Rowland Clark was born January 26, 1944, in Clarksville, Texas. The town was named after his ancestor, Captain James Clark. When he graduated from High School Rowland went to Hugo, Oklahoma, and learned to steer wrestle with guidance from Todd Whatley, the 1947 World Champion Steer Wrestler.
Clark joined the RCA (Rodeo Cowboy Association) in 1962. His first RCA rodeo was in Montgomery, Alabama and he traveled there as a rookie with more experienced cowboys, Dilton Emerson, Marvin Holmes, and Frank Rhoades. June Ivory was the rodeo secretary and the entry fee was $50. Rowland wasn’t as much of a talker as the other three and when he paid his entry fee he handed June three twenty dollar bills. When they left the secretary’s office Rowland told his friends she hadn’t given him any change. They told him to go back in that office and demand his change. When he told June that she hadn’t given him his change she said, “You’re traveling with the wrong bunch for me to think you’re telling me the truth.” He never got his change. His first steer wrestling event was a ‘bust’ and he went home empty handed.
In time he began traveling with Billy Williams of Clarksville and began riding C.R. Boucher’s horse in steer wrestling events. C.R. Boucher was the Steer Wrestling World Champion in 1964. Things began picking up for Clark and in the ten years he ‘traveled the rodeo road’ and competed hard, he won or was in the money at Lovington, NM; Pretty Prairie, KS; Paris, TX; Lawton, OK; Baytown, TX; Mercedes, TX; Crossett, AR; Sikeston, MO; Manawa, EI; Wyoming, MI; Palestine, IL; Fairfax, VA; Fort Worth, TX; Baton Rouge, LA; Montgomery, AL; Gladewater, TX; and Des Moines, IA. During this time he was also running a ranch at Clarksville, TX, which kept his time divided between the ranch and rodeo.
He competed in the Wild Horse Races, and he always had a good team. It consisted of three men which varied from rodeo to rodeo, but generally with Clark was C.R. Boucher, Clyde Vamvoras, Leonard Lancaster or Art Riley. Clark remembers winning at Burwell, Nebraska, and even though he broke his leg at the Phoenix rodeo, they won the go-round.
Whenever a rodeo held a Wild Cow Milking contest, Clark entered. Some of his partners for this two man event were: Freckles Brown, Joe Green, and Rowland’s con, Clint Clark. The last time Rowland tried his hand at this event was at Hugo, OK, when he was 55 years old, and he and his son Clint, won the event.
Rowland retired from ‘going down the rodeo road’ in 1972 as he married and started working full time on the Alaskan pipeline as a journeyman. Although he retired from rodeo competition he has always been active in the rodeo world. He is a PRCA Gold Card
Member, belongs to the Rodeo Historical Society, the Rodeo Cowboy’s Alumni Association and is a volunteer with the Cowboy Reunion held in Las Vegas during the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo.
In the 1980’s he moved to Idabel, OK, and is married to Loretha Clark, who ran Clark’s Tack & Rope Supply. They have a ranch near Idabel, but are basically retired from ranching, and just enjoy it. Business-wise Rowland continues to work all over the world as a welding inspector on major pipeline projects.
These days, Clark competes in amateur chuck wagon races and is preparing for the Labor Day World Championship at Clinton, Arkansas, where over 7,000 horses and 30,000 spectators will gather to watch the events. He has a three-man team and uses thoroughbred mules, out of a thoroughbred mare. Clark says mules are easier to handle. He has become one of the best story tellers in rodeo, and if you are with him long enough, you’ll get to hear some.
