Sloan Williams has spent his entire life involved in the ranching and rodeo lifestyle in some form or fashion. As a young boy growing up in Navasota, he developed a love of the cattle business, and began his own commercial cattle operation in 1950. In 1954, he married Mollie Forgason and they moved to Houston where he worked for Port City Stockyards and later Houston Commission Co. A year later they moved to Hungerford, where they have lived since 1955. They have two children: Jim Williams and his wife Luann, and Jan Powell and her husband, Terry. They have three granddaughters, Rachel, Catherine, and Payton.
After working several years on the J.D. Hudgins Ranch, he went out on his own and started the Sloan Williams Rodeo Company. Sloan first got into the rodeo business through a partnership with the order buyers Beken Brothers of Weimar. At one time, he and Edgar Beken owned more than 300 bucking bulls. Sloan had some of the rankest bulls in the rodeo business, including seven bulls that were un-ridden. His most famous bull, V61, was un-ridden for four years. Eventually, the bull riders wouldn’t even attempt to get on this bull, so Sloan sold him to his friend Billy Minick.
In the 1960s and ’70s, Sloan was known as one of the top dealers in providing rank bucking stock. He won the I.R.A. Saddle Bronc of the Year Award four consecutive years (1967 to 1970) with his famous horses #50 Redwood (1967), #121 Ozark Red (1968), #33 Surprise Package (1969), and #42 Dobie (1970). He also won Bareback Horse of the Year in 1967 with #111 County Fair and in 1969 with #66 Yammi Yogi.
In 1971, Williams sold his rodeo company and purchased V8 Ranch, a registered Brahman operation established in 1944. He relocated the herd to Hungerford, and along with his son, Jim, established the ranch as one of the top Brahman herds in the world.
Working at these rodeos were always highlights of Sloan’s year, when he looked forward to catching up with old friends and meeting new ones, because the main thing he missed after selling his rodeo company were the many friends and great people he met while in the rodeo business.
