inducted into the Pikes Peak or Bust Rodeo Hall of Fame in Colorado Springs, Colorado. A well deserved honor as she had won their rodeo 3 times.
Once her heavy traveling days of competition were over and Brown was well over 15 years, you could find Deb and Bubba training more homes for futurities or watching Monty in calf roping competitions.
Deb passed away in September of 2003. Bubba, Monty, close friends and family honor her with the annual Deb Mohon Memorial Barrel Race held in Gladewater, Texas
