Born May 2, 1948, in Caldwell, Kansas, Jack Ward began his career as a bull rider by winning the 1969 National Intercollegiate Rodeo Association Championship. He qualified for his first NFR in bareback riding in 1972 and went to make 11 appearances at rodeo’s world championships.
Those 11 trips gave him two world bareback championships and three NFR aggregate titles. During his career, Ward was known as the kind of cowboy who excelled when the competition was at its toughest.
He served as the bareback director on the PRCA Board of Directors from 1977-70 where he worked diligently to keep professionalism in the event a priority. Ward never traded in his rigging when he retired from the arena; he just used it as a prototype for his rodeo equipment company.
“My ultimate goal in life and in rodeo is to leave this earth and not have one enemy. I believe if I can do that, I’ll have been successful,” Ward said.
Jack was inducted into the ProRodeo Hall of Fame in 1995 as the Bareback Riding Inductee.
