Lawrence Coffee was a pioneer in breaking the color barrier in the rodeo profession. He did it quietly, respectfully, and professionally. He won virtually every open rodeo championship in Texas, and also trained and showed horses.
In the 1970’s he trained and showed paint horses in the Paint Horse Association and had three different reserve World Champion paint roping horses. In 1976 in the American Quarter Horse Association he trained and showed roping mare of the year. In the late 1970’s he trained Ray Bates and Canyon Clowdus, two young men who won the American Junior Rodeo Association world champion in the calf roping. In the 1980’s Lawrence won tie down ribbon roping and break away in all different age groups of the Texas Senior Pro. In 1996, 1997 and 1998 Lawrence won world champion calf roping and ribbon roping in the National Senior Pro Rodeo Association.
Lawrence truly was an unsung hero and a champion in and out of the arena, and he did it all with “two wraps and a hooey.”
