Hal Thomas Churchill was born in 1925 to an Oklahoma rodeo family. As a toddler, he watched his father roping calves and steers at major rodeos, and calf roping was to become his own lifelong passion.
As a student at Oklahoma A & M, Hal won numerous college rodeos and several match roping competitions. He enlisted in the U.S. Navy in 1944, and worked as a livestock market reporter for the USDA from 1955 to 1966. That year, he opened the Livestock Market News Office in San Angelo, Texas, where he remained until his retirement in 1985.
Hal’s rodeo career began in earnest after his wartime military service ended. In 1948, he notched his first professional rodeo win at Vernon, Texas. During the next 12 years, he won numerous saddles and buckles at RCA (Rodeo Cowboy Association) events throughout the country, including Reno, Nevada; Livingston, Montana; Woodard, Oklahoma; Ben Johnson Memorial; Waynoka, Oklahoma; and many other match roping and rodeos.
Hal joined the NOTRA (National Old Timers Rodeo Association) senior circuit in 1970 and continued to win buckles and saddles in tie down, breakaway and ribbon roping competitions. He earned his PRCA (Professional Rodeo Cowboy Association) Gold Card (Number 1992) in 1975. From 1995 through 2009, Hal, teamed with his horse Rio, claimed another 15 saddles and buckles in Texas Senior Pro Rodeo Association (TSPRA) tie down and breakaway events.
Hal loves to share his passion for roping and horsemanship with kids, and he is known to furnish calves and an arena for anyone who wanted to learn to rope. He also trained many top calf roping horses.
“I feel so blessed that I got to do everything I wanted to do and go everyplace I wanted to go,” Hal said in 2010. “I still rope breakaway at the TSPRA rodeos and plan to continue as long as the Lord allows.”