Dude Goodrum was born March 9, 1929, in Madisonville, Texas. At age five he began riding and cattle driving. At age seventeen he starting competing in bull riding and bareback broncs in open rodeos. In 1949, Goodrum moved to West Columbia, Texas and began working for Frank Harris’ T Diamond Rodeo Company. He was a pick up man in some of the rodeos that took place in Alvin, Angleton, Galveston, Pasadena, Bay City, Victoria, Cuero, Robstown, Texas and Vicksburg, Mississippi. He donated his time to pick up many youth rodeos, as well. While at the T Diamond, he competed in calf tie down. A- a pick-up man, he excelled at fearlessly roping and removing the fighting, bucking bulls, the meaner the better, from the arena with a. foot rope tied onto a good horse with no other help. Many people attended mainly to watch him rope bulls. At age 71 he still breaks and trains horses and works with cattle and dogs, as he has done all his adult life. Dud and his wife, Joyce, raise paint horses and operate three child day care centers in Madisonville to continue their live for children and horses.
Memoirs of Dude Goodrum by George Morgan Some of the memories I have of my youth are from attending and riding in the youth rodeos in the arena. One of the cowboys who stands out, as a youth’s idea of the ultimate cowboy, was Dude Goodrum. He worked for Mr. Frank Harris’ T Diamond Ranch and was one of the pick-up men at his youth and pro rodeos.
Naturally, the bull riding was one of my favorite events, not only for the danger, but also for the unpredictability and extra excitement of the pick-up men clearing the arena. Seems like there was a bull or two that refused to be driven. That is when there would be a holler that could be heard “down town” by the man on the big horse. I don’t think Dude ever had to take a rope down; it was always down, and he loved to catch the bad ones.
Dude also had a pack of cow dogs that area ranchers could depend on to pen their cattle. My father was one of the small ranchers who kept cattle in pastures throughout the Angleton area. Although Dad liked to work his cattle gentle, there were some that couldn’t be driven out of the woods and brush, or would jump out of the pens. He always made sure that Dude and his dogs worked these pastures with us. I guarantee that was a sight to see Dude open the trailer gate and watch all those dogs bail out.
You could always tell where Dude and his dogs were; you could hear him whooping and hollering, the dogs baying, and the cracking in the brush.
Little did I know that in later years, I would meet and marry the daughter of one of the cowboy heroes of my youth. Although we’ve grown older, and a little spring is gone from our step, I still on occasion, hear the whooping and hollering of the man on the big horse.
