Toots Mansfield
World Champion Calf & Tie-Down Roper
1914-1998
Toots Mansfield was a master at handling calves on the ground and his skills led him to establish the first successful rodeo school for aspiring ropers in the 1950s. Matched roping was one of his specialties and more spectators certainly bet on Toots than against him.
Rodeoing out of Big Spring, Texas, roper Toots Mansfield was the RCA's** World Champion Calf Roper who competed from 1939 to 1950. He won seven Tie-down Roping World Championships—a record he held for 19 years. Mansfield was recognized as the "Man to Beat" whenever he competed. Toot's business sense and honesty enabled him to serve as President of the Rodeo Cowboys Association from 1945 until 1951. Mansfield was inducted into the Pro Rodeo Hall of Fame in 1979.
Toots Mansfield was born May 15, 1914, in Bandera, Texas, and passed away on December 6, 1998, at the age of 83. He was inducted posthumously into the Texas Rodeo Hall of Fame.
**The R.C.A., Rodeo Cowboys Association was the predecessor to the PRCA, Pro Rodeo Cowboys Association. The "RCA" was created in 1936 and evolved into the PRCA as we know it today, in 1975. The Pro Rodeo Hall of Fame and "Museum of the American Cowboy" was established in 1979.