Rodeo

The National Rodeo High School Association has been around for 70 years. The effort that would eventually become the NHSRA was the brainchild of Claude Mullins, a Texas educator who was a big fan of the sport, and an even bigger fan of the youth he worked with almost every day. Mullins grew up around horses and cattle and sports of all different kinds during the 1920’s. In the 1930’s, small rodeos began to spring up in the area and he became an instant fan. In 1940, Mullins, who was employed at the time as the Deputy State Superintendent with the Texas State Department of Education, began to notice a curious behavior among some of the local boys. He noted that these energetic youths would consistently travel to the town arena each day after school to rope calves and steers. Seeing the youthful exuberance of the youngsters, and their love for the activity, made Mullins wonder why there couldn’t be a process to determine a “state champion” high school calf-roper, dogger, and other rodeo event title winner, similar to other high school sports. On July 1, 1946, Mullins accepted a Superintendent position in Hallettsville, Texas. Mullins himself had continued to rodeo whenever he had the time do so. And two of the gentlemen that he competed with regularly happened to form a special connection.